Fantôme Brise-BonBons!

Brewed by Brasserie Fantôme
Style: Saison
Soy-Erezée, Belgium

Hazy amber with a tiny white head. Aroma had hints of lacto, malt and spicy notes. Flavour had spices, malt, lacto and fruity notes. Finished sourish.

cloudy orange, small white head. spicy fruity aroma flavor is citrussy, sourish, faint spicy, prickly, red fruity as well as yellow fruity (fresh fruits). nice.

Bottle, cork comes out without even a hiss. Pour is deep orange, kind of cloudy. Nose is grassy with light berries and some sour funk. Sharply tart flavor. A little sweeter than most Fantomes. Fruity, a little too much so. Drinking this I wonder why Fantome is so inconsistent bottle to bottle, yet every beer kind of takes the same shape? I think they should just have one beer, called Fantome Saison, and have every bottle be kind of randomly different. That’s where we’re at now anyway. In closing, this is a tasty one, though too sweet, and I wish it had more carbonation.

750ml from my Secret Santa - thanks, Santa! I’d been wanting to try this particular Fantome for a while, and was very glad to get the chance. Very hazy pale orange pour (rather than the slightly indistinct brownish-orange of many Prignon beers) and a zesty, creamy head. Pungent aroma of fresh cut flowers, lemon zest, and mint. Full mouthfeel and a prickly carbonation that lasts throughout. The mint, leafy qualities tend to assert themselves initially, but it’s the bitter lemon rind that lingers as you get deeper into the beer. Weird, funky, and verrrry Fantome.

Pours murky gold, minimal head. Bottle might have been leaking. Aroma of sour funkiness. Flavor is nice sour, gentle funk. Thinnish mouthfeel.

750ml corked bottle served in a tulip. Lightly hazed golden orange pour with a two-finger thick head of fizzy beige foam that settled into a lasting cap. Decent lacing. The aroma was musty and funky. Bretty pineapple and lemon lingered over a pale malt backbone and some faint caramel. The flavor had tart caramel apples, lemon, pineapple, and some herbal hops. Tart and fruity with a crisp bitterness. Medium-bodied with a light to moderate amount of crisp, aggressive carbonation. Another unique beer from Fantôme. Pretty nice.

I’m always excited for any beer that the local beer matron recommends. The way he pulls out a bottle from underneath the counter, holds it up proudly like a prized piglet at the county fair and flashes a sparkling smile with an almost audible “bing” sound is a stronger recommendation than any blob of text, no offense to the internet’s legion of faceless connoisseurs and dilettantes. This time the coveted store owner’s pose was reserved for the Brise Bon’s Bon’s, a beer he described as “hefty”, reinforced by the cartoon sumo wrestler on the label. I put on my mental bicycle helmet for this one, as I do with beers reported to be “aggressive” and proceeded to pour - a honey gold beer, a pleasantly light shade of grain with a thin white head. I used to regret thin caps like this, in the way that I regret thin heads of hair - either have a lot of hair, or have none of it and be done with mesmerizing comb-overs. But a thin head acts as a nice volume filter for the aroma. Too much foam and it’s like catching the delicate bouquet from a corked bottle of wine. The Brise Bons Bons gives off scent of sweet white grapes and their juice, but mixed with a cloying density of white raisins. Accented with banana, a generous cut of alcohol and clove, the Brise Bons Bons makes for an assertive, creamy and sweet smell. Not overpowering in the least. If I had to compare the Brise Bons Bons’ flavor to the sensation of one kind of sumo attack or another, I’d say I was expecting the full-on, brutal, palm thrust. A massive, fleshy force colliding with my face, straight on, sending my jaw flying. But the taste is really more like the underwear wrangling. You know what I mean - when sumo wrestlers grapple each other, and the only thing to really grab onto are the sumo wrestler’s last bits of humility, the colored strands keeping the sumo fight a family friendly outing. I personally cannot imagine the sensation of being shifted around by this most minimal ribbon of clothing, but it’d be a more piercing, high-strung, drawn out experience than a good old fashioned palm thrust. And that sumo grappling, the most noble and socially accepted wedgie in the world, is a bit like the Brise Bons Bons flavor. It’s thin, slightly sour, and frustratingly difficult to pin. I’m grasping for something, anything, but I keep missing. The white grape sweetness features here as in the nose, but teams up with a Brett-type sourness and funkiness, which may overlap with a commanding citrus astringency. That, too, blends with some lemon, mandarin oranges, and the bitter bits of citrus pith, culminating in a short shriek of bitterness followed by a relaxing, easing grainy aftertaste. I’m sort of uncomfortable with these kinds of flavor profiles, but really had no trouble drinking this one at all. Not a powerhouse, by any means, but strong, almost writhing, but ultimately a kind brew. I’d be down for another bout any day.

750 ml, cap and cork. Hazy orange pour with a loose, soapy white head. Tropical fruit aroma (pineapple), sourdough, orange zest, cut grass, bubblegum. All over the place, but it works. Musty and lemony flavor. Pear nectar, slightly hoppy, minty greenness. Oily palate with hardly any carbonation. Drinkable and enjoyable, and a nice summer beer.