Fantôme Brise-BonBons!

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

Serve in Tulip

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Nearly perfect. Not sure how old the bottle was, but this poured a cloudy yellow amber with an aged clove and Brett nose. Slightly sour with carbonation mostly resolved. Layers of complexity carry through the finish mixing fruit and herbs. As good a beer as one can find.

Nice golden yellow color with a frothy white head, great retention and lacing. Aroma was slightly tart with some lemon zest to it, but don’t you worry, there’s more, you better believe there’s more. Aroma is simply remarkable, cracked peppercorn, fresh bread, hay, some kind of flower I can’t name, and beyond those, I’m not sure if I’m able to put into words what I notice. Taste has some tartness to it, just the right amount of it too. Many of the aromas are echoed in the taste with just a slightly spicier finish. Less than medium bodied, but not thin, carbonation was on the high side. Amazing beer. I need more.

bottle@gotten at brewery & shared at friends house: very hazy yellow with white head, smells surprisingly like a barbeque with some minor sweet fruits & spices, taste is extreme to say the list but not in a bitter way as promised instead, instead lots of barbeque flavours, roasted, charcoal, barnyard, funk, barbeque hops, pepper mixed with sweet fruits (melon, apricot, guava,…), citrus, barbeque spices, brett, yeast, slight lacto finish, opinions were divided between outright dislike to fondness

750 ml split in Duvel glass. Pale straw with lasting head and lace. Lemon bread and spice aroma. Medium lemon tart yeasty sweet fruitiness with citrus bitterness and very dry finish. Medium-light body, especially for abv, medium carbo. Complex refreshing and delicious. I had never tried it before and I absolutely love it. One of my favorite beers in one of my favorite styles.

75cl bottle opened not only for my 2,000th rating on ratebeer, but also to celebrate my first day as a student at the Siebel Institute of Technology. Luckily, West Lakeview Liquors here in the fine city of Chicago had just the beer for the occasion. Fantome has blown my mind on several occasions before, and this beer is a another spectacular addition to their lineup. The pour is a hazy gold with a big white head that lasts until the end of the glass (I think the Duvel tulip may have helped with that). The aroma has that beautiful Fantome dusty, funky fruitiness with lots of guava and lemon pastry. The flavor is both dry and sweet like only a great Belgian beer can be. Lots of funky and fruity yeast comes in before a blast of earthy and spicy hops and a present but not overpowering bitter finish. This isn’t really that bitter to me as an enthusiast of American IPA and pale ale, but it is definitely on the hoppy side for a Belgian beer, much like a bigger, fruitier De Ranke XX. The body is medium with soft but ample carbonation, though not high like some of their beers. The conditioning leaves a very silky impression on the tongue. I’d pin this as not quite fresh but certainly not old, as the brett and lacto are barely present in the bio mix at this point. As with any Fantome beer, I’d love to see this with more age, but the hops are quite nice at this point, and I think it would be great even younger as well.

Bottle from Union Jack’s, Boyertown. Pours turbid copper/dark straw colored, with medium, white head. Complex aroma of Brett, female taint, fruit, hopcit. Tastes citrusy, hoppy, Bretty, with some earthy peat esters and cobwebby malt in the finish. The palate is very velvety, with a solid heft and great balance. This one is outstanding.

Pours a hazy orange color with a gorgeous fluffy white head that eventually sits on top of the beer like a dollop of whipped cream. Extremely hoppy nose, almost IPA like with hints of citrus along with the usual Fantome funkiness that we all love. Flavor is heavily bitter at the start before giving way to a creamier earthy finish. Absolutely spectacular.

What a great name for a beer "ball-breakers." A quality, well balanced saison....beautiful cloudy golden, yeasty, a little citrus, great carbonation, easy drinking like a good saison should be. Get some.

Head is initially average sized, frothy, off-white, mostly diminishing. Body is hazy light amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately hoppy (herbs), lightly malty (toasted grain), lightly yeasty (cobwebs), with notes of herbal tea, chamomile, grass, hay, etc. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lighlty sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety texture, lively carbonation, lighlty alcoholic. Whew, what can I say? Another winner from Dany. Very tea-like in an herbal way, awesome balance, etc. Love it, love it, love it.

Orange colour, very hazy. Dense head. Hoppy aroma with notes of orange peels. Dry, citric with a long hoppy, pine needle bitterness. A wonderful beer, but could some French-speaking person please explain the label!