Fantôme Chocolat

Not particularly chocolately, and I notice no chili at all, but the overall effect is that of a delicious beer eaten with a subtle chocolate dessert that meshes with it perfectly instead of clashing. The chocolate could be more prominent and the slight chalky aftertaste was not great, but I’d drink this again without complaint. The first recognizeably quality beer I had after a long string of mediocre rates, and I noted in relief that I did, indeed, still truly enjoy beer.

Classic Fantome aroma--it gives up no sense of its ingredients! It’s like they’re all the same at the aroma level. Drinking it...well...it’s actually the same thing. A bit of chocolate/lactic astringency can be found there, but the spice isn’t there. Cocoa and chili? It’s all a wash in the sea of Fantome-ness.

I purchased two bottles of this some time ago. One bottle I drank right away and the other I tossed in the fridge until JK’s Spring Gathering. The first bottle had a wonderfully subtle transition between the chocolate and chili flavors. The second bottle was a disappointment. The chocolate flavor had all but disappeared leaving a faintly stale tasting beer. Still good, but nowhere near as good as my original tasting.

750mL bottle, no date. Pours a haay orange with some light pink highlights and a two finger creamy off-white head, fading slowly. Aroma is has some dust, spices, pepper (not chili), citrus, and some light chocolate that I wouldn’t have picked out if not for the label. Flavor is pretty tart--sour lemons mainly--dust, very light unsweeteneed cocoa in the finish. I had no idea this was 8%. Bitterness is moderate at its peak. Low carbonation with a light to medium body. Dunno where the chili pepper was. This wasn’t too bad, but not that great, either.

Shared a 750 ml bottle at JK’s Spring Gathering. Pours a cloudy coppery orange brew with an average tan head. Aroma has some sourness, grass, cloves and just barely some unsweeted baker’s chocolate, not much though. Taste was more musty, citrus, spice and yeast. I tried to pick up any chocolate flavor but it was not there. Palate was metalic acidity and then some sour bitterness at the end. It’s Different.

Pours amber into a tulip. Offwhite head recedes very slowly to skim surface. Tingly pepper and malt aromas. Slight presence of cocoa and caramel upfront with a very slight chili burn in the finish. Not what I expected, but entirely drinkable.

Pizza Port Belgian Beer Fest. Pour from a 750mL. Subdued light mushroom malt aroma. Yeast amber cloud, with rim of white. Flabor is a weak dry nut roast on a plain wheat husky. Very flat favor-profile with some lazy hops and an over-rubbered ester amongst bean salts. Not interesting and a big let down. Chocolate not to be found except for some extant milk notes. Middle of the road really, even as Goldings looks to make some balance. Blah.

Bottle from PP Belgian Beer Fest. Aromas were fruity with some sourness. Flavors were still fruity with a touch of skunk. Not much chocolate in either the flavor or the aroma.