Fantôme Chocolat

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

Very nice clear orange/red color with a nice white head and creamy lacing. Nice malt flavor with a hint of bitter chocolate with pepper notes. Very drinkable beer.

Wonder about the volume of production - or better stated, batch size. Reason being that I detected a very nice, subtle chocolate while others didn’t. Hmmm and enjoyed that all the more after having a Strange Ghost that was SO overwhelming in spice notes. This was simple and quite pleasant with soft texture and flavour.

Pours with a golden orange body topped by a thin head with some lacing. It’s sweet yet bitter and grassy with a bitter, bakers chocolate note and a flowery note. Medium bodied, dry and slighty smooth.

750mL bottle. Cocoa and chili pepper? Seems like a VERY weird mix. A very cloudy, muddy and rich honey/bronze pour with a HUGE fluffy light-tan head that leaves chunks of lace. I can make out what looks like little flecks of pepper at the bottom of my glass. A good bit of yeast in the aroma along with some lemon. The cocoa and chili pepper poke their heads out when this starts to warm. The aroma also turns a little floral. Medium to full-bodied and kinda creamy. Spicy and a little peppery. The cocoa is more pronounced as the beer warms. Starts off with a rich and sweet cocoa body that gives way to a spicy and peppery finish with quite a bite. It’s a must to let this one warm. The flavors really come out then. A unique beer for sure, but it definitely works.

MdlB05: hazy straw color with a small white head, citrus aroma (lemon and orange) with a touch of hay. Medium bodied, creamy texture, soft carbonation, long astringent ending.

Where’s the chocolate? It’s totally AWOL! Otherwise, this is a typical, by the numbers, Saison-ish beer from the masters at Fantome. Quite peppery and with lots of cloves. Not unlike their other Saisons/Spice beers. Found no chocolate at all.

MIBF ’05 Hazy deep golden in color with asmall white lacing. Aroma od fruit and spice. Bitter chocolate flavor with a dry and astringent finish.

Bottle. Poured a clearish, only slightly hazy, orange, but I decanted the first tasting of the bottle. Aroma of hay, grass, and funk. Maybe there was a hint of unsweet chocolate in the aroma - but I don’t know if it was really there, or me just sensing it there because I expected it to be there. Flavors of grass and more substantial, but still a bit lacking, unsweet chocolate. I also got some semi-sweet fruits - taste reminded me a bit of cantelope or some melon. Herby finish of corriander, and a slight bitter bite. That said, I found the flavors a little dissappointing after the aroma. A very good beer on its own, but a little dissappointing considering it’s a Fantome.