Fantôme de Noël

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

very dark brown colour with a little and unregular foam, the aroma shows a solid complexity and a great balance, it is vinous, fruity (plum) and spicy (ginger, pepper) with a hint of alcohol; the malt body is robust and slightly oily without being too heavy, some sweetness and a late moderate bitter/sour touch; the finish is long and very malty, gently fruity and strongly spicy with late notes of cork and cellar - just splendid

Hazy brown body with a sudsy, beige head. Substantial phenolics with an interesting blend of spices and caramel maltiness. Light solvents are also detectable in the aroma. Medium sweet with lots of dark sugar and malt and a note of cocoa. Decent holiday beer.

bottle-pours a murky brown hue with an off white head that was big and sudsy. Aroma of alots of spice, corriander, sweet and a little musty brett in there as well. the brett flavor isn’t really funky in this beer-just adds enough to make its presence. chocolate, alllspice and dark fruits in the finish. good body and the 10% is no where in sight. this beer gave spicy burps with a chocolate undertone. I like this one!

Bottled 0,75 ltr
Very dark ruby, almost opaque. Good brown head. Aroma is earthy with light spices and "Fantome cardboard aroma". Earthy lambic-like flavor. Chocolaty with some coriander and cardboard (!) notes. Hides alcohol very well. Slight sour and dry palate. Maybe not the most enjoyable brew but certainly very interesting and complex.

Almost porter like por. with big rast and cocoa notes followd by pralines dates and raisins. like chocolate coated raisins. Gorgeous depth and complexity. Lingering roasted finish with a wonderful mouthfeel.

spicy aroma, cinnamon, pepper and candy. Taste is incredibly well masked, a very strong hint of malt and obvious cinnamon. Peppers, candy sugar but I feel more sourness would have been better, there is a destinct fruit caracter which I cant quite figure out. This is indeed a very fine brew, although I LOVE this brewery I´ve had better xmas brews, but this ranks very high none of the less,

Aroma seeps sweet cookie dough, tobacco juice, charcoal wood, and pruny-date filled fruitness. Notes of black licorice, ginger bread spice, and chocolate persist with a very lesser amount of sour yeast funk then what I though it was gonna have. Which is fine by me. Strangely beautiful and ever-changing dark brown velvet (blackish in most dull light) with a big bubbled dark cinnamon cap thats very active. The body is also; very active, with lots of cascading foam squirming up the sides when first poured. The cap slips away fairly fast and then keeps the thinest of thin collar. Very minimal lacing in tiny dots. The taste is immaculately woven with subtlities and super smooth in the effect of some amazing drinkability. Massive sweet malt thats very level and calibrated to reach only the specified amount for perfect interaction, allowing only so many and so much of the dark fruits pass through. Dates, pale raisin, plum, and prune all come to mind as its slowly baked into a soft breadyness. Rolling smooth spices of cinnamon, anise, and black licorice spackle the middle areas. Finishes with heavy chocolate laced within lighter smokey cedar wood chips and a topical dry yeast spice that reminds me of ginger bread cookies spritzed with orange. Finish fades off super, super slow with chocolate muffins and blackened rye spice. Wow, what a yummy ride! 10%? You gotta be kidding. It never seems that ABV beefy - ever. The body is Oh so smooth and delicately easy on the palate the whole way through. Its not quite full really, but doesn’t necessarily need to be as its overall smoothness speaks for itself. Constant and consistent, the way any great brew oughta be. Wicked-quick gone from my glass. This stuff didn’t last nearly long enough. Even with the 750ml. I’ll be sure to get more of this next time I see it. Superb stuff!

How cute is it that I have the Fantome glass and that’s exactly what my table looked like last night? Probably not very cute, but it amuses me anyway. I have no idea what was in this beer, but it was awesome. Round, full, soft, chewy mouthfeel; clean, slightly sweet finish, non-sticky; nose of muddled spices that reminded me vaguely of that prune, date and apricot turkey dressing-thingy that Dee made once. A homey, meaty, almost oily-tannic smell. Taste a lot of spices, none overdone or dominating, lots of sweet malt complexity-raisins, dough, honey, caramel, weak coffee, milk. Some mild funk and not much hops. Didn’t drink like 10% at all. A lot of yeast in the bottle contributed to mouthfeel in the latter half of the drinking experience. Excellent.