Fantôme de Noël

10.16.04 750ml bottle. Pours an ugly clouded rust color with a large, orange tinted head of fine bubbles. aromas are rich and luscious: apple pie, oatmeal, brown sugar, candied lemon, cinnamon, pepper. Flavor is oatmealish with nutty yeastiness, honey, plum, mango. More peppery spice as it finishes. Nothing like what I expected when I bought it, but I’m glad I bought two. Still, it’s a bit weird.

This is a different Belgian Strong Ale. Lots of flavors Peppery, spicy, and tart. Finnishes chewy, thick, and dry.

Bottled. Purchased at Delirium Cafe. Unknown vintage. Label is the same as the one shown to the left. Nate and I shared this one while in Brussels Sept. 2004. Body is a reddish brown body with nearly no head. Aroma is spicy with ginger and ground pepper and almost a hint of cheese. Definitely odd as all Fantome beers tend to be. Taste is spices with oatmeal cookies, ginger and a hint of peppered steak. Some tart fruit flavors blended in as well. Maybe sour cherries. Body is mild acidity with little carbonation feel to it but has a lingering spiciness (pepper). Finish is peppery, slightly tart and strong. Great beer!

Well, here it is, mid-September, and what better time to open this bottle of Fantome Noel? Stolid eggplant and plummy appearance, resting under a cakey, creamy topping of beigish froth. Nose is generously spicy, mixed with dark fruits, cherries, and berries, grapes and dates. Taste, mmm,magificent! Active carbonation, brief acidity, but a full flood of complex fruity/ spicy flavors delivers it’s payload on the palate with the first sip. Marvelous mouthfeel, paints all corners of the senses with this deliciousness, with a citric twist interjecting now and then. Yeast looms large in the flavor, as well, leaving more of a feel of a spicy raisin cake, or something similar. I never, ever would guess that this is a 10 % brew, but we’re only halfway in, so we’ve only just begun to plunder the full effects of this bottle. Gets better and better as I deplete it...medium body, medium-length, but sweet and spicy finish, softly drifts from the palate, lingers just long enough to keep the impression of eternal delight not far from the mind. This is really nice, if not incredibly impressive, but that’s not always necessary, is it? A super saison, spicy in just right amount to remain highly pleasurable and not a chore...I say, as long as this is what is promised in the holiday season, who needs Santa Claus?

Vinuous and herbal, fruity and deep Malliard toastiness, like salty charred beef fat. Nice aroma, despite choice of description. Deep mahogany red clear with thin ring of head. Medium watery palate with low, almost flat, carbonation. Starts tart and acidic, vinuous and mildly complex. Flavors of grapefruit or wild strawberries, soy, red wine, caramel malt. Finish of grapefruit juice. After is tart acidic, light bitter. Nice beer.

Re-rate I want to like this as much as the other Fantome’s - i just don’t. The uniqueness of the yeast and grains just can’t break thru.
The (cherry) vinous aroma was welcome - the abundance of sourness and rotten apple in the taste was not. The spiciness is well placed and not overdone. As with all Fantomes, there is something funky and earthy about this one - unfortunately in this case it isn’t in a good way.

Bottled. Cloudy copper colour. Interesting and complex aroma including cellary cherries. Sweet with light sparkling mouthfeel. Warming and spicy with notes of grapes and a grassy finish. A very interesting beer.

Cloudy and hazy dull reddish-brown color, huge frothy clingy off white head that leaves a sticky lacing in the glass, fruity green apple and yeasty aromas. Fruity and spicy with some caramel flavor, nice sourness in the finish. Medium bodied with a crisp and carbonated mouthfeel.