Fantôme de Noël

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

Slightly hazy red-amber; lightly amber coloured mixed head. Heavy, spiced and leafy nose. Coffee and mocca-cookies. Very bitter taste with again, coffe-like character. The first bitterness comes as a shock, because of its intensity (not hoppy!), but it eases off then. There's quite some sweet malt underneath, rekindling the "café-clair" cookies idea. There remains a herbal flavour somewhere, but very faint. Full bodied, some alcoholburn. This is a flavour profile D. Prignon often seeks. I can even call it balanced, but never my favourite.

(Pizza Port Belgian Beer Party in Carlsbad, CA) Tastes like a Belgian golden ale, but with lots more malt; Fairly sweet with a nice spiciness to balance the beer initially; Bitterness is moderate, but picks up in the finish as the malt fades away; Nose is banana and spice; Ruddy brown in color; Sediment just sits suspended in the beer; Light tan head

Dirty brown snow. Very spiced aroma. Sour apples contribute to a tart acidic beer, in a geuze style, and somewhat pleasant result. 3/14/2004 8-3-8-3-15 for 3.7

Red burgundy brown with extra thick moka head. In aroma, buttery and peppery concoction. In mouth, a sweet buttery malt with loads of black pepper, treacle, rather strange and not as good as the one rated in 2004. Bottle from Bieropholie, via Ian G. 6-3-6-3-12 for 3.0

RERATE 2004 bottle drank in December of 2007 with Tom: The aroma was magical with walnut, tobacco, rye, fig, star anise, coriander with very little note of any oxidization. A lovely malt and fruit expression of flavors supported by well doen spice finish. The mouth feel is still vibrant and sharp with a lush finish. THIS IS STILL A WORK OF ART, BRAVO DANY!!! +1 Aroma, -1 Appearance

2002 Vintage: Muddled deep brown with large off-white head and excellent lace. The aroma hints of cherry, dusty yeast esters, wood, herbal and flowery hops, and light spices. The taste starts slightly sour and acidic with good fruit notes balanced by yeast and malt nature. Candy sugar and spices also detected. The mouth feel is dry and lively, with a chalky finish. Another darn nice Fantome brew, highly recommended if you have the means.

from winter 2003. removed the cap and the cork started pushing out. poured with all head. foam kept creaping up the bottle neck. I had to pour two glasses to keep it from overflowing the bottle. light floral hop aroma. bready yeast, herbs. the color is copper amber color. hops, nuts herbs, a light caromel, sweet berrys (blueberry?). a slight alcohol pepperyness. chocolate in the finish. cherrys too. A very flavorful beer. I tasted this at fanome during january. Dany said that he had to make a dark winter beer for the US and Canada, cause thats what people expected. I still have the belgian version that I will try on a later date.

Dark hazy brown color with lots of whit head and lacing that stays for a long time, lots of carbonation. The aroma has a lot of caramel and toffee with some sweet maple and nice belgian qualities to it. The flavor is very semi-sweet with a touch of alcohol and sweet fruit/fig/raisin/brown sugar; delcious. The finish is moderate and average with a bit of alcohol. This was a great BSA, I was thinking more like a dark saison, but it's tasty and delicious.

Dark mahogany with a very large off white head and nice lacing. Big aromas of caramel, fruits (grape/prune), and yeast and bread. Flavors are nearly the same as the aroma with the caramel coming out a bit stronger. Very strong fruits coming out as well. Many spices. Alcohol. Big body and a strong and spicy palate. Very nice Belgian from the Fantome.

Dark red-brown with a large, off-white head. Excellent head retention and lacing. Musty, spicy (cinnamon) aroma with hints of alcohol and green grapes. Grapes and plums dominate the malty, cobwebby rich flavor. Very full mouthfeel is moderately carbonated. Finish has a definite cinnamon hotness to it that lingers for quite a while. Alcohol is well hidden in the flavor.