Fantôme de Noël

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

750 mL corked though with a cap on top. Good pop. Pours a clear light amber (later with the yeast a scary deep brown that is pretty much opaque). Very small tan head. No retention. No lacing. Definitely does not look like your typical saison. Aroma is awesome. sour, red wine, some barrel notes, whiskey, oak, a bit of balsamic vinegar like a Flanders red. Taste is not too sour. In fact, this tastes more like a whiskey barrel aged scotch or amber ale with a small spike of Brett. Lots of caramel, raw graininess, spiced rum from the 10%, black pepper. Medium-bodied. The alcohol on this is very apparent. Not too much balancing. I like this for its creativity but it is not the ultimate beer that I expected. Could you imagine a sour dark saison. One that was well executed? Oh my god.

Bottle. Pours red with minimal head and some lacing. Taste is slightly sour/dry with red wine, spice, and nutmeg notes. I don’t care for it but the complexity is impressive.

Bottle (cork labeled 086/477044, if that means anything...probably the phone number and not a bottle number). Pours with a murky hazy brown body and a foamy off-white head. Sourness one can smell from across the room. Aroma of sour, cork, mold, black pepper nostril burn, earth, orange peel, chocolate, flowers and tapioca. Taste is sour, floral, with a slightly metallic finish with buttery chocolate and a lingering pepper finish. That first sip is the worst, but I am not liking the after taste from this bottle. Garbage, grease, pepper, raw cocoa nibs. A bit too spicy too. Wish I liked it more, but I can’t stand the aftertaste, even after a few sips. Small, tingly bubbles. Dry mouthfeel.

750 mL bottle. Aroma of sweet barnyard funk, plums and honey. Sour taste of spices, nutmeg, sweet chocolate malt and slight barnyard finish. Really different, really good.

The aroma of this beer is a little deceiving. It smells pretty plane, but once you take a sip there are many flavors. It has the typical spiced flavor mixed with an almost sour taste to it. I love sours and this seems like a winter beer that other sour loves might enjoy.

Amber so dark it almost brown. Thin head. Gingerbread, sour dark malt, hops, and thick spices make up the aroma. Dark malt gingerbread and hop flavour with a lot of spices singing in the finish and aftertaste choruses. spice notes include ginger and pepper. Alcohol takes its time come up.

2009 vintage enjoyed xmas eve (and xmas day). Nose is really, really inviting, nice lactic sourness with some cherries and other stone fruit, slightly funky - as it warms, there’s some woodiness and spices (coriander? ). Flavor is a little dissapointing as per the suggesiton of the nose. Starts off with a funky sour punch, then a warming milk chocolate and light vanilla and black pepper. Finish is, well, strange. Really ashy and some botter chocolate shows, too. The ash finish approaches being a turnoff as it warms. All in all, another really unique beer from Fantome. Save for the weird lava/ash finish, it was well done.

Drank this on Christmas Eve while making cookies and listening to Holiday music with my girlfriend. This without a doubt is one of my favorite Christmas beers. Perfectly balanced in most aspects. Wonderful sour aroma without being too strong. Pours a terrific red/brown. As for taste, like I said the balance is great, awesome sourness, nice weird yeasty-ness, slight spice and a good mix of a roasty malt top this amazing beer off. All this while being slightly dry and refreshing enough to make me wish I had bought 2 of them. Merry Christmas!