Fantôme Hiver (Winter)

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

750ml. pours dense light mohagony with off wh head. nose sweet toffee, hay, wet grains, flowers, earthy, coriander, just wonderful. flavor is crisp, sweet toffee, with head, coriander, wow this is great. no alc taste. full body. what a great flavor and balance. one of my favorites from fantome.4.3.

1998 vintage ྪ years old), pretty past its prime, still holding up but its mostly sour and earthy while the funk has taken over leaving almost nothing.3.3.

colore giallo carico buona schiuma profumo in prevalenza di spezie che si ripete anche in bocca molto calda

One of the best saison I’ve had. Aroma of spices and citrus. Pour was a cloudy gold with a beautiful white 3 finger head. Taste was nice and bitter with spices and citrus on the tonsils. Some wet blanket and must in there also. This tastes like a real saison.

Pours out a hazyorange marmalade colour with a creamy off white head billowing up the glass. Smell- is sour with a hint of skunk. Taste- earthy, very dry and metallic. There is some nice citrus here- lime, pear and applel. Hops are noticable with the dryness otherwise muted and somewhat grassy. Spicy- not sure what exact spices are there. Drinkability- no booziness at all. Thin body , medium carbonation makes for an easier drinker. Not sure about the metallic and earth (dirt) tastes, but damn interesting beer.

Nice golden color. Smallish head. Good stink to this beer. Pleasing to my belly. Me likey the wonderful taste.

Cloudy golden body. Short-lived initially large white head leaving good lacings. Excessive lavender on the nose and in the taste followed by mint, vanilla, peppery spices and quite of bit of spicy hard candies. There are plenty more spices in there but I can’t tell them apart. The mix of spices is complex for sure but also weird and unfortunately not very enjoyable. Surprising medium-high tartness level. The body is pleasantly soft, filled with plenty of chewy cereals and with an appropriate smooth carbonation. Lots of aromatic floral hops. Alcohol feels like 5%. I’ve had that beer many times before in various tasting sessions but I wanted to go through a full bottle by myself before rating it. The first glass was ok but a full bottle was sickening. I don’t think the previous bottles I sampled had that excessive lavender flavour. Didn’t seem like an infection to me. Don’t know what to say. Winter has never been my favorite Season.

Aroma: Relatively clean except for a very interesting curry/spicy thing going on, can’t pick out the spice, maybe cumin? It’s very light, but there. Interesting, I like it. Appearance: A little cloudy, decent white head. Orange colored, attractive. Flavor: Same spiciness as in the aroma, except a little caramel, sweet malt flavor and an almost burnt (but not unpleasant) character in the finish. Slight sourness. Slight fruit flavor, can’t pick out what it is. Palate: Medium bodied, with adequate carbonation. Very easy to drink. Overall: Very different, but very good, rendition of style. A really unique beer, I definitely recommend!

Bottle sampled. Pours orange/rbown with a small khaki colored head. Aroma of spices, yeast, fruit, sugar, and wood. The flavor is sweet, fruit, spices, wood, and a floral hoppy finish.