Fantôme La Dalmatienne

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

750 ml bottle. Pours a nice medium to deep coppery amber with a nice frothy off white head- some lace. Aroma isn’t really the typical fantome yeasty character you get with more fantomes- more spice, grassy notes, weird herbal and lemony hops, some citrus and green peppercorn hints. Flavor is light pale malts, some toast, but more herbs, spices, lemon grass hints, light olive/caper notes, and a spicy phenolic finish. Seemed extra dry even for a fantome- totally unique beer even for them. Good stuff here, but not mind blowing.

Bottle (750ml) shared at ’Biegaman’s Second Annual Saison Tasting’ - courtesy of blankboy. Golden, slightly cloudy, with a small white head. Aroma - funky, peppery, and a bit of urine, but oddly it’s not unappealing. Flavour is NOTHING like the aroma - OK, maybe a little bit - but it tastes like slightly funky tangerine juice. Huh. Very strange beer, but I think I liked it.

750 mL bottle received via trade with swoopjones. Pours sparkling amber with an average, frothy, off-white head, mostly diminishing with fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (cookie, bread, straw), average hops (herbs, grass), heavy yeast (horse blanket, earth) with notes of apple and pear. Medium bodied, slick texture, average carbonation, and a chalky finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness, light acidity and bitterness. Pleasant and very drinkable.

(Bottled, 0.75l) Hazy golden with a medium, foamy and lacy head. Spicy-peppery, earthy aroma with pale, grainy malt and some grassy hops. Slight toffee-caramely, banana-fruity sweetness with peppery rosemary spiciness, and flowery-aromatic hops. Alcohol is perfectly hidden. With yeast, there’s some orangey fruitiness. Medium-bodied with soft carbonation. A quite enjoyable brew, but both strangely spicy (as Fantomes always), and sweetish (as they rarely are). Not very complex, though.

Lots of yeast in the aroma. After sitting awhile in my basement, it still pours a very nice head. Golden. Much golder than I expected. Bit funky in the taste, which is nice. Not overwhelming. Also some sweetness. Probably too sour and funky for my wife, but just right for me. Nice. I kept forgetting I had this one, and today I remembered to pull it. Just in time for the Mizzou game.

Bottle from Paul. Pours dark copper with a disappointingly small head. Normally Fantome head is totally overbearing. Lots of sediment. Aroma has a lot of cinnamon, cloves, toast. Tons of malt in the flavor, chewy spices, lots of florals. Lacks complexity. Body is nice but not superb, and is a bit hard to drink. Isn’t very refreshing, which many Fantomes are. Quite tasty, but doesn’t live up to many other saisons.

Bottle (750ml - green). At 2nd Annual Summer Saison Tasting - blankboy’s bottle. Murky deep amber with an average fizzy white head. Pungently floral aroma, with spice and what can only be described as "old piss" dominating. The taste, now there’s not much pee HERE - sort of like the powder to make tangerine koolaid, intense in many ways, sweetness, floral/herbal essence, even fairly strong alcohol - but weirdly very good. Thick bodied, I mean really, really thick .... lots going on with acidity and spice and sourness ... I mean really, why do I like this? "old piss?" and I’m in the high 3s????

Pours a hazy copper color with a white head. Aroma is malty, wheat, coriander, herbs, and spicy hops. Flavor is malty, fruity, herbs, and a spicy finish.