Fantôme Printemps

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

Serve in Tulip

Liveliest of all Fantomes, this one is always cherrylike to me, something like a black cherry wine product. Of course, that taste is always mingling with the strange spices and mustiness that I expect from these dusty hard-to-find bottles. My last experience saw half of the bottle pour over as foam.

Hay. Aroma. What aroma? Subtle to say the least. Slight aroma of old red apples, mixed nuts, pears, toasted malts and other light fruits. Lacking the usual Fantome magic. First that miserable Black Ghost, now this very poor offering. An underlying light fruitiness with notes of pear, apple, honey, caramel, orange and lemon and just a small hint of that Fantome yeast taste that I usually love. Most of their beers are so distinctive. This isn’t. Not special to say the least.

Courtesy SoLan. Pours a cloudy amber color, with a small off white head. Smells of funked out fruits in typical Fantome fashion. Some definite spices, with a good dose of apple esters. The apple is quite profound in the flavor as well. A mixture of funk and spices is present to balance out the fruitiness a bit and give it some complexity. Another well done saison, but you have to figure that coming from these guys.

Bottle courtesy of JRedmond. True too the description... champagne like, fruity juice, tart lemons and lime. Uber sweet and tart.

Gold with a white head and webbed lacing. Barnyardy and gamey. Some horseblanket. Sour. Flavors are very mellow. Spicy. Fruity. Citrus fruits mostly. Sour palate. So nice.

Blind tasting at Sombeast’s house

This was one of the middling saisons of the six that I tried blind. While it was not flawed I did not find it to be outstanding. I have no idea what vintage we sampled but it lacked something. While I do not expect saisons to be extremely complex I would like a little bit of character.

Aroma / Appearance - Creamy vanilla, flowers, peach and honey form a sweet but relatively neutral nose. Nothing about it sucked me in; in fact I was rather indifferent about trying it after the bouquet. The caramel body had a temporary foam head which was quick to pass.

Flavor / Palate - Mineral water, lemons and wheat bread form a midafternoon snack. After that comes a light dessert with bitter semisweet chocolate decorating cherries. It has a solid but not compelling finish. I might drink this if offered it but it did not wow me into wanting a bottle for myself.

750ml bottle. Pours a dark brown color with a small off white head. Nose is grassy and lightly sour with a dryness to it. Palate is lightly tingly with a very nice mouthfeel, kinda fluffy but goes down easy. Flavor is grassy and sour with some nice funkiness to it. A nice light hop character to it and a crisp clean finish.

Sweet, lager aroma with alcohol evident. Hazy, light gold. Small, white head. Excellent lace. Really rich flavor. Grassy and vegetal. Heather? Saffron? Very unique. Allspice? Clove. Very nice. Would buy again.