Fantôme Printemps

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

Serve in Tulip

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UPDATED: SEP 10, 2011 750 from my Secret Santa - thanks!!! This one’s a very interesting combination of flavors. What else would I expect from Fantome? A moderate pour, compared to some of the explosiveness of some Fantome brews, but one that’s still rich and very aromatic. Fine looking orange hue with moderate lacing and decent retention. What immediately strikes you is - despite the name - an almost autumnal funk, with lots of sour apples and a bit of spice (that I can’t help but associate with clove and cinnamon, though it’s honestly more peppery I suppose). It’s all balanced by that dry and grassy intensity that I love in a saison - here it’s just a tad rough, and maybe this bottle’s beyond its peak. Still quite fine.

UPDATED: SEP 1, 2007 bottle, ealing festival. Maple coloured with no head. Orange/apricot aroma. Yeasty with fruity hints. Some barnyard funk. Taste of unripened oranges with slight spice. Overall fruity and light. A nice drink.

750ml bottle. I am rating based on memory - I lost my notes. I had this instead of a bottle of wine with a great dinner at a place in Atlanta called Floataway Cafe. The beer was cloudy and deep red/amber with hints of brown. The head was was formed of large bubbles and not particularly long lasting. The aroma was fruity with some malts and yeast and a signature Belgian funkiness (brett?). The flavor of the beer was an interesting combination of sweet toffee-like malts, some grassiness and some funkiness, and some fruit. There was a touch of acidity/sourness that provided an interesting counterpoint to the funk. The finish was dry with hints of malts, yeast, and acid. Overall, interesting, but not as good as their standard Saison. Though, judging from the great variety and inconsistency in the ratings for this beer, perhaps it doesn’t travel well and would have been even better if I had found it in better shape.

Had this at Ratebeer’s Horny Devil Pittsburgh Winter Tasting 2012. Big thanks to mrchopin for this brew. Very clear pale yellow with a thin head that fades rapidly. Mild and easy going aroma. This beer, on the palate, goes down very easy. A gentleman per se. Fun and friendly, you would never know it was 8%! Overall very gooed beer drinken experience. I really liked this brew. Some saisons are just too much in your face, this never was.

Pours a rather dark amber brown with a smaller creme head. Nose is slightly yeasty and grassy, but rather mild. Certainly not what I have come to find other Fantome brews to be. Flavor is a bit different than I am used to from these guys. I get a subdued sweet with a tart ending. Almost a old grass influence, but very mild. Touch of wood. Tangy is the key word here I think. Feel is fairly standard for the style. It is drinkable, sure. But I am wondering if this is a bad bottle. There is nothing really exciting or interesting about this beer I think. I enjoy other productions from the brewery much more.

75cl traded bottle "enjoyed in spring" during hors d’vours night with the Normandy neighbors. Fruity, tart and refreshing. Nice and light for a warm evening.

Saison #10 consumed ’blind’ at the Pewaukee tasting. Clear, light brown color. Aroma and flavor dominated by a collection of old mixed flowers being collected for seeds from my grandmother’s garden. A little sweetness, sourness, some definite astringency in the flavor. Strange spices. Moderate-light mouthfeel. Healthy carbonation.

Bottle. Thanks Dave (dchmela) No idea how old. When I popped the cap the cork released itself with a ferocity. Tons of foam at first, but it died down to manageable levels. I never would have guessed that this was a Belgian Saison if you just gave it to me in a glass. It tastes like a Belgian ale. Pours deep blood orange with a massive head. The aroma is quite unique. It seems that it is built around the malt with some fruits (oranges, dates, grapes. and apples after I burped.) and spices. There really isn’t any funkiness present. It’s definitely not champagne like and it doesn’t smell light or refreshing. It does smell and taste good though. Not what I expected.

Well... to start with, for those not in the know... this beer is both capped and corked. Imagine my surprise when I popped the cap off, then noticed I had to dig out my corkscrew. The aroma of this beer is citrus, pepper, and something I can’t quite put my finger on, and it is intriguing. Pours a slightly hazy straw like color, with a tight thin white head. The tase starts with a burst of citrus, followed by an earthy mustiness. Very low carbonation, and a long earthy finish. Not bad, but for the price I paid, and the hype I’ve heard about Fantome, I was expecting better.

Somewhat murky dark-copper body, rapidly dissappearing head, no lacing. Fruity, spicy (white pepper, coriander, kurkuma/koenjit) and tart aroma with brett, but also some caramel, quite a full spectrum, with a prominent yeast backbone. Taste was nicely sharp and citric upfront, and quickly faded into dry tart fruityness, good complexity and good balance. Not much carbonation. A nicely odd saison.