Fantôme Saison dErezée

Formerly brewed at Brasserie Fantôme
Style: Saison
Soy-Erezée, Belgium

Serve in Tulip

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1997 Vintage
Tasted on 12/26/11 from a 750mL bottle shared at a tasting, humongous thanks to Paul for sharing this amazingly rare gem. Pours murky, full of sediment, burnt orange with no head, but a bit of thin lace. The nose is super funky brett with some pitted and sour fruits, caramel, and, surprisingly, just a bit of nutty oxidation. The flavor is tart and super funky with pitted fruit, red berries, some nutty oxidation, and a vanilla note that I usually associate with oak aging, but in this case is most likely from the oxidation. The body is medium with some tannic stickiness and a long tart pitted fruit, lightly nutty and hint of vanilla finish.

The beer is a hazed orange color without much (if anything) in the way of a head. Heavily corked, as I expected, with some wet cardboard and musty funk. Like some other older Fantome beers, a bit of butterscotch and caramel sweetness. The flavor is rather uninteresting and not all that good, unfortunately. Cork and cardboard with a light funk and some sweet malt and sugar notes.

Getrunken beim RB Treffen in Düsseldorf am 6.1.07 Ich bin trotz komischer Blicke vom Doppelbnock der Meinung, dass das Bier nach gut gereiftem Käse riecht. Das Bier ist sauer und wird mit der Zeit noch saurer. Leichte Kirschnoten lassen sich ebenfalls finden. Das macht das Bier zwar sehr harmonisch, leider aber nicht sehr aromatisch. Test vom 7.1.2007, Gebinde: Glasflasche Noten: 12,10,9,12,9,10 - 10,30

The beer pours a very dark honey gold with some light tan yeast throughout. The head is off white, only rising about a finger and is gone quickly. The lacing is good. The aroma is super light, your get mostly yeast, with some banana, and light hops at the end. The taste has more flavor than the aroma but it starts off pretty dead. The middle brings a big hoppy bitter surpise and the beer finishes like a typical saison with some grassy earthiness. There is a little sourness. There’s a lot going on, but not a big fan. The feel is medium bodied, with a very lasting feeling, you taste the beer on your tongue several seconds later. The drinkablity is pretty good, very surprised this is 8% but at the same time I don’t really love the taste so I probably wouldn’t crush a whole bottle myself. Overall, the beer is ok. A little twist on a saison but nothing special that I’d seek out.

Light golden straw with ample white topping. Looks almost like a mead with head. A little sour with a hint of lavender. Not sure if lavender was used, but it smells like it. A bit of sweetness mixed in as well but pretty muted. Peppery. Mixed with flowers. The lavender comes through again. Bit of a twang on the backend. Pretty thin, but a nice change for a beer this high in ABV. And btw, it is higher than someone typed into the ABV for the description. Fairly drinkable for a seasoned beer. Not bad for 3 euros a 750mL.

750 ml bottle courtesy of a trade poured into my large duvel tulip glass A- Body is a nearly opaque golden yellow color. Pours with a giant, foamy, white gushing head (the bottle was a gusher) that very slow fades to 1/2 finger and has great retention from there though little lacing is left behind in the glass. Cloudiness is thick and dynamic as you can see yeast sediment, bubbles, and cloudiness whirling about the beer. S- The main character of the nose is a tart lemon presence. Below this is both a sweet bready yeast, a soft spiciness, and a barnyard like yeast funk. T- Subtle tart fruit comes through a little bit upfront but the main characters are a herbal hop flavor and a funky yeast. The finish adds a touch of spiciness to what is already present, the hops flavors get a bit bitter, there is just a touch of,there is a touch of alcohol astringency as well, and the most interesting part is a touch of piny hop flavor that emerges quickly and comes to be potent then immediately disappears-but still the main character of this beer is the funky yeast. What lingers is a minimal hop bitterness a tartness that fades quickly, a and a hint of bready yeast. P- Medium carbonation and somewhat dense (for a light beer) smooth, yeasty body. O- This is another great saison from the fantome lineup. I pretty much want to try them all. Not my favorite but still very wonderful. It’s interesting, drinkable, and complex. I have another bottle (a very generous extra in a recent trade) in my cellar so I can have this one again without having to travel or trade for it. Great beer and looking forward to trying more Fantome’s! Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 03-13-2009 22:11:21

0.75 l bottle at PBF (as Saison d’Erezee Hiver ’98-99, 8 %). Golden color. Acidic, musty, corky and champagne like aroma with notes of black currant and pepper. Dry, musty, corky, peppery and black curranty flavor. Slightly yeasty and astringent. A bit too corky, but still there is a nice musty cellar and old champagne character.

Bottled at PBF (as Saison d’Erezée Hiver ’98-99, 8%). Lightly hazy golden, almpst no head. Citric winegum aroma with beginning cardboard behind. Very dry and fairly light bodied. Fantôme’s trademark winegum flavour here mixes with slight oxidized paper. Finised somewhat acetic.

Bottled (8%m, Fantome Saison dErezée Hiver ’98-99). Golden colour, small white head. Aroma is spices, some sour wood and mild peppery notes. Flavour is wood, some sour fruits, quite spicy as well as some earthyness. A bit earthcellary notes as well. The aging might be the reason why this is quite mellow. Still very nice.