Fantôme Saison

from Holiday Wine Cellar. Cloudy golden brown with white head. Malty straw and fruit aroma. Sweet pineapple juice taste with some champagne character, citrus and mild spice taste.

Pours a pale cloudy yellow with a surprisingly minimal white head. Aroma is sweet honey and hop flowers along with a spicy fruitiness. Taste is smooth yet assertive. Tart fermented honey and pale malt sweetness along with citrus notes and a funky but pleasant sourness. An excellent example of a Belgian farmer’s ale.

bottle. pours a hazy straw yellow color with a white head that lasts and laces nicely. nutty malt smell, with a light lemon note, and a slight hint of brett, as well as some white grapes, some woodiness, and a bit of spice and earthiness. nutty, bready malt smell, with a fairly dominating orange backdrop, along with some more lemon, white grape, and spice. very lightly bittersweet finish, quite dry. medium body, lots of carbonation. i was surprised that i had never had this before. quite quenching and yummy--it goes down waaay too easily for 8%. edited to add: the more i drink this beer, the more i realize it’s one of my absolute favorites. as far as saisons go, it’s way more fruity than phenolic, much to my liking, and what the brett adds is just perfect. you end up with an amazingly drinkable, quenching, yet potent and complex (i would almost rather say complicated) beer, that you can drink and drink without thinking about it, or you can savor every sip. i usually choose the latter, and this beer has never let me down. fantastic.

[750 ml] Super hazy, turbid orange/yellow. Green apple, fruity esters. Grassy. Flavors are full of floral/fruity esters, apple, and slight clove. Strong musty, funk element; pineapple brett flavors.

Bottle pours out a hazy light gold orange with very little in the way of head or lace. There is a small surface haze and lace ring. The aroma is lemon, pineapple, barnyard, a walk in the north woods after the rain in high summer, leather, wallnuts, and spice. The flavor is lemon tart, sugar, leather, green apple, quite delicious. The palate is lightly carbonated and wet, quenching. As it warms, honey notes start to get exposed under the sourness - vastly improved. I remember having this several years ago and do not remember it being this good. I’m really into the honey and sour combination. This is a great rating experience.

750 ml bottle. No date notched in the side. Slightly funky aroma. Outhouse, wet barnyard and some sweeter fruit rind. Caramel apples with cinnamon as well. Pours a unclear burnt caramel with no visible carbonation and virtually no head. Creamy on the palate with not too much carbonation. Mouth filling flavor though. Sweet and tart. Musty and dusty. Some fruit. Not as funky on the tongue as on the nose. Quite nice now, and I can’t wait to see this one with some age on it.

Bottle, thanks to alexanderj. Hazy yellow / gold with white head. Aroma is a little minty, spices, barnyard, lemon rind. Good palate, slightly sweet malt, spices, slight funk, and a little mint yeastiness in the finish. Good beer overall.

Bottle; poured a frothy yellow with a smallish white head. Some lacing. Aroma was pretty good for the style (not normally a fan of the aroma); some distinct lemon/honey, spice and possibly flowers and mint. Flavor was pretty complex; with lemon, fruit, must, some slight sugariness, spice, biscuits, and mint. One of the better examples of the style that I have had.