Fantôme Saison

Appearance: Pours a hazed, dulled, dark orange body with a tall, finely-textured, white head. Smell: Very indulgent, richly-scented aroma with notes of ground blended spices, a lightly brine-y mustiness, and fresh-plucked Springtime meadow flowers along with tart-smelling, vibrant citrus and tropical fruits. Taste: Lightly malty and a modestly robust sweetness underneath the bright, juicy burst of tart Meyer lemon, white peaches, and pineapple fruitiness. Splash of Viognier. Also, the flavor is simply brimming with fresh floral tones. Definite yeasty character to it, though with only a finite amount of mustiness. There’s just a hint of underlying bitterness. Teeny dash of cracked peppercorns. Some puckering acidity all the while. The finish is dry and airy as well as a tad tart. Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied. Medium-high carbonation. Drinkability: Not one to miss! Abundantly complex, flavorful, and particularly refreshing (especially considering the 8% ABV).

Well, I normally don’t buy fifteen-dollar beers but the Noel I had several months ago convinced me Fantome is real as steel and now its bottle poppin’ time. This poured a nice golden color with a slight haze to it. The head is close to non-existent, just white wisps on the surface. The smell is glorious fruits like orange peel, spices, this is how I expected VE07 to smell and it let me down. The taste is like lemon zest, pepper, with a slight amount of tart funkiness peeking from the background, excellent. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 10-22-2007 15:01:37

Bottle at the Where the Wild Beers are event. Murky brownish amber thin white head. Peppery, grassy, lemon. Little thin, lemony, candy – Spree I think. Finishes up lightly, with some dryness.

750ml bottle from flacoalto 񢉓 vintage)... Pours a hazy golden orange brown with medium soapy white head... Yeasty musty and some smarties... Slighty tart and refreshing, light ripen fruit. Sweet tarts. Semi lively carbonation. Really nice and refreshing overall.

Golden yellow body with a nice two finger head in a Duvel tulip. Some nice lacing left as well. Aroma is full of lemon and orange, spice, wheat and bread, sourness, hay and horseblanket. Flavor is citric, white wine, wheat, tart with fruity sweetness and floral hops in the background. Nice carbonation and medium mouthfeel with a nice initial dryness. I’d prefer lower alcohol, but certainly tasty and unique.

750ml bottle. Pours an orange color with a huge white head. Aroma is Fantome all the way. Earthy, funky, bready citrus. Flavor is much the same, earthy, funky, bready, pepper, orange peel. Tart and funky finish. Great beer. A wonderful farmhouse ale.

Really interesting fruity and floral aroma. Very light grapes. Yeasty goodness. Pretty great appearance as well, nice one finger white head with great retention and excellent carbonation over a light gold liquid. Taste doesn’t quite live up to the scent, at least not in boldness. The floral and grapes are there, especially in the finish, but this is otherwise pretty subtle. Very refreshing, and spice is at an acceptable level. This goes down really easy. Mouth has an extremely dry finish over a thin and fizzy mouth, which is great for this style. It wouldn’t be drinkable otherwise.

I cant believe that I have never had this one considering that i love saisons. Poured a cloudy yellow color with not much head at all. Aroma was a very light funk and citrus notes. Flavor was actually pretty clean not as crazy as i expected. Very very easy to drink. No alcohol or harsh notes at all. This did not leave much carb on the tongue at all though. I would have like a better carbonation i think it would have opened it up a lot more. Not very funky as most have noted. Solid saison though.