Fantôme Saison

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

Looks great - clear gold, big foamy head with loads of clumps of lacing left in the glass. Amazing aroma unlike anything I’ve smelled in beer before - raspberry sherbet or jelly crystals, lime rind, custard, sour cola bottles, violets, lavender and some other flowers. Smells like a lolly shop! It perhaps became slightly too much over the course of the bottle, in a West Coast Cooler kind of way, though. Weirdly slick, almost oily mouthfeel, body is light but not that light. Tastes a bit tame compared to the aroma - lean, silky pils malt, flour, lime flowers, pears, coconutty (Belgian?) hops, slight saltiness and chalkiness in finish. Great stuff; a good way to finish off the bottles I brought back from Belgium, though hopefully it and La Moneuse will live on in spirit through some home brews this summer if the yeasts take off. I love Fantôme’s labels too.

pours a cloudy yellow, a little gold color. white frothy head like merangue. aroma is light white pepper, yeasty tangy funky citrus like kumkuats, and some herbal grasses. very lively carbonation, lightly tart and faintly dry. yeastiness carries both sweet malt and chardonnay-like lemony spices. what a great namesake beer, as I was very happy to enjoy this as much as all of the other Fantomes I’ve had.

Nothing tastes like a Fantome, and I’m not even going to bother trying to explain here what they’re like. Distinctly fruity with a full body and lingering flavor, this is great. I prefer the Noel, but this is nonetheless a top notch saison.

Wow! Really good beer, very specific taste, very fruity! This is one of the best beers I’ve ever drunk. Very nice appearance, aroma and flavor.

The color of peaches that are a tad too ripe, with a big, honeycomb fluffy head that perfectly my expectations for the style.
A bizzare, funky kind of yeast strain, dusty tangerines, and freshly chopped wild mushrooms, with a splash of alcohol. Cool!
Carbonation nice and lively, it gave this Beer a nice citrucy pop, with bread flavors, a strange hop profile (my guess is he uses spent hops) and the finish is yeasty and bitter like banana peels. very nice stuff!

Largely smeared and hazy straw gold color with a medium yet firm whitish cap. Keeps a great looking thin skim and thickly set collar once the cap fades from the pour.Very intricate lacing in cobwebbed sheeting. Yeast poured out thick at the finishing of the bottle and completely turned the color opaque resembling pear mush and ochre paint. Quite a peppy aroma upon first hit to the nose. Highly fruity with a white grape/lemon candy/berry zip and a nicely rounded but fevered little notion of pepper, spicy, grassy, dry yeast. Taste is immaculate. Airy but firm with flavor and hold. Slow and intriguing front end with mild sweet berry-like malts and wheat bread. Middle stays sweet and a bit sugary with dried peach, melon, and apricot. Floral tones rise to the surface behind the berry fruit then some herbal spice and citric zest spring into action as it flys into the finish with a big recoil back into the berryness and a lovely soft touch of pale wood. Every area is always filled with the finely placed and active berry flavor. Mildly complexing, nice, and very fun to let dance and play on the palate. Feel is kinda two-sided with a soft airy front and has that same kind of texture throughout yet holds an interestingly bold, somewhat mild/full carbonation that tends to keep it reaching further and further as it continues to sift through the flavors and finish with a lovely light drying notion of berries, wood, and spice. Nice! The drinkability is about right. Sessionable to a point as its ABV and carbonation catches up to ya. Nice berry burps. A tender, mild treat thats got lots of things going for it. Complicated yet simple and delicately natured. A fun beer. Don’t pass it up. Recommended.

This bottle had been in the cellar for at least a year. I did not notice any evolution: good or bad. Ooohhh that smell, that smell of saison around you. The aroma is exactly what I’ve come to expect froma top-notch saison: yeasty, orange, herbs, strawberry. This beer poured an average, frothy head with excellent lacing. The body was murky with lots of small yeast particles (emptied the entire bottle). The body was amber. The initial flavor is sweet and heavy with a moderately sweet, average length finished. Mouthfeel was lively and dry. One of my favorite saisons.

Nice, light and refreshing. Taste is a little sour and tingles the tongue. The alcohol content is apparent and a little too pronounced and overbalanced against the subtle flavors.