Fantôme Strange Ghost

Brewed by Brasserie Fantôme
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Soy-Erezée, Belgium

750 ml bottle, mail ordered from Liquor Max in Loveland, Colorado, shared at the csbosox tasting on 3/7/08. Pour is cloudy brown-orange with a nice off white head. Aroma of spruce, all spice, mild black pepper, and almost a medicinal quality. Tons going on in this nose, though not sure it all works together. Taste is pretty medicinal, sharp contrast between the sweetness and spiciness. Cloves are in there as well. The spruce gives this a very piney finish. Interesting, but not sure what to make of it. Thanks for starting mail ordering Nick!

(bottle) Pours out cloudy brown with a towering off-white head, unusual for a saison. The smell is pretty decent, reminds me of a mixture between a musty basement, tart apple, berry, and a bit of sweet bread thrown in. The taste was very sweet with some cherry, but there is also a tartness that emerges as well. The beer then rounds out with a yeasty finish. The mouthfeel of this beer was very disappointing. Most saisons I’ve tried are medium-bodied, but this one was incredibly thin.

750 via trade a while back, shared with my girlfriend Cyn after taking down a nice bottle of Goudenband. Pours a dark murky cloudy brownish red wiht a 2 finger tan head. Nose is sweet and funky, pretty strange but nice. Taste is sweet and tart and funky and kinda hard to classify, its certainly good but weird.

Tried at the Cellars weekly beer tasting. Murky, silky, brown pour with a small tannish head. Aroma was a mixture of barnyard and vicks vapor rub. Also a biit of cinnamon in there. The vicks aroma is not as strong in the taste and fades to a mint flavor. There is a nice tartness to this as well along with some citrus.

The strange ghost lurks at the bottom of my beer stirring up a cloudy mixture of dark amber/brown murkiness. He hides underneath a layer of tan and brown spekled clouds. His scent is sweet but not too sweet. There is a farm smell from the ghost roaming around the barn, and some spice from trolling through the garden. The ghost left something tart in the beer while swimming in it. He left some of the spices he picked up through the garden also. Some of the ghost must still be in there since it is a little thicker than a traditional saison. The ghost wasn’t bad, but didn’ scare me much.

Bottle shared by one of the NY metro guys. Pours a hazy brown color. Aroma is rather, well, strange. The masked ghost hits you hard with plenty of mint and spices. Quite refreshng actually. Taste is pretty minty as well, along with some earthy hops. Some floral elements here as wel that I couldn’t quite pin down. I really liked this odd fellow.

Bottle at Dr. Bills. A great belgian ale with a slightly sour taste and nice finish. Cloudy pour with sweet aroma.

Poured from a 750ml bottle and served in a tulip. This beer poured a hazy brown with some amber highlights and a foamy, tan head that slowly faded down into a thin, lasting cap. The aroma of the beer was made up of orange, mint, pited-fruits, cinnamon, raisin, and a soft barnyard/sour note. The flavor consisted of fresh mint, cinnamon, lemon zest, orange, and lightly acidic white grapes. The mouthfeel was medium-bodied and crisp with a tongue cooling, minty feel. Mint/menthol played a major role in the nose and flavor, but was not intrusive. Interesting and tasty. An amazingly refreshing beer.