Fantome Black Ghost

Aroma: 7 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 7

Pours slightly murky brown, lighter than the average porter. Slightly tart fruity aroma, though some chocolate and roasted malts are in there too. Prickly feel. No sign of abv. Flavor is pretty well balance between light funk and English brown type matinees. Nice enough though I was expecting more.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 6 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 6

I've heard this described as a stout, a Belgian Strong Ale, and a Saison...sop I'm not sure what it is. A brownish copper beer with a generous head and a barnyard smell. The flavour was tart fruits. It was satisfactory.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Have been looking forward to this one for a long time. Thanks eagle for this. Poured a cloudy brownish color with a small white head. Aroma was lots of spices and some chocolate, some dark chocolate. Flavor was much the same roasted malts in. Expected more funk, but solid beer.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 8 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

A long-hoped for Fantome brew, finally on the shelves of State Line. Props to Gabe for pointing that out in his review! Poured a murky orangey brown with a generous but tamed off-white colored head, decent lacing all the way down. The aroma was light chocolate with dry Belgian spices (almost coriander-like), some fruits, dry black pepper. The flavor followed the aroma, but this was more roasty in flavor than I'd have thought (less fruity) from the aroma. Dry bitterness in the finish, no real funk factor, hops present too. Mouthfeel was dry and airy.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 6 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 6 | Overall: 7

750ml bottle, corked and capped. Pours a hazy reddish amber with sediment. The head is bubbly, white and creamy and retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is grainy malts, funky yeast and acidic and tart fruits and some band-aid. Cinnamon comes out as it warms.

The flavor is some sweet fruits, and spicy funky yeast followed by a sharp tongue biting tartness and chocolate. It's pretty acidic and dry. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with creamy carbonation.

Overall, an interesting beer.I'm not sure what to make of it, but would try it again.

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 8

Enjoyed this with the men folk on Christmas Day. It had been sitting in my garage for awhile so I figured this was as good a time as any to pop it open. After the pour, you could tell there were a million things going on with this one. I didn't get much tartness in the taste as other reviewrs, but it was there. A very good sample I'd say. It didn't last long.

Aroma: 10 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 7 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 7

pours a hazy bordeaux-brown colour with a little but regular foam; solid but subtle spicy aroma (nutmeg, cloves?) with some fruity notes in the background (pear and apple); some sweetness with a touch of finishing sourness; the malt body stays surprisingly thin for a beer with 8% alcohol and particularly fails on the end; the spicyness and the fruits take control again in a long pleasant finish - unusual and hard to rate, as always by this brewery

Aroma: 9 | Appearance: 9 | Mouthfeel: 10 | Flavor: 10 | Overall: 10

Yowza....!!

If ever there are any doubts to the sheer audacity of Fantôme, as far as pushing the limits of what "can" and "should" or "should not" be brewed..., this beer in particular should put those ugly myths to bed for good...!

The Brasserie Fantôme is based out of Soy, Belgium -- and this particular beer does look a bit like Kikoman Soy Sauce. But unlike the last beer that I had that resembled soy sauce (the wretchedly over-rated Sam Adam's Triple Bock), this a wonderfully complex and flavorful concoction, indeed.

While this may look rather dark and creepy, it's the aroma that sets things back to Square One, IMO. That is to say, there's little to deny that this doesn't have some (if not most) of it's roots in the standard Fantôme line of Saisons. Fruity, complex, mysterious..., appealing? Yep, it's it, and that's that.

Much of the same can be said about the flavor profile of this bad boy. Hints of some Saison underpinnings here and there, but with enough esoteric things going on in the middle and the background that this is not merely a "black saison".

Rather, I could see this being pushed as more of a Grand Cru than anything else. Figs and plums (oranges?) in the mouthfeel, and yet with enough bitterness to keep things on the up-and-up.

Dries out in the finish, with almost Mocha Latte-like notes in the backend. Again -- altogether appealing and enjoyable.

A truly excellent beer, from start to finish. This can only cement Fantôme's place as a truly avant-garde operation, IMHO.

Most Highly Recommended.
//TB

Aroma: 8 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 7 | Overall: 8

Bottle: Poured a deep murky brown color ale with a huge dirty brown color head with good retention. Aroma of funky yeast, tart and strange spices. Taste is quite different from anything I had before and includes traces of unknown spices, roasted malt, funky yeast and a sour finish. Again, a very interesting experiment from Danny but IMHO not as good as the Strange Ghost.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 7 | Mouthfeel: 8 | Flavor: 8 | Overall: 9

This is a very nice beer. sampled at RBSG 04 in Portland, Oregon. Dark brown pour, the aroma has grapes and some mustiness in it. The flavors are complex and excellent. Beautiful to drink