Fantome dÉté

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

Poured a cloudy dark gold color with massive head and good lacing. Aroma was lots of lemons spices and lots of pepper. Flavor was much the same with some applces in there. The funk balanced out the sweetness.

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

Bottle from Knightly in March '07. Poured a hazy to cloudy golden amber color, very nice frothy head, good retention and lacing. The aroma was tart lemons and apples, various spices, pepper most notable. The flavor followed the aroma, sour apples/lemons prominent, yet refreshing and far from a lambic pucker factor. Funkiness also balanced this out and the peppery wild spicing was rather subdued for Fantome (perhaps in part because of the age?). A nicely done saison, would have enjoyed trying this a few times throughout the past year, tracking how it changed (if at all), although other reviewers seem to note the significant sour/tart factor relative to the rest of what is going on in it.

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

Bottled. Deep brownish amber colour, small beige head. Aroma is spices and earth. Flavour is spices, some earth, fruits and very earthy. A very experimental brew.

Aroma: 6 | Appearance: 5 | Mouthfeel: 4 | Flavor: 5 | Overall: 5

Bottle: Poured a clear burgundy color ale with a big foamy head with average retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of weird spice mix with some sweet Belgian malt. Taste is a mix between some sweet malt, some spices with a weird funky notes that don’t mix well with the other flavour. Body is about average with some low carbonation. It just seems Fantome lost the way to properly mix funky aroma – I have been very disappointed in the last couple of bottle I tried from them.

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

Glowing hazy amber body with a small-for-Fantome white head. The aroma is highly fruity with lots of orange and even a little lime (especially in the slightly lime bitter-salty finish.) The beer is lightly tart which makes it a very refreshing beer. I really do love Fantome. This isn’t the beauty that was Gourmande, but it’s tasty.

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

Dark sunset orange color that is semi transparent. Good size bubblin white head. Strawberry italian ice mized with some funky white cheese on the aroma. Blackberry new york seltzer water from back in tha day big time on the taste and some decently strong bitterness catches up later on.

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

Well, this is most definately a very nice birthday present to myself... ;^)

Question: What do you get when you mix....
~ Five parts Saison
~ Three parts Farmhouse Ale
~ Two parts Tripel
~ and One part Wit?
Answer: One hell of a complex and unique beer, that's what!

Orange marmalade in appearence, with the addition of a thin but ever-present layer of foam on top of the body. Uneven but unussualy thick lacing along the insides of my Augustijn glass.

If this beer does has some bits and pieces of tripels in the foray, I think it's in the aroma that their presence is noticable. And no, I'm not saying that this beer was made with actual additions of other beers. But the "vibe" of what I'm picking up in the nose definately comes across as something of a fruity/musty conglemeration that is both inviting and intriguing.

As far as the flavor goes, where to start? If you draw from the above "recipe" outlined above, this does indeed draw heavily from it's Saison and French Farmhouse Ale roots. But to simply leave it at that does this beer something of disservice, IMO. For not only does this have all of the great things that you find in most of the other Fantôme Saisons, but there also fascinating nuances here and there that remind me of some of the more mainstream Tripels out there (Trpel Karmeleit comes to mind, believe it or not). Excellent.

If I have but one complaint (and I hesitate to use such a harsh word for this), it would be the somewhat drying mouthfeel, especially in the middle. Not really such a "fault" per se, but enough of a distraction to keep this beer from truly shining IMO.

But this is still perfectly drinkable -- no troubles polishing off this 750mL bottle on a worknight, that's for sure. In fact, had to slow down a bit, to make sure to savor this as it should be. Recommended...!
//TB

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

Poured a hazy, golden orange color with a medium sized egg-shell white colored head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of citrus, vanilla, spices, lemon, brett, and hay. Taste of sour lemons, citrus, herbal notes, bretty yeast, and a light alcohol finish. Great balance between sweet and sour. A nice, funky, tart saison, I like it!

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

This one had a nice apricot and orange aroma. It poured a cloudy yellow color with a large head. The flavor was subtle maybe a little too much so with some alcohol, pears, and oranges. This one was a little 1-D even for the style but it was enjoyable in all its simplicity. Not worth the dough though. Good deal.

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

It pours with a deep golden body with amber undertones topped by a thick white foamy head with lots of lacing. Slightly sweet and flowery aroma with slight grainy notes. Sweet slightly flowery malt flavor with a very slight hoppiness. Light to medium bodied and smooth.