Fantome La Gourmande

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

Bottled. Hazy orangeish golden colour, mediumsized slightly off-white head. Aroma is spicy, earthy, barnyardy as well as some mild fruits and mild maltyness. Flavour is quite much the same in a very pleasant balance.

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

Bottle courtesy of Bu11zeye: Poured a hazy medium beige color ale with big foamy head with good retention and great lacing. Aroma is quite sour with some funky yeast also discernable. Taste is a mix between sourness and some oak as well as some light funky yeast and it finished on some dry notes. Body is full with some great carbonation. Another interesting experiment from this brewer which doesn’t meet all my expectation (a bit too dry and more funk would have improve this beer) but it is still enjoyable and wouldn’t mind having another go at.

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

Tasting from bottle in Orlando, courtesy the ever so hospitable boboski. Appearance was cloudy amber with an excellent head and decent lacing (expect nothing less from Fantome!). The aroma was incredibly complex, florally fragrant, although far short of perfumey, white grapes, anise, corainder, black pepper, just lots going on. Flavor followed suit, all of the aroma in different degrees of balance with each sip seemingly emphasizing something different. The funkiness was all there below it all (with faint notes of a vegetal presence), yet well accented with everything else. Mouthfeel was dry, light lemony citrus, a light overall mouthfeel, yet a creamy fluffiness to it. How they combine the latter two without getting sticky or being a black beer, quite interesting. A big huge thanks to Jason again for sharing this one!

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

very light aroma, lemon-y, lime, orange zest, grapefruit, and apple juice. appearance is of carbonated apple juice with fizzy white head. flavor is nice and full of apple and grapefruit with some hints of raspberry, and cranberry. so good!

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

Hazy to cloudy amber (depending on what part of the bottle you’re at) with a large white head. The aroma is downright gorgeous. Very fruity aroma with fresh apricots, melons (honeydew, mostly), pineapple and banana. The flavor is not as sweet as I expected from the aroma (which starts picking up a bit of hops as it warms.) Instead, it’s nearing in on dry with a lingering bitter finish that seems almost out of place after the airy, bright aromas and flavors that came before it. A bit of apple peel or peach peel comes out with the bitterness. Excellent, beautiful beer

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

A murky yellow orange appearance with a large head. The aroma is filled with vinegar, lemons, and oranges. The flavor is somewhat sour with a vingear and strong sour lemon presence. Probably my favorite Fantome thus far.

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

I love saisons, period. End of story. Here's the appendix, then. This is one helluva beer, spicy and mild, green apples, bananas, soft wheaty-velvet-ish mouthfeel, ample carbonation and the perfect balance of acidity. Excellent, elegant and damn near flawless.

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

Part of a special 7-bottle Fantôme lot that I picked up earlier this week. And while I've had a few of the Fantôme beers before, it's beers like this that Fantôme's eccentric reputation surely shine...!

Pretty standard in appearence, as far as Saisons goes. That is to say, I've never had a Saison that wasn't a bit subdued in appearence (especially the carbonation and head production). Slighty bronze-ish-yellow overall.

Pretty much by-the-book as far as the Saison-ish aroma goes, too. No surprises so far, but no disappointments, either. Hints of some weird quirks here and there, but very hard to pin down.

Flavor. That's where this beer -- hell, brewery, really! -- comes into it's own. All the makings of a well-made Saison, for sure: dry and light, but with enough girth to make this beer worth-while; excellent balencing of the best aspects of both Belgian Pale Ales and wheat-based beers. And so on.

But then, out of left-field, comes a whole new wave of flavor sensations. Dare I say it, but is this something of a Gueze/Saison hybrid? Definate sour-tart notes spread equally about the front, middle, and backend of this beer. In no way interferring with this beer's primary mission as a Saison (after all, this *is* a Fantôme beer), but I really dig the avant-garde nature of this added dimension.

All-told, this is a really likable, quite drinkable beer -- yes, even with it's arcane Gueuze/Saision split-personality. And, as a bonus, this even got a surprising thumb's-up from my wife Karen... :)

And wonderful beer, that I'm glad has crossed my path. Highly recommended.
//TB

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

Light gold color. Medium head. Aroma is malty and slightly citrus. A medium bodied beer. Malty, yeasty and slightly grainy. Some fruit flavors, peaches. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean. Aftertaste is slightly sweet. Not the typical Fantome label.

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

dark orange colour, thin creamy head, nice lacing, deep spicy aroma with notes of peaches, very smooth, good malt body, yeasty, bitter with a long spicy finish