Fantôme Saison - Brasserie Fantôme

Wildman

Ohio

4.3/5  rDev -1.6%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

This beer poured a cloudy light gold color and formed a small smooth white head that coated the glass with ring like lace as it subsided. A medium amount of carbonation is present. The aroma of this beer is amazing. It is hard to know where to begin. It is very floral, with aromas of green apple and various citrus smell with a background feel of standing out in an orchard. The flavor was of hops, citrus and some corinader. The finish was a medium body with a bit of sweetness to it, yet slightly tart with backing of the corinader creeping in. I have tried few saisons, but this looks to be a fine representative of the style.

Serving type: bottle

05-14-2003 18:12:29 | More by Wildman

MJR

Missouri

4.95/5  rDev +13.3%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 5

Appearance: Pours a murky orange-peach that looks like cloudy apple cider. A creamy, foamy white head forms almost two fingers deep and shrinks to a small cap, leaving a bit of lace.

Smell: Where to begin... The aroma is a whirlwind of green apple, pineapple, orange peel, honeydew, pear, apricot, honey, hops, various spices, and an earthy yeastiness. The smell coming from my glass is as impressive as any I've encountered.

Taste: The flavor starts out sweet and fruity, with loads of green apple, pear, orange peel, apricot, and pineapple. Midway through each sip, a solid bitterness undercurrent, along with a phenolic spiciness, takes center stage, but doesn't erase the memory of the sweet beginning. Big dose of spices in here too: ginger, coriander, black pepper... There's a wonderful musty, earthiness that calls to mind the terms 'farmhouse' and 'barnyard' that is present the entire time, but really asserts itself towards the finish. A touch of alcohol on the tail end. Causes fruity, medinical burps... Fruity, sweet, bitter, earthy, and spicy all at the same time. Wow...

Mouthfeel: Starts round and full, then turns to crisp and dry on the swallow, yet manages to retain it's creaminess. Nice medium mouthfeel.

Drinkability: I'd love to be able to drink one after another of this, but there's simply too much going on. My tongue would be numb from trying to decipher the countless flavors this brew offers. Plus, it's not exactly a weak beer either, at 8%abv. None-the-less, this is one brew I'll always try to keep on-hand.

A unique, sooo-left-of-center version of the Saison style, this is an incredible beer. It would be great to give to people who think all beer is boring and tastes the same!

Serving type: bottle

05-06-2003 12:52:09 | More by MJR

purplehops

Maine

4.55/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

Fantome Saison pours a hazy honey yellow with a thin white head that leaves little lacing on the glass. The aroma is a merry-go-round of yeast, fruit, and malt odors. A sweetness of the summer fair cotton candy along with melon and berry aromas blend pleasantly with floral yeast and hints of fresh sweet wort and a wee note of alcohol hidden in the background. The taste starts with a rush of orange and coriander and then moves on to flavors of fresh malt and hints of berry flavors. The finish has some pleasant farmhouse sourness blending with the orange, spice, and malt flavors. Aftertaste is smooth and fruity with hints of alcohol and toasted malt. Mouthfeel is smooth and medium light in body.
Overall an ale that screams summer on the farm. Farm fresh with no artificial anything in aroma or taste. Light, refreshing, an aroma to die for, and a taste that's a malty fruit salad with just the right amount of carbonation. This is what Saison's are all about.

Serving type: bottle

04-26-2003 17:04:07 | More by purplehops

SamuraiJack

Oregon

4.03/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

The missing link between artisan commercial belgian beers and homebrews...

First (and foremost) it has to be said that I think that it's a travesty that we cannot get more Saisson beers in the US. It's a great style for an early summer day and a really interesting style as well.

First pour shows a lightly orange-tinted gold with a huge amount of suspended floaters and a massive layer of yeasty sediment on the bottom of the bottle. The head is white and creamy (though perhaps less substantial than is ideal for the style) that subsides to a reasonably sticky lace. The aroma is incredible - sweet fruits and sugary candy notes riding on a wave of malt and yeast with a sort of "barnyard" whiff drifting throughout.
Initial taste is sweet and tart - a sort of bitter fruit syrup flavor, closing out to a crisp, sour main body that puckers the mouth and brings to mind citrus and hops. The finish is soft, with dying carbonation and a lingering tartness with some alcohol warmth.

This is best described as an "interesting" brew and an "interesting" version of the style. Sadly, there are better examples of the style but they seem impossible to find here. Given the options, I guess it's worth getting (though, IMHO, it's quite over-priced).

Serving type: bottle

04-05-2003 18:27:34 | More by SamuraiJack

mickeymac

California

4.38/5  rDev +0.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

It pours a hazy grapefruit color with plenty of yeast bits floating about. The head is a fizzy white that leaves traces around the edge of the glass after the initial fade. Swirling the glass brings the head back to life. The smell is on the fruity side, specifically apples and pear, with some tartness and a bit of that musty barnyard smell. The tartness is quite noticeable in the taste but certainly not overwhelming and, in fact, balanced nicely by the fruit flavors. The alcohol smell and taste blends in nicely and doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the beer. Good stuff.

Serving type: bottle

02-16-2003 17:46:48 | More by mickeymac

aracauna

Georgia

3.98/5  rDev -8.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.5

Maybe an adolescence spent sucking on Warheads and chewing crybabies killed my ability to perceive sourness, but I didn't think this was sour in the least. First pour was clear dark gold with nice white fluff. The second pour was cloudy. It seems hard to keep the yeast out of the bottle, but you might as well feed me yeast as much as I like yeast in my beer so that's not a problem. The dominant flavor and aroma is the estery fruitiness. Ripe plums, melons and bubblegum make for a soft, thick front. The middle is a mild bitterness and ends with a lingering crisp malt. Reminds me of spring. It has some of the same aromas I remember from the back yard of my parents' house beside the horse pasture with the Jonquil flowers and pecan trees. The horse blanket is there in the tiniest degree but I'd say it's more like the inside of the horse shed where the hay and horse feed dominate the smell of tackle. Not an earth-shattering experience but I like this.

Serving type: bottle

02-11-2003 22:16:47 | More by aracauna

hyuga

North Carolina

4.8/5  rDev +9.8%
look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5

An apple juice colored brew on the first pour from this 750 ml bottle. What an appropriate color... A medium-sized but thick head forms on top, and retains well. Second pour: looks like an aquarium that hasn't been cleaned in months, even though I Ieft a good amount in the bottle. Floaties galore. If you don't like yeast sediment in your saison, leave quite a bit of this in the bottle. Wow, the aroma! Very unique and powerful. Super-tart sour apple and candi sugar, making it similar to a sour apple candy, like others have said. Some barn-like or "horse blanket" aromas are present as well. Spicy yeast undertones too, almost Christmasy. The taste, although very different from the aroma, is also unique and wonderful. First in at the front are malt and yeast characteristics. The maltiness is bready and caramelly. The yeast provides some spiciness and more of that sour apple and candi sugar, but it's much more subtle here on the palate. As the beer gets closer to the back, it gets more hoppy. That muted hoppiness that is present in many Belgian-style beers. You know what I'm talking about, right? Now I'm starting to think in musical terms describing this. You know what that means? It means that this is a damn good beer, and I love it, therefore it's influencing me to be more creative with my review. Anyway, back to the description. The tart fruitiness stays all the way through as an undertone. The mouthfeel is slightly chewy, almost sticky, which fits with the sour apple theme. Smooth and thick finish. This beer says "why didn't you buy more bottles of me?" to me. It's expensive, but it's definitely worth it. I may have to cheat and forget my rule of buying only beers I've never tried before next time I'm on a beer run. Give me more, now!

Serving type: bottle

01-31-2003 05:00:56 | More by hyuga

yen157

New Jersey

4.55/5  rDev +4.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

The cork had some sticky goo on top and broke when being removed. I had to punch the bottom 1/3 of the cork in. I don’t think that the bottle had been mistreated by the store because I’ve purchased a great number of corked items (beer, wine, and liquor) from this store without and problems.

The beer was a haze orange-tinted gold with a fairly creamy white head. There was a very fruity, tart nose, like apple Jolly Ranchers with a little bit of farmhouse funk thrown in for good measure. This was an extremely delicious saison. It was fruity and tart, but not puckeringly so. For balance it was lightly hopped and had a noticeable pale malt sweetness. That sweetness is important to me in the flavor profile of a saison, and some beers have too much or too little. Goldie Locks thought this one was damn near perfect in terms of malt.

Serving type: bottle

01-22-2003 06:24:33 | More by yen157

UncleJimbo

Massachusetts

3.63/5  rDev -16.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Poured to give a hazy, straw-colored beer with thin white foam. The smell was very fruity: grapes and apples. The taste was of musty grapes, sweet but thin, with some maltiness in the finish. The mouthfeel was clean with modest carbonation, but the body was a bit thin. The drinkability was good.

Serving type: bottle

01-19-2003 09:56:46 | More by UncleJimbo

Gusler

Arizona

4.03/5  rDev -7.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

A caliginous golden orange color on the pour, the beer is loaded with dross, some on the bottom; some suspended throughout the beer. Head is immature in size, the color bright white, the consistency creamy and the left over lace a thick and sticky sheet to coat the glass. I would say one of the sweetest bouquets of any beer I’ve sampled in years. Over ripe cantaloupe or cotton candy come to mind, malt underlies it all, a real treat for the olfactory senses, the front ambrosial, the top thick and sweet. Finish is sparsely carbonated, the hops apropos to the style, dry alcohol bitter lingering aftertaste and a satisfactory representative to the style. It is truly a shame that more “Saison’s” are not available here in the states, as I find them intriguing and quite tasty to boot.

Serving type: bottle

12-22-2002 14:34:16 | More by Gusler

Bierman9

New Hampshire

3.93/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Poured a medium-golden color, even a bit hazy. Became even more cloudy with the introduction of some bottom of the bottle yeasties! Had a minimal head and lacing. Verry fruity nose, with grapey, white wine characteristics. Medium bodied, and quite bubbly and spritzy on the tongue. Taste was again fruity, grapey, and very champagne-like. Enjoyable flavors, with a tart finish. Enjoyed as part of an impromptu sampling session with Artied2 and JohnnyP...with the the latter providing the samples! Thnx, Bro!

overall: 3.85
appearance: 3.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | mouthfeel: 3.5 | drinkability: 4

403

Serving type: bottle

11-16-2002 17:20:45 | More by Bierman9

Bighuge

Minnesota

3.9/5  rDev -10.8%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Pours like champagne. Big fizzy white head. Reduces to a thin film in a minute. Murky golden orange in color. On the nose I get some bready tones, a blend of herbs and spices and yeast. Pretty nicely carbonated mouthfeel. Body is light. Taste is unlike other Saisons I've had. Very spicy and tart in the mouth, but not bad. It kind of grows on you. A little bit of an acidic tinge. I get a sour apple like taste. One that makes you pucker rather than wince. (And unlike the sour apple associated with a "green" beer.) I'm not sure what kind of spicing they use (if any), but maybe something like cinamon or bitter orange peel (curacao). Interesting beer, but not something I'm going to shell out out $6 a bottle for.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2002 20:02:36 | More by Bighuge

mophie

Delaware

4.65/5  rDev +6.4%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

My first saison, so it's possible I will come back at some point and revise my score. Anyway, this is an amazing beer. Apple cider color, bubbly tan head. At first pour, the head is immense, and the incredible carbonation ensures that the head never goes away. In fact, the carbonation was almost volcanic in appearance; there were three separate mini-tempests in my glass from the eruption of bubbles rising through this brew. How to describe the smell? Imagine walking through an apple orchard in autumn while holding a ripe pineapple to your nose. Farm fragrances abound. The taste? Slices of green apples in apple cider, with a healthy amount of pepper and coriander. Spicy, earthy, intoxicating, complex. Oh yeah, this is the stuff of life.

Serving type: bottle

08-31-2002 16:21:41 | More by mophie

marc77

California

4.43/5  rDev +1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 5

The turbid, light oranged hued brew is topped by a formidably thick, dense whipped cream like head that leaves intricate lace. The luscious aroma is comprised of sweet apricot and peach fruit esters as the dominate components, w/ slightly tarter strawberry and citrus notes secondary. Subdued green apple acetaldehyde exists as an undertone in aroma. Buttery malt becomes perceptible as the beer warms as well. Bittersweet dried citrus peel is perceived initially, then yields to fructose - like sweetness mid - palate, while a combination of light sour dough breadiness and coriander round out the taste. Curacao provides most of the bitterness in this brew, since hop bitterness is very mild. Although highly carbonated, there's sufficient residual dextrins and protein for a relatively smooth mouthfeel. Finishes quite clean, w/ peppery notes briefly lingering. Fantome Saison is a highly enjoyable brew. It's got tremendous complexity, yet remains soft overall on the palate. Unparalled in drinkability.

Serving type: bottle

08-25-2002 17:43:03 | More by marc77

Thrasher

Oregon

4.68/5  rDev +7.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.5

Not sure which season this is for, so I just started a new one. Cork says 086/477044.

This is a miraculous beer, orange and thick with a creamy head. My first experience with saisons (Dupont) was less than ideal but this is something else. Mild euroskunk in the odor but that left once it was poured in the glass. Fruity, tart, with a hint of bitterness and a delectable finish. Hints of peach, tea, cinnamon, other tropical fruits but grounded so the sweetness is kept in check. Have been craving Hitachino Nest all day but this really did the trick. Highly recommended.

Serving type: bottle

07-24-2002 15:23:28 | More by Thrasher