Fantôme Clos Preal 2011 (Batch 2) - Brasserie Fantôme

Alieniloquium

Florida

3.6/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

750 mL bottle poured into a snifter. Reviewed from notes.

Appearance - Cloudy orange. Big white head. Great retention.

Smell - Some sort of spice and a lot of yeastiness. Belgian yeasts and sugars. Something here I can't read. Like a fruitinadfnjsd?

Taste - Interesting, but all over the place. Yeasty, sweet, fruity. Spicy as hell in the end. Like a Belgian pale with spices and herbs.

Mouthfeel - Deceptively light tasting. Well carbonated and dry.

Overall - The flavors are all over. Interesting is the best description.

Serving type: bottle

12-29-2012 22:46:38 | More by Alieniloquium

CelticAleMan

California

3.75/5  rDev +1.6%

05-19-2013 06:37:15 | More by CelticAleMan

Etan

Illinois

3.8/5  rDev +3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75

750ml, gold foil, into a snifter.

A: Pours a glowing grapefruit-skin colored body with a huge white head. Very effective bottle conditioning.

S: Smells of citrus and tropical fruits. Pineapple, tart orange juice, mango, light yeast. Pretty surprising.

T: Taste is substantially drier and less fruity. Chalky yeast, lightly bitter and herbal, a bit of vanilla and citrus on the end. No alcohol.

M: Light-bodied, frothy carbonation.

O: The aroma on this is really interesting, but the taste is bit too dry and herbal to match it. Still, a very unique beer.

Serving type: bottle

03-13-2013 18:01:02 | More by Etan

GRG1313

California

4/5  rDev +8.4%

03-02-2013 20:25:03 | More by GRG1313

Thorpe429

Illinois

3/5  rDev -18.7%

01-20-2013 03:22:44 | More by Thorpe429

drabmuh

Maryland

3.25/5  rDev -11.9%

01-16-2013 19:00:52 | More by drabmuh

orangesol

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev +8.4%

01-06-2013 17:09:47 | More by orangesol

HuskyinPDX

Washington

3.35/5  rDev -9.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 3.5

Bottle opened on 12.1.12.

A - Pours a cloudy, pale orange with a huge lively off-white head that fades slowly.

S - Earthy spice, Belgian yeast, slight hop grass.

T - Spices, earthy, dirt, tobacco, leather.

D - Tons of carbonation with a light body.

O - Earthy and spicy, lots of darker tones.

Serving type: bottle

12-24-2012 06:14:06 | More by HuskyinPDX

DavoleBomb

Ohio

3.4/5  rDev -7.9%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3

Poured into a snifter. 2011 vintage, batch 2.

3.5 A: Well hazed amber peach color. Three fingers of frothy off-white head. Retention is good given the ABV, but just a few whisps of lacing are left.

3.5 S: Wildflowers dominate the nose. Big floral throughout. Underneath there is a dry herbalness and citrusy orange and bitter orange peel. Mild peppery yeastiness. Alcohol is well hidden. Somewhat tame for a Fantome beer, but good enough.

3.5 T: Taste mirrors the nose. Floral with a dry herbalness. Plenty of orange and orange peel. Mild bitterness. Moderately spicy yeastiness focussing on pepper. Toasty malts with just a light booziness. Again, tame for a Fantome beer.

3.5 M: Medium body. Good moderate carbonation that is lightly spritzy. Lacking creaminess though. Overall, good enough.

3.0 D: Some categories were borderline 3.0, so that's why this is. It's not bad, but I hold Fantome to a higher standard when they are dealing with this type of brew. The fact that it was super expensive doesn't improve the situation. Give the brew a try if you have some extra money laying around, but don't expect to be impressed.

Serving type: bottle

11-04-2012 01:39:02 | More by DavoleBomb

ThePorterSorter

New York

4.08/5  rDev +10.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

Word to the wise...pour slowly

The beer pours a hazy orange with a huge plume of an off-white head. There is great lacing, head retention, and a touch of sediment floating along the bottom. As you near the bottom the yeast becomes a lot denser mimicking cirrus clouds in my glass. The nose is a refined bitter-yeastiness with spices that complement the beer's well hidden ethanol. The taste is both sweet and yeasty with good spice character and a hint of ethanol. The mouthfeel is exceptionally balanced with very few off flavors...slightly rindy lemon/grapefruit bitter/tartness that's pronounced and lingers. Solid beer with great flavor and an excellent mouthfeel.

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2012 18:53:41 | More by ThePorterSorter

merc7186

New York

3.95/5  rDev +7%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4

I had this beer poured from a bomber into a tulip glass.

A: Hazy Orange/Golden Straw Hue, Passes Some Light, Thick White Head, Some Lacing

S: Belgian Yeast, Mild Orange, Mild Lemon

T: Tangerine, Banana, Lemon, Grapefruit

M: Great Carbonation, Light to Medium Bodied, Semi Bitter

Overall, this is a pretty great biere de garde, the mouthfeel is like chewing on a grapefruit rind, awesome.

Serving type: bottle

09-13-2012 18:16:24 | More by merc7186

JAHMUR

Connecticut

4/5  rDev +8.4%

07-06-2012 20:50:26 | More by JAHMUR

Sean9689

Illinois

3.88/5  rDev +5.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4

Thanks to AsianZero, you da best!

A - Pours a mirky golden yellow, big white frothy head, sticky lace, big cap.

S - Citrus, funk, floral notes, light spice. The 10% really isn't there all that much, which is impressive. On the "higher-funk'd" side of saisons for me. Nothing crazy going on here though...a bit boring.

T - Pretty much spot-on with the nose. Lots of funk, yeast, citrus, lemon, and spice. A touch of fruity tartness in there as well, which adds something else to the mix. Booze is well-hidden here as well. Finish is funk and citrus, pretty dry.

M - Light to medium, lots of carbonation, dry finish.

O - The booze is basically non-existant for 10%, which is impressive by itself. It's good, but not something I'd drop a lot of coin for when I can just buy other Fantôme here in Chicago. Good, but not near world-class.

Serving type: bottle

05-11-2012 17:31:40 | More by Sean9689

MasterSki

Illinois

3.68/5  rDev -0.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5

Thanks to Mike (AgentZero) for this oddball offering. Served in a Captain Lawrence tulip.

A - Giant white foam eventually settles to a thick cap, leaving behind splotches of lace. Murky peach body.

S - Super peppery yeast, with some phenols as well. Light herbal hop aroma, with a backing malt character of stone fruit, hand lotion, and lightly toasted grains. There's a bit of musky funk present, but it's quite mild.

T - Unfortunately, the taste is a bit square. Lots of toasted grain and wheat flavors, with minimal sweetness, and a bitter dandelion and herb finish. Nothing wrong here, but just kind of generic.

M - Medium-full body, grainy and dry. Lower carbonation, and a touch of warmth on the throat. Could use a bit more spritz, although I didn't realize this was 10% at all.

D - It's decent, but I'd just as soon have a regular Fantôme. The herbal bitterness in the finish gets a bit fatiguing, and the beer is a tad heavy. Disappointing considering how difficult this is to obtain.

Serving type: bottle

04-24-2012 15:01:50 | More by MasterSki

stakem

Pennsylvania

3.6/5  rDev -2.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 3

I have added batch 2 as a seperate listing based on Dany Prignon's description of this being a different recipe from Batch 1. There are expectations of 4 different beers being brewed in total in the Clos Preal series.

Poured from a 750ml into a matching Fantome tulip. The brew appears a hazed copper color. 2 fingers worth of yellowish stained tan head appear and slowly fade leaving patches of lacing effect on the glass. Rising bubbles of carbonation maintain a layering atop the brew.

The aroma of this brew is quite herbal with hops. Zesty notes of lemon and grapefruit. Plenty of pulpy scents of fruit and a mild tingle of alcohol. A bit of plastic funk mixes with solvent alcohol and some earth as it warms.

The taste is very herbal with a backing of burnt toasty malt flavor and modest bitterness of pulp and rinds. Some plastic flavors are present with a pretty bold focus on the alcohol inclusion. Some solvent alcohol blends to more of a fusel note. Some green yeasty quality is found throughout the profile with a bit of a veggie flavor. The aftertaste is sulfur, cheese and mildly oak-like mixed with cardboard.

This is a medium bodied brew with a modest level of carbonation. Quite a bold brew with a lot of upfront hop flavor. This is a Fantome offering that strays far off the beaten path. I am a huge Fantome fan but this one was not as enjoyable as I was hoping. Perhaps this is just going through a young, awkward phase at the moment. I will have to revisit it again maybe when some of the hoppiness fades/blends.

Serving type: bottle

04-09-2012 18:10:50 | More by stakem