 Ernest (4217), Boulder, Colorado, USA
Oct 23, 2003 Updated: Oct 23, 2004
2004 bottle. Head is large, frothy, off-white, mostly lasting. Body is hazy medium amber, bottle conditioned. Aroma is moderately malty (toasted grain, cookie), moderately hoppy (flowers, grass, lemon), moderately yeasty (cobwebs, barnyard), with notes of clove, wood, hay, sand. Flavor is moderately sweet, moderately acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly sweet, moderately acidic, moderately bitter. Medium body, velvety/creamy texture, lively carbonation. The latest release of other Fantomes, such as Black Ghost, have not quite measured up to older versions (perhaps a less than stellar batch of grains), but this one is wonderful...one of the first Fantomes I've noticed with a genuinely creamy mouthfeel. Over the last year I've become fiendishly addicted to saisons...Fantome, Blaugies, Dupont, I can't get enough. And this is a great example of why...farmhouse character all the way, amazing balance, impeccably clean tasting, and Dany's expert hand at the controls. Saison most completely captures what I feel is the purest form of beer...so genuine, so visceral, so freaking *real*. To get poetic for a moment, it is to drink life itself...it is the smell of the barley and wheat in the fields, it is the smell of the earth in which the plants grow, it is the smell of country air, the hay in the barn and the flowers by the brook. Saison is life.
BoBoChamp (635), Gent, Belgium
Aug 14, 2008 75cl, exclusive brewery, brew with flowers, from De Hopduvel Gent, complex, balanced, cloudy, rocky head, very good brew
BeerBiker (1172), Odense, Denmark
Aug 13, 2008 [Bottle from La Roche.] Nice fresh fruit, sour in a very fresh way. Very drinkable with that wellbalanced "thistquencing" sweet and sour flavor of spices (pebber), dandelions, salt, acid, floral, earthy, some ginger and a nice dry finish.
DSG (844), Yuvalim, Israel
Aug 9, 2008 (6/29/08) Bottle sample at RBESG08 grand tasting in Plzen. Hazy orange. Aroma of funky house character, yeast and fruits. A rather dry flavor, slightly tart, with some nice bretty funk and fruits and some bitterness in the finish. Medium-bodied. Lovely.
mabel (1633), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Aug 6, 2008 [1361-20080517] 1pt9.4floz bottle. Sour citrus yeast aroma has a hint of earth. Murky, medium orange brown body with a medium-lasting creamy off-white head. "Subdued" sour yeasty earthen malt flavour. Medium body is sour. Nice sour but I wasn’t as crazy about it as the others.
(c/o IPFreely, w/ others)
CharlesDarwin (1379), State College, Pennsylvania, USA
Jul 26, 2008 750ml Bottle. 2004. Spicy, herbal flowering aroma reaches an apex near the total amalgam of all french aromatic culinary prowess. Delicate, bubbly and lively. Inviting and dappled with some more intricate malt work. Pours a somewhat hazed golden-orange, fuming, with a rim in off-white. The flavor is expressive, deep and yet fresh. Lots of carbonation and only a little dust and oxidation for a 4 year old bottle. This aged very well. Nuanced middle body derives enjoyable herbal qualities throught the slightly funky Fantome yeast signature. Minerals, grape sugars, and mature malts lend fantastic complexity to this beer. Delicious in every dimension. The body carries nicely with crisp dryness, classically concealed alcohol and fresh, prickly carbonation. An astonishing version. Absolutely delightful at this age. Thanks Sean!
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