Fantôme La Gourmande

Brewed by Brasserie Fantôme
Style: Saison
Soy-Erezée, Belgium

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

Bottle from the Belgian Beerfest. Murky as hell orange brown color, and you can already tell this is not your typical saison. Lambic like citric acid and cheese aroma. Flavor is similar to a lambic, though sweeter and with a more full body. Woody notes, burgundy apple, iced tea. Assertive yet refined, unique and complex.

BBF Bottle. Pours a honey orange, with light brown notes and yellows. Pretty dark for a saison. Small head. Aroma of dry, musty hay, tons of soily hops and earthy, hemp, nutty dry parmasan cheese and light citrus notes on the end. You know this stuff’s gonna be good just smellin it. Flavor definitely delivers. It is about as powerful as the Pissenlit, tons of yeast, tons of character, but what it lacks is acidity and that’s a good thing. Nutty, dry, light barley notes with an easygoing sourness (or so I thought). Finishes more like a meal, with so many flavors, lots of grains and funk. Slightly reminiscent of Saison de Pipaix in its cheese and nut appeal and very earthy tones overall, but nowhere near the amount of cheese bacteria of Pipaix. Maybe a touch light in body and a touch of thinning on the end. Great stuff though.

Cloudy golden with high carbonation, creating a large, well-sustained, fizzy head - very strong aroma fills the room upon pouring, pungent, musty, cellared, hay, damp earth, slight fruits and a funkiness like mild, well-aged cheeses - taste is initially very sour, with lemon predominant, a touch of grapefruit - mild spices in the middle, with just a touch of hops to compliment them - sourness eventually subsides, making way for some grainy malts and an odd but enjoyable finish that tastes much like the mild cheese in the aroma - I never thought I would find anything cheese-like in a beer enjoyable, but, there you go - quite dry overall, champaign-like - another interesting offering from Fantome.

POP! goes the cork, and out comes the funk! An inelegant pour into a Duvel glass provides an anticipated result, 1/2 golden, hazy orangish brew, with considerable floaties in attendance, and bubbles rising everywhere, but the top half is full of foam, a crystalline white, delicate, lacey, beautiful...lookin’ pretty nice in the glass, and the aroma wafts out liberally, so I can discern this without too much effort, while it rests on the desk..but let’s bring it further for the full effect... That certain indefinable something, this zesty, yeasty, airy effect, loaded with citrus and spice, like any saison should, but utterly ethereal, a touch sour, but still beyond that simple sense...lemon peels and coriander collide with pepper and orange...a seriously funky affair in the house, y’all...James Brown and Jimmy Smith moved to Belgium, and they took the P’Funk gang along, too... Taste, it, too...Ooooo, weee! That first, gripping, sour, puckering, powerful sip is a motherforker...pardon my Portugese...then all is mellow quickly, and this harsh, yet quenching sensation subsides. Each sip thereafter brings this lemony sour taste, yet not quite as profound on the palate, it still makes an indelible impression. No, wait, i take it back, just got hit again...let’s try a third time...Oooof! Ahhhh! What a weird, and wonderful beer. Somewhat light in body, more medium, with a long, drying, citric finish, and a tangy mouthfeel, a clinging flavor that nestles in the mouth, and softly slides away. Worth the $10.49 I paid for this 750ml green bottle...oh, at least...I’m only halfway done with it, and thing can only get better until it drains. Then, what hope have we? This is a very special ale, an incredible tasty saison, with that unique yeasty, zesty Fantome quelque chose, that je’n’aise’pas, that what the who’diddledee...never-ending taste, and thoroughly uncompromising in it’s uniqueness. Cheers to Fantome, another winner!

(750ml bottle) My Halloween beer. Had an incredible pressurized cork, which shot out of the bottle after I un-capped it. Shot up hit my ceiling and bounce about five foot off the floor. I would have to say this one was certainly alive. Pours a lightly cloudy golden orange body with a huge frothy white head. Aroma was tart with grapefruit, spearmint, clove, corriander, florals, perfume, mustiness, Granny Smith apples, and spices. Flavor had gueuze-like characteristics for the aroma and flavor. Quite differnet for a saison, but then again this is a Fantome. Excellent beer!

Hazy, orange-golden body with a thick, uniform, cottony white head. Aroma of lemongrass, esters, flowers, light musky yeast, and a distinct note of pepper. Orange/tangerine citrus, fruit peels and pepper are the dominant flavors plus some wild yeast and brett elements and a nice acidic bite. Peppery phenols meld nicely with some medium hop bitterness. Reveals brief glimpses of a surprisingly malty and dark fruit underbelly suggesting a dubbel. Nicely complex and novel. Thanks to CaptainCougar for this lovely beer.

Hazy orange coloured body with a thin white head. Aroma of hay, grass, tart apples and some other fruits. Light-bodied; Tart flavour that fades very fast, no prolonged sweetness. Apple flavour in the aftertaste, not so much else. Overall-nice, but not as flavourful as the other saisons. I brought and sampled this 75 cL bottle at the May RB Party in Toronto, Ontario purchased at Premier Gourmet in Buffalo, New York. This was sampled on 15-May-2004.