Fantôme La Gourmande

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

Shared bottle thanks to CMUBEERMAN. Pours slightly hazy orange, off white head. Aroma is sour dough, tartness, wheat, spices amd meat (sausage). Flavor is dried fruit (peaches), wheat, bleu cheese; cheesy and creamy.

Bottle graciously provided by hopdog. Back on my wants list though. While delicious, this thing is dead flat and rather sour, and I have a feeling that something ain’t right.

That said, this has become a rather interesting and challenging beer, with great complexity. Flavor starts off with a pungent, sour bang, lightly yeasty and lemony and makes way into a very nice fresh bread kind of thing. Slightly oaky and spicy, yet still delicate, with a sour underlay all the way through. When the dregs are added from the bottle, the yeast notes come out perfectly and really fill in the beer. Even without carbonation, the mouthfeel is dead one and very wine like. In fact, the whole damn thing is like an adventurous white wine. Aroma is light on the sour, with oak, cinnamon, fresh white bread, mild hops. Delicious, and in its current form, very reminiscent of Saison de Pipaix. I’m interested to see what a normal bottle of this tastes like.

Hazy amber body, slight head and body is a nice bright color. Very lemony with some sugars for balance. Some spices, but a bit too dry and awkwardly funky though.

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 of malt, spice, citrus, and something earthy. Beautiful orange amber color with a vigorous white head that stays and laces. Starts lightly, very lightly sour, with fresh fruit flavors. Not so much citrus as stone fruit and/or melon. Quite a full mouthfeel. Vigorous, but non-acidic carbonation. The finish is more remnants of sour than bitter. A good, dry finish. It’s really very refreshing.

Blind tasting at Sombeast’s house

This was the second to last sample before we stopped doing blind samples. It also was my favorite of the night. It reminded me a little bit of the Hiver but was different enough that it had its own merits. If this pops up in the Madison area and I happen to be in the mood for a saison this will be close to the top of the list. Hopefully the Southampton Saison Deluxe in the cellar is this excellent.

Aroma / Appearance - The cloudy orange body was decorated by a half finger head and just a trace of haze. The aroma of peppery spices, citrus, oranges and funk completed an interesting and inviting aroma. It was exceptionally dense for a saison (at least among the ones I’ve tried).

Flavor / Palate - Sourness complements the peppery tartness that greets the mouth. As it fades the sensation of liquid watermelon sour patch fruits washes down the throat. A distinct earthiness highlights a dry funky finish. This was an interesting change of pace - I am not sure what is different between this and the last sample that made this one so much better.

Hazy orange body. Corn stalk aroma. Light body and springy mouthfeel. Husky lemon juice and some residual pale malt in the flavor.

Bottle. Brownish orange color. Thick appearance. Slightly sour malty aroma. Flavor is somewhat like a gueuze, slightly sour pickle like flavor. Good malty sweetness with yeasty flavors and spiciness. Creamy mouthfeel. Good.