Fantôme Printemps

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

Hazy brown/amber with light orange hues. Particles floating througout. Beautiful head and sticky lace. Nose is an onslaught of spices. Black pepper,cumin,coriander and others. Grassy notes,lemon and barnyard exsist in the mix as well. Thin to medium bodied, carbonation pricks just a bit. Grassy,very spicy, i think ginger has entred the premises as well. Lemony saaz and a sneaky sugary sweetness tangle with all the spices. Palt malt backbone becomes more apparent as beer warms. Yeast adds a nice but moderate smoothness and mellowness(especially when you pour the bottom) throughout. Hoppy bitterness at the end, this badboy laces your tounge with spices and takes it hostage. Your tasting it a long time after you swallowed. Damn tasty brew, may be a bit too spicy for some but these guys brew some crazy shit.

750 ml bottle from Sam’s in Chicago. Purchased in November ’06, assuming its the 2006 version. Bright copper amber colour with a mostly lasting creamy, frothy, and rocky off-white head. Heavenly aroma of bread, citrus, pungent hops, pepper, pineapple, spice (grains of paradise perhaps?), passion fruit, and light yeast with tart cherry and candyish notes. Crisp toasty cereal malts to start with a balance of tartness and sweetness in the middle, finishing with a noticeable spicy and assertive peppery zing. Light to medium bodied, juicy and refreshing mouthfeel with a dry warming spicy finish. As with all the Fantomes I’ve had incredibly drinkable for 8% abv, especially surprising given the spicy heat lingering on the finish.

Pours a nice amber color with a big, lingering white head. The aroma is herbal and earthy, with a touch of grass and hops. Medium body with lots of carbonation, the flavor is wonderfully complex, with hints of ingredients that I cannot identify. Sweet flavors, cheese, herbs, hops, and grass all exist within this wondorous beer. What a treat!

HUGE thanks to jeffc666 for sharing this awesome beer! Pours a clouded amber with a tight frothy white head. Body has many suspended particle flecks in it. Aroma is spicy and sort of peppery. There’s an aroma of yeast and a light hint of fruit as well. Taste is spiced with a yeasty/wheaty body intermingling with more fruit, a faint hint of bubblegum, and definite spice. Sort of like a suped up witbier. The 8% alcohol is absolutely undetectable. Very soft and light mouthfeel, although there is some carbonation on the palate. Finish is more spice with the pepper coming out a bit more. Nice beer and an awesome way to hit 900!

Hazy, dark honey color with a minimal, short-lived white head. Very interesting nose of wildflowers, roses, pepper spice, grapefruit and orange peel, yeast, and a touch of barnyard. Lots of grainy depth with phenolic notes that lean slightly toward band-aid. Spicy with understated bitterness, some lightly tart acidity and more barnyard, but like a clean barnyard. Complex and nice. I want more. More thanks to axilla.

Bottle from about 2002. Sweet floral aroma, a bit of wet hay, orange peel, maybe some spicy hops, white pepper. Golden amber color, solid white head. Funk comes out in the flavor, really floral, like eating flower petals, a little wet hay, light tart fruit, spicy hops. Medium-light body, crisp. Great summer beer, amazing combination of crisp and bright flavors. Thanks to Schroppfy for sharing!

Gold with a white head and webbed lacing. Barnyardy and gamey. Some horseblanket. Sour. Flavors are very mellow. Spicy. Fruity. Citrus fruits mostly. Sour palate. So nice.

A very well carbonated beer, after carefully pouring this beer to create as little foam as possible, I still end up with a three-finger thick head that almost runs over the top of my tulip glass. The head forms a rocky, yet fluffy surface, which sits atop a fully hazy orangish straw gold color. As I pour this beer I get aromatic notes of Fantôme funk; lightly sour with a solid fruity interface. The aroma is quite fruity; it smells of apples, melon, pears and even some tart plum like notes. The aroma is so light and refreshing, just so inviting and so typically embodying the best of Fantôme aromatics.

The beer is nice and light on the palate, easily quaffable, and with its high carbonation almost ephemerally as it vaporizes on the tongue. This beer has a nice, noticeable, yet not dominating sour tartness to it that reminds me of pears, and a tart green apple. This beer is quite fruity, even though there is almost no sweetness left in this beer. It is quite dry with a nice grain character that shows just under the dominant fermentation character. This beer is so refreshingly light, a perfect beer for hot weather (interestingly enough it has been almost 90*F here today). There is not a whole lot to say about this beer other than it is an incredible Saison!

<font size=-4>Purchased from: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/arizona/scottsd Brewing Co, Scottsdale, AZ<font size=-1>