Fantôme Saison

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

I cant believe that I have never had this one considering that i love saisons. Poured a cloudy yellow color with not much head at all. Aroma was a very light funk and citrus notes. Flavor was actually pretty clean not as crazy as i expected. Very very easy to drink. No alcohol or harsh notes at all. This did not leave much carb on the tongue at all though. I would have like a better carbonation i think it would have opened it up a lot more. Not very funky as most have noted. Solid saison though.

Pours orange with a nice foamy one finger head. Sweet candy, lemon, brett, straw, and orange in the aroma. Flavor is tart, almost sour with lemon, leather, horseblanket, sour grapes, and candy sugar. A great saison.

750ml. bottle shared with Quevillon at Brouhaha. The color is a hazy honey with a thin beige head. The aroma and taste are of fruits mostly citrus. Also in the taste are malts of different kinds and also some hops that give it that bitter dry special taste.

750ml. somewhat of a newer bottle. Pours with a slight carbonation- nothing big- dull copper with a thin diminishing head. Aroma is real nice- typical fantome saison character and fantome brett infected funk- but slight- mostly just a unique saison kick- earthy, salty, bretty, leathery, light horse, some salty briney olives and mild cheese. Flavor is fantome bretty funk- some salt and a nice orange peel and some orange tic tac with a salty orange candy- maybe like a circus peanut hint with a slight tart very nice light drying finish. Relatively clean with some orange zest, and just easy drinking once you get used to it. Very unique.

Sampled. Poured a cloudy yellow/orange color. Aroma was really fruity with lots of citrus and some candy notes. Taste was more of the same with a nice flowery touch to it.

Original review date 7/9/2008... Thin, wispy head with a slight pinkish hue. Marginally cloudy honey-colored body. Nice carbonation. Aromatic, yeasty ester with slightly funky citrus. Very dry and austere. Slight tone of dry wine sweetness. Not expected altogether but quite interesting nonetheless. More dry white wine character with a fair amount of fruit...almost like a pinot grigio (no really, a good one) or an extra-dry pinot noir-based sparkling wine. Bubbly funk proivdes the sour kick to the ultra-austere malt/yeast backbone. Opens with a moderate level of warmth. Mouthfeel is very sour and puckering from tartness. Finish is slightly moldy - a little strange at first, but as it warms, the offering is putting it together a bit more and becomes quite pleasant. Nawt f’nuttin’, but I expected a great deal out of this and can appreciate the workmanship and classic style involved but it wasn’t what I was looking for at first. With warmth it definitely improved as the unexpected funk burned off and became quite drinkable and enjoyable.

Bottle. Hazy yellow body, with a large cremy white head. Aroma is fruit, citrus, elderflower and sourish. Flavor is about the same. Alcohol is well hidden.

In the 750 mL green glass bottle. Pours a cloudy flaxen gold with a poofy white head. Pears, peaches and oranges to the aroma. Yeasty bready flavor and a mild lemon taste that seems less like citrus and more like flowers. A sustained measure of candy flavoring without the overt sweetness. This just has a lot going on in there.