Fantôme Strange Ghost

Brewed by Brasserie Fantôme
Style: Spice/Herb/Vegetable
Soy-Erezée, Belgium

Another winner from Fantome. This poured with a dark orange body and alarge off white head. The aroma was funky Colby cheese ad dry hay. There was also lemon peel and some sage. The taste was very dry with hay, and dried apple chips. There was also cologne and soap, but not in a bad way. Just something that made this more interesting. There was also some sage.

750 bottle, capped & corked (2005 version, sampled December 2005): glowing cranberry with a full light tan cream that diminishes, but remains in a thin layer. Nutmeg, all spice and cinnamon aromatics match the name on the bottle: strange. Spicy hop cones and distant pine needles. Very fresh, light palate with a crisp, seemingly brisk quality. The spiciness hits the back of the tongue in the form of black pepper, all spice and sour yeast. The aroma led me to believe this would be a strange herbal concoction that would be hard to finish…truth be told, Danny’s fun yeast and interesting soft malty body comes out quickly as it warms…thanks for another fun one!

I must say that this is a very difficult beer to rate. I have spent the last hour or so with my bottle and I am not sure I have much figured out, but here goes anyway. The beer pours medim amber color with a big off white head that is mostly retained. The aroma is a conundrum of scents. Licorice, anise, and light bready malt are buried under a cheap cologne, massive spicy aroma. Very unique flavor profile as well. Flavors of cologne, tons of spices and some meaty, smokiness. This beer is totally about contradictions and the conflicting parts seem to pull in all different directions. I ended up enjoying the beer quite a bit as a very unique drinking experience.

This is a funky one. Lots of mint. If the Vietnamese made a Saison it probably would be this one. Medicinal dry mint pesto like flavors. Strange indeed.

A had to travel all the way to Montreal to sample this. It is a beutiful amber beer with a nice orange head. The aroma is sweet and very spicy combined with notes of lemon and rosemary. The flavor is also sweet and very spicy - I pick up rosemary and parseley, leading to a very dry end.

bright amber/copper color with a tall rocky light tan head & good lacing. aroma is dusty sweet caramel malt, some funky yeast, and some fresh thyme sprigs (but not strong). a little sweet in the aroma. good to high carbonation, flavor is caramel malt, then some dry spicyness like white pepper and spinach greens. some tanginess too. I didn’t get as much of the herbs everyone is talking about!

Drinking a yet untried Fantôme ale is always an adventure. This hazy amber brew with a creamy beige head reminded me of being in the secondary waiting room at a doctor’s office, the room you go into after waiting an hour, take off your clothes, sit on a stainless steel table, and wait another hour. Why? Because the aroma is strongly medicinal, like the antiseptics that you smell in such a place. The blending of spices and herbs goes wild in the nose (mine, at least), what with the additional mint, tea leaves, ginger, chamomile, pepper, nutmeg, lilacs, pine needles.... It’s soft in the mouth, gently carbonated and is a mixture of malt, medicine, and soap - - but somehow remains an enjoyable drink. I’m not giving this a very high rating, but rather an appreciative one. I’ll be trying this again (’n’ again) to try to make some sense of it all. Which may be futile. It is a Fantôme ale, after all.

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Pours with a dense but not long lasting head. Taste is spicy like autumn leaves. Lots of tree sap, coriander, tea, soap thats sweet but somewhat dry. This will be awesome with 2* years on it.