Fantôme Circus
Brasserie Fantôme

 

Thanks to Dunt for sharing.

Copper body, mild haze with an off-white head. Damp, musty, funky, basement. Perhaps some mint and assorted herbal notes.

Thanks Dunt for saving me a pour of this! It pours a dark, murky brown color of pond water with a thin khaki topping of bubbles that have a tight small bubble pattern. Some patchy lace sticks to the glass when swirled.

The nose is tart almost like cranberry or currant with a fruity jam-like sweetness intertwined with tartness making for a complex and contrasting mix. There are earthy funk aspects blending to cork and mild oxidation.

The taste is tart like the previously mentioned cranberry/currant and possibly pomegranate juice with some molasses or caramel malt sweetness to balance. A slight earthiness and herbal bitterness gets noted towards the finish.

This is a medium bodied brew with a classic fantome funk inclusion but also a fruity tartness and deep maltiness. This is really different and super enjoyable. I would love to get my hands on more of this. Its showing its age a bit but unique and enjoyable enough to want more.

 

 

 

 

Bottled Ale.

Pros: Really nice aroma (blueberry, mint, pepper, herb, barn.) Sweet, well extracted, very nice balance. Nice appearance. Lots of taste.

Cons: It's weird. A little light in body. A bit oxidized.

The best Fantome I've had in some time.

750ml bottle.

Poured a medium and murky/muddy orangish color with an averaged sized off white head. The color darkened up as I got towards the bottom of the bottle. Aromas of yeast, fruity, spicey, caramel, green minty herbalness and floral. Tastes of the same herbalness, apples, pears, yeast, and citrus. Light tart finish.

Notes from: 4/27/07

Fantome Circus pours a reddish brown with a thin tan head from a green 750 ml corked and capped bottle. The aroma is amazing, ripe red fruit, sugar and a touch of alcohol are noticeable. The fruit isn't as powerful in the flavor as it is in the aroma, but it is still there and still full bodied, but there is also a herbal or medicinal quality to the beer as well. Fantome beers never cease to amaze me. An excellent beer, drink it if you can find it!

Poured 750ml bottle to tulip glass. Medium brown body with a small soapy like head that reduces shortly to a cap of thin lace. Everything about this beer seems mediocre - the aroma has hints of funk and fruit but also of cardboard. In the mouth it's the same - the flavors don't coat the whole tongue, don't present the depth that you expect from a Fantome beer. The light body is lowly carbonated and has a somewhat slick mouthfeel. Some farmhouse flavors coming through a Belgian-brown style. I have a feeling this was a much better beer directly after being released.

A slightly vigorous pour produces an initially three-finger thick, amber tinged, tan colored head that leave just a touch of lacing on the sides of the glass. The beer is a dark, amber-tinged, plum color as it rests in my tulip glass, but shows an almost brilliantly clear, cranberry red color when held up to the light. An aromatic mix of earth-like note and fruit greet my nose as I take my first draught of the aroma. Aromas of plums (both tart & sweet), raisins, cloves, a touch of damp leather, something like mace, hints of tamarind and a touch of musty, yet distinctly, woody-black-pepper. The fruit notes are more concentrated up front, and it is not till you take a couple of successive draughts of the aroma that the earthy spice notes really start to become noticeable. This has a pretty nicely complex nose that one would expect from Fantôme; it is very enjoyable to spend a couple minutes exploring the aromas of this brew.

Lightly sweet, a touch more tart and it has a sort of tannic, almost woody astringency to it in the finish. The fruit notes is much more on par with the earth & light funk here in the flavor, but I still get ample notes of concentrated plums, raisins, a touch of tamarind, pears and even apple. Musty spice notes & that woody note provide a counterpoint to the fruitiness; as does the acidity, but this tends to meld into and accentuate certain aspects of the fruit flavors too. Soft turpene notes (clove, hints of mace and allspice) are joined by a woody black pepper note (not as distinctly as in the aroma though), a hint of earthy ginger, spicy oak flavors. Quite light bodied, yet that tannic / woody note adds some body and the spiciness almost makes this a sipping brew despite how quaffable it is. Some phenolic notes and a touch of alcohol adds some sharpness to the finish.

The second pour of this brew adds a bit of sediment, which definitely adds a yeast-like dimension to the brew (both in the flavor and in the taste). Spicy notes of allspice, cardamom and clove seem to be accentuated as well. While not as funky as some Fantôme products, this has a rich depth of flavor that I am really digging. I am not really sure where the wood-like notes are coming from (perhaps the cork, or maybe some weird secret ingredient), but they definitely add a very nice additional complexity to this brew.

Bottle from Capone's...
Appears a hazy copper toned amber with plenty of fallout lingering throughout the liquid. A one finger off white head quickly fades into a mild cap and collar. Scattered streaks of lacing are left around the glass.
Smell is of wet hay, aromas of grapes, raisins, earthy, musty, melons, mushrooms, and a small dose of brown sugar.
Taste is of oakiness, vanilla, and tart lemon with pumelo zest.
Mouthfeel is medium bodied, filled with juiced orange, melons, earthy must, and mild hops.
Pretty damn good.

From a 750ml bottle into my fantome tulip, Circus is a clear ruby color with a huge, light sand colored head that is very rocky leaving huge hunks of foam on the sides of the glass. Brilliant!

The aroma is alluring and complex, with mint, pine, cider, phenols, clove, pear, sherry. Unlike any beer I've ever smelled, including most of the other fantome's.

The taste is equally intriguing, but ultimately with less appeal, and none of the funk I like in some of this brasserie's brews.
Clove, baby diapers, acetone, apple cider vinegar like acidity, but with a soft sweet backbone to wrap it all up, tasting much better then those specific flavors might sound! The initial taste is a bit off, and gradually improves though the finish. Generally, there's a lot of spiciness going on that makes it hard to pin down. A fairly clean finish with a whisper of clean alcohol.

The mouthfeel is medium light with a semi-crisp amount of carbonation.

In spite of the complexity of this one, it was pretty easy drinking if you choose not to savor it, as it's generally pleasant and inoffensive. The flavors are strong enough to build up on the tongue to gain significant momentum for the second half of the bottle, which compensates for the booziness, which is higher then most fantome's, even though they're all apparently 8% exactly!

A very drinkable fantome porudct. Picked up a bottle of this at Capone's and enjoyed a few days later.

A: A borwnish murky color. A lot of yeast sediment in this one.
S: Strong Caramel / Malt smell
T: Stong malt finish. Tastes much darker than it actually is.
M: Minimal carbonation in this product.
D: I would drink another one of these. Especially in the fall.

I am a bit biased because I love Fantome products. This is one of the better ones.

Got a bottle at the Bier Stein in Eugene.

A- Nice ruby/amber color and good carbonation. Not a very big head, but nice and soft.

S- Earth, estery, with some fig. Belgian yeast smell as well.

T- carmel, sour, a bit of fruit and some yeast taste. Not what I was expecting, but I guess that's Fantome for ya. Almost a ice tea aftertaste. A lot more malt in the taste then most Saisons, hard to call it a Saison really. Almost more like a dark belgian ale.

M- Lots of carbonation, tons of bubbles. Fells good in the mouth

D- overall, a good beer, not my favorite Fantome, but glad I bought it. I think there are better saisons out there. This one does go down easy, though.

If you ever wanted to read my thoughts on a Fantôme beer, well, here's your shot.

Appearance: Pours a cloudy brown body with a tall, beige-colored head that fizzed out fairly quickly.

Smell: Caramel and cinnamon enveloped in Fantôme's typical mustiness as well as some spices and a bit of white wine.

Taste: Mildy sweet taste with flavors of caramel and crispy toffee with a pinch of sea salt and a tart-sour twang similar to a 50-50 blend of a dry white wine and ginger ale.

Mouthfeel: Thinnish body with a somewhat oily texure and only a light amount of carbonation.

Drinkability: Though decent, it seems fairly toned down when held up against some of the other Fantôme beers I've tried.

Reviewed from notes. Shared with friends, I had at least a 10 oz. sample.

Bottle exhibited the typical ghostly wisps of smoke when opened. Color was darker than the regular Fantôme Saison, a slightly darker flat brown. Aroma had some tartness, more earthy and less grassy that the regular offering.

Taste is malty, with mild tartness, and more mellow, somewhat less spicy than other Fantômes. Lower carbonation makes this very easy to quaff, but I tried to restrain myself. Was this really a "black market" bottle or a crafty marketing ploy? Either way it tasted great.

Capped and corked 750ml bottle poured into a tulip glass. Pours a hazy dark brownish amber color with a small off white head. The nose is tart with malt and dark fruits. The taste is malty with some peppery spice and an earthy hop bitterness. The mouthfeel is perfectly carbonated but it seems to be too thin. Overall, this is simply another great offering from Fantome. They consistantly seem to churn out fantastic products. Granted, this is certainly not their best product but not bad either. Too bad this only a limited release.

Ahhh, another gift from Fantome and the Sheltons. The color was amber and hazy, yeasty throughout. Notes of grapes, apples, musty barnyard funk, raisins, almost like a chardonney at times in a freaky wirded out Fantome type of way. Apparently, this release was nevercleared for sales in the USA, but hell, we'll drinkl it anyway. I love this beer!