Fantôme Saison
Brasserie Fantôme


- From:
- Brasserie Fantôme
- Belgium
- Style:
- Saison
Ranked #74 - ABV:
- 8%
- Score:
- 95
Ranked #1,388 - Avg:
- 4.26 | pDev: 12.91%
- Reviews:
- 860
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Thursday at 12:43 PM
- Added:
- Jul 24, 2002
- Wants:
- 528
- Gots:
- 263
This is a delicious, textural, and fizzy county ale. It is bright gold in colour with citrus notes. It is reminiscent of a good champagne or lambic but in a class all its own.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Reviewed by highdesertdrinker from Arizona
4.25/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.25/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Pours gold with an average amount of head. Smells musty and funky and strong and you know this is gonna be bold for the style. The taste is sour, dry, and a little bitter at first and then it opens up and you can taste lemon, must, a little grassy, but a prominent, distinctive flavor profile. As saisons go this skews a little towards a sour but it has a few things going on that make it interesting and worth a try, cheers!
Apr 10, 2023Reviewed by Orca from Washington
4.16/5 rDev -2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.16/5 rDev -2.3%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Re-reviewing this one after 12 years since I last had it.
750mL bottle (best before end of 2025) into a tulip. Pours a clear golden color with a clean bright head, lively carbonation
Wow, the funky aroma on this is pungent! All the usual descriptors—barnyard, wet hay, maybe even dank weed—come immediately to mind. Super strong but not off-putting at all. Just a precursor to the unique flavor in store.
Taste is, not surprisingly, funky and strong. Super dry, kind of like Orval on steroids. Grassy, acidic, with a subtle crushed-aspirin finish. The pale malt and unique yeast strain compete for dominance, unified by bitter Old World hops (Noble? Hallertauer? Saaz? No idea).
Mouthfeel is dominated by the lively carbonation that bites at the palate but gives each sip (or gulp) a crisp, clean finish. Maybe mouthfeel is where this beer excels most—it’s just so refreshing, like champagne.
Overall this is just a unique, special beer. Maybe not one I’d go for every day (and at about $23, IIRC, I couldn’t afford to) but this one is different from any other saison out there—it’s simply the most saison-y saison on the market.
_____________________
Previous review (preserved for posterity)
7/22/2011
4.44/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
750mL bottle (lot no. b-c, best before Jan. 2013) - thanks tai4ji2x! - poured into a Hennepin glass. Watching a replay of le Tour de France from earlier today, Col du Galibier and Alpe d'Huez - happy belated Belgian Independence Day!
Slightly hazy straw color with a 1-finger head, very minimal carbonation - like almost zero. Huh.
Aroma is typical saison funk, apples, pears, grass, and pepper. Nice and bright.
Taste is very dry and clean - almost like a white wine. Lots of fresh fruit, especially white grapes. Not picking up any Belgian yeasty mustiness, just a dry champagne sweetness, with a lot fewer bubbles.
Mouthfeel is slick, oily, just great.
Now as I get toward the bottom of the second full glass, I'm picking up a Bretty tartness - maybe if I'd cellared this for a year or so there would be more of this.
This saison is extremely drinkable. The only disappointment is the near total lack of carbonation, but even that does not significantly detract from the experience.
It's hard to believe this beer was made with barley and not grapes. It really blurs the line between beer and wine like nothing else I've tried.
Mar 08, 2023750mL bottle (best before end of 2025) into a tulip. Pours a clear golden color with a clean bright head, lively carbonation
Wow, the funky aroma on this is pungent! All the usual descriptors—barnyard, wet hay, maybe even dank weed—come immediately to mind. Super strong but not off-putting at all. Just a precursor to the unique flavor in store.
Taste is, not surprisingly, funky and strong. Super dry, kind of like Orval on steroids. Grassy, acidic, with a subtle crushed-aspirin finish. The pale malt and unique yeast strain compete for dominance, unified by bitter Old World hops (Noble? Hallertauer? Saaz? No idea).
Mouthfeel is dominated by the lively carbonation that bites at the palate but gives each sip (or gulp) a crisp, clean finish. Maybe mouthfeel is where this beer excels most—it’s just so refreshing, like champagne.
Overall this is just a unique, special beer. Maybe not one I’d go for every day (and at about $23, IIRC, I couldn’t afford to) but this one is different from any other saison out there—it’s simply the most saison-y saison on the market.
_____________________
Previous review (preserved for posterity)
7/22/2011
4.44/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 3.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
750mL bottle (lot no. b-c, best before Jan. 2013) - thanks tai4ji2x! - poured into a Hennepin glass. Watching a replay of le Tour de France from earlier today, Col du Galibier and Alpe d'Huez - happy belated Belgian Independence Day!
Slightly hazy straw color with a 1-finger head, very minimal carbonation - like almost zero. Huh.
Aroma is typical saison funk, apples, pears, grass, and pepper. Nice and bright.
Taste is very dry and clean - almost like a white wine. Lots of fresh fruit, especially white grapes. Not picking up any Belgian yeasty mustiness, just a dry champagne sweetness, with a lot fewer bubbles.
Mouthfeel is slick, oily, just great.
Now as I get toward the bottom of the second full glass, I'm picking up a Bretty tartness - maybe if I'd cellared this for a year or so there would be more of this.
This saison is extremely drinkable. The only disappointment is the near total lack of carbonation, but even that does not significantly detract from the experience.
It's hard to believe this beer was made with barley and not grapes. It really blurs the line between beer and wine like nothing else I've tried.
Rated by MikeWard from Pennsylvania
3.89/5 rDev -8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.89/5 rDev -8.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
More of a dry sour saison. Not bad, but a little sweeter would have pleased this palate more.
Feb 05, 2023Reviewed by LiquidAmber from Washington
4.35/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.35/5 rDev +2.1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a lightly hazy, medium orange/gold with a four finger white head with great retention and thick lacing; looks nice. Aroma of grainy malt, saison yeast, coriander, lemon and mild summer herbs. Flavor follows with grainy malt, saison yeast with a little funk, coriander, lemon, a touch of honey, apple, hints of light stone fruit; some moderate farmhouse funk in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A great, full flavored saison. Hits all the basics of the style in yeast, light fruit, grain and yeast funk. In addition there are wisps of interesting dried fruit and citrus. Great flavor progression with coriander and grain up front and fruit developing over time, finishing with a drier farmhouse funky bite. Dupont saisons are my benchmark for this style and this is as fine or better. This is a really great brewery. So glad they are available again (sporadically) in our area.
Jan 23, 2023Reviewed by flagmantho from Washington
4.45/5 rDev +4.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
4.45/5 rDev +4.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Poured from 750mL corked & capped green bottle into my BeerAdvocate teku. Bottle says best by end of 2025 -- I should be good.
Appearance: medium golden hue with a bit of haze to the body and a huge effervescence. Head is three thick fingers of frothy eggshell foam that leave a nice lace on the glass. I'm kind of surprised the bottle didn't gush at all, given the huge effervescence and persistent head!
Smell: funky malt with a bit of a spicy character and even just a hint of sourness. Classic, refined, and subtle -- good stuff.
Taste: nice light malt, a little fruity-phenolic character (but not too much!), a little bite, some good bitterness ... this is a damn fine saison. Damn fine indeed.
Mouthfeel: medium body with a big carbonation and just massive creaminess. I love it -- with just a little more body it might be perfect, but it's very, very good as it is.
Overall: I knew this beer was going to be above-average, for sure. But I've had Fantôme beers in a green bottle before, and was underwhelmed. Thankfully this one appears to have been treated right, and it is a treat indeed.
Jan 12, 2023Appearance: medium golden hue with a bit of haze to the body and a huge effervescence. Head is three thick fingers of frothy eggshell foam that leave a nice lace on the glass. I'm kind of surprised the bottle didn't gush at all, given the huge effervescence and persistent head!
Smell: funky malt with a bit of a spicy character and even just a hint of sourness. Classic, refined, and subtle -- good stuff.
Taste: nice light malt, a little fruity-phenolic character (but not too much!), a little bite, some good bitterness ... this is a damn fine saison. Damn fine indeed.
Mouthfeel: medium body with a big carbonation and just massive creaminess. I love it -- with just a little more body it might be perfect, but it's very, very good as it is.
Overall: I knew this beer was going to be above-average, for sure. But I've had Fantôme beers in a green bottle before, and was underwhelmed. Thankfully this one appears to have been treated right, and it is a treat indeed.
Reviewed by puck1225 from Texas
4.49/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.49/5 rDev +5.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
I am so happy I finally got to have this beer! Wonderful beer! So smooth and full bodied. Funky and sweet, great taste! Nice hoppy bitterness. Lemony and spicy. Poured from a bottle into a tumbler. Beautiful foamy, creamy head atop a hazy golden yellow body. Excellent curtain lacing. Hope to get more!
Sep 24, 2022
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