Light Spiritus Spring Project
Brasserie Fantôme

Poured into a Gulden Draak tulip. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a three finger white head with great retention and thick lacing. Aroma of grainy malt, hay, grapefruit and lightly floral hops. Flavor with grainy malt, brett yeast, grapefruit, lemon, wild flower field hay, and light mixed fruit. Long lingering bretty finish. Medium bodied with sharp carbonation. A fairly mainstream saison from Fantôme with little or no medicinal spicing. A classic tasting saison malt body with a open field hay character and good citrus and rind. Fine carbonation that is aggressive but not overpowering. The lingering finish is a bit astringent from the brett style yeast, but appropriate for the style. Most reviews of this so far are from late summer to fall, which seems late for a Spring project, but like most saisons, this appears to have held up nicely. Not as odd and unfathomable as some of Fantôme's offerings, but a fine, flavorful saison.

Elderflower saison, tastes like. Mild floral sweetness, lingering hop bitterness, with a bready malt middle. Straightforward, yet complex and rustic. Guess this doesn’t count as a review yet, how about now? Succinct will always be more useful than the verbose.

On draft at ChurchKey in DC. Pours a bright orange with a full finger of head and good retained lacing. Ruby grapefruit and tangelo dominate some straw and floral undertones. Very light chalkiness on the mouthfeel.

 

 

Purchased a bottle of this beer at my favorite beer shop in Dallas.

Poured into a tulip glass. Beautiful hazy honey yellow color with fluffy white head and excellent curtain lacing. Really a beautiful beer. The floral, spicy smell is intense and hits your nose as soon as the cork is popped. The taste is floral, herbal, and spicy with peppercorns, sage and honey. There is a nice hoppy bitterness as well. The beer is crisp and refreshing. Excellent beer for grilling!

Saying good by to the ghost of winter's past and hello to the warmer days to come, Fantome brewery has the welcoming committee in ale form.

Pale straw and held in a foggy yeast haze, Light Spiritus billows to the brim with a soapy eggshell cap. With a highly floral and fresh scent rolling from the glass, the nose quickly fills with dried fruit, bold spice, vinous notes and an aura of weathered, musty woods. Gentle sweetness meets the palate with dry wafer, honeysuckle and fresh bread dough maltiness in a crisp yet rustic taste.

Ample carbonation bounces the malts from the middle palate and illuminates the taste of yeast spices that play out with peppercorn, oak, vinous spices, white pepper and coriander with a quick follow up of pear, lemon, apple, grape and orange- all seemingly in their dehydrated form. Trending sharply bitter, the late palate shows a firm hop bite with grapefruit peel, grasses and hay with a return burlap musk in retro-olfactory action.

Light, crisp and refreshing overall, the beer shows a masterful blend of rustic ale making and refinement in balance and technique. Finishing bubbly, dry and nearly champagne-like, a medium long aftertaste shows an extension of yeast spice and bitterness that play on long after the fruit and sweetness have subsided.