Fantôme Santé 25!
Brasserie Fantôme

so weird and good, i would rank this among recent favorites from fantome, punchy and intense, another vague 8% abv saison with green glass weirdness riding shotgun, this one does tell us it has citrus zest in it, orange and pomelo if my google translate is right, more info than we hardly ever get from fantome, and they were surely not light handed with it, boy this is really flavorful stuff. creamy white headed, frothy and dense in the glass on top of a lightly hazy light rust colored brew, gorgeous effervescence, some obvious body. the nose is vegetal and shockingly bitter to me, almost medicinal, and with a little of the alcohol coming through and highlighting that aspect, like cocktail bitters and grapefruit pith, but with that is familiar fantome saison yeast, light papery oxidation, and nutty earthy grain, wheat based i reckon. some white and black pepper, fragrant lime, and white wine notes too. the flavor is crazy, its almost medicinal bitter all the way through, but it highlights orange, lime, and grapefruit well, zest and oils, but also rind and pith, intense on the center of the tongue and lasting, only balanced by light malt sweetness, and this is estery rather than too old or astringent to me as can sometimes be the case with these bottles, a lot of life to this yeast, subtle coriander and clove, wet woodiness, musty basement, baked bread, really complex but also really bold, i am used to more subtlety in their stuff, but i am not turned off by the assertive herbal bite this has, almost long boiled hop character, but it has to be the citrus over hops doesnt it? tons of grapefruit essence through the whole thing, lime leaf too, frothy feel and great carbonation, drier than it seems most of the way at the end, and with a neat healthful sort of cleansing bitterness left after its gone. unique and delicious, too robust for some palates maybe, but in the context of the greater fantome range, its a real cool beer and even a standout from recent years. always such a joy to drink their beer, no matter the occasion!