Esprit Valaisan
Brasserie Fantôme

Golden orange tone, bright clarity, huge billowing head that settles to a craggy soufflé that resembles an anthropomorphic jester hat. Aroma is subdued, white pepper and bubblegum Saison yeast.

Tastes more IPA than Saison, some phenolics and fruity pear, but the bittering hops kinda steamroll everything. A slight mature complexity and vinous character from the grape must, but it is very subdued.

Firm moderate bitterness, creamy texture, dry finish. Overall it’s a nice beer, though the bittering hops could be dialed down more for the delicate grape character to truly shine.

Note: Grape must is essentially grapes after the pressing process, including juice and solids. It’s not finished wine, nor blended with wine.

Fantôme #32
Saison #774

 

 

huge thanks to my friend for sharing this one, i get so excited to drink beer from fantome, especially now that the end seems near, at least for the current administration over there. anyhow, this is a saison and wine blend, 20% apparently is swiss white wine of some kind that i dont know much about, but its lovely with the beer, i think the inclusion of finished wine in beer is awesome, too uncommon, and this is quite special. it has all the hallmarks of a classic fantome offering, huge almost hard to control airy white bottle conditioned head, a nose of green glass weirdness and the famed house yeast, and also a cloak of mystery around it, never really quite know all the details, and thats become a fun part of opening these bottles. golden orange toned beer with some shine and reasonable clarity for what it is, great carbonation, and an aroma of light spiciness, musty rustic saison yeast, green glass character, white pepper, clove, butterscotch, and a tannic grapey uniqueness, the wine seems immediately well integrated, has a yeastiness of its own perhaps coming through, and is less sweet to my nose than expected, beer first still, definitely. the flavor is great, more acidity from the vino than i can smell but its there the whole way adding tartness and lightening this a lot, still wheaty and earthy at its core, but tangy too now. some neat fantome funk to this, well mature and dried out on the beer side, nuances of grass clippings, mustard greens, and green tea, there is some almost out of left field herbal bitterness that kicks up midway through and hangs around. white pepper, cooked pear, orange zest, aromatic bitters, and champagne all hit, and the carbonation and texture of the grain make this frothy and airy, just a little alcohol warmth late, kind of wrapped up with the wine. really complex overall, such a cool blend, its this kind of thing that makes the juice worth the squeeze with fantome, truly awesome bottle of saison!