Fantôme Benefietbier T.v.v. Dennis Mariën
Brasserie Fantôme

Thanks to Kyle (Dankbeers619) for sharing this one! He found this bottle on the back of a shelf in the back of a liquor store in L.A. After talking with some people we estimate this bottle to be vintage 1997.

750mL corked and crown capped. No date on cork but it looks pretty damn old. The bottle has a plain tan label and a small handicapped sign on it. Probably a one-off fundraiser beer.

A. Hazy golden orange color with a lingering frothy ring of a head and apparent high carbonation. There was a 1/4" of mucky yeast at the bottom of the bottle and we did a pretty good job of keeping it out of the glasses.

S. Bready, stale musty cardboardy malts. Obviously a victim of old age and and incorrect storage. Slight sherry-like notes and a lot of lemony citrusy aromas.

F/M. Again, stale cardboardy malts. Somewhat bready with a big, tart lemony flavor. Almost a little too tart, very lactic. Nice wild-yeasty flavors, mostly funky barnyardy flavors. Other tropical fruity flavors similar to pineapple and mango are also noticeable, but the oxidized cardboardy flavors are a little too powerful. Highly carbonated with a dry finish. Lingering lemony and tropical fruit flavor. Medium light bodied.

O. I was impressed with how well this beer actually held up considering how old it was. It was definitely showing signs of oxidation by now, but it wasn't so overwhelming to the point of drainpourage. The tartness has gone through the roof on this one but all the funky fruity flavors are actually pretty damn tasty.

*Regarding the score in the Flavor category, I felt it was lower than the 3.0 i gave it but didn't want to ding it so bad as to give it a 2.5. Therefore, I dropped the Overall score from 3.0 to 2.5 so that it was reflected in the final letter grade given.