Everything Fantôme

Look at the yeast in the bottom of the bottle---if it is flat as a fritter I would avoid it. They are unique and very adventurous with their use of seasonings. Bonbons, standard flagship saison, and noel are excellent from experience, others that were in the past have escaped memory (and review) but were interesting.

 

Cheap-o Ete in Belgium. Tickers gotta tick.

 

In all seriousness, though, bought 5 different bottles my first time around when they all first got distro'ed here. All were bad juju. Then managed to grab one here and there once I heard they were off and on, and 2 of 3 of those were fine. So I tried again with a few others, and all were bandaids and acid galore.

Then I come on here and everyone says "yea they took care of that bandaids issue now" so I found some things like Sante 17 while across the pond and Boo/Choclat/Artist here in FL, which tasted like both bandaids and burning. I've left Del Ray sitting there in piles at the shop for months now.

Never seen Ete before, and it's listed in the top Saisons. For $7.99 or something like that, seemed like I might as well try one I probably won't see around again. I'll report back tonight, but like I said: don't have my hopes up. And I can't recommend these experiences to anyone, even if I bring it on myself.

 

Call it what you want. Giving a chance to a beer I don't see much. But there isn't much hype around Fantome at this point given all the crap they have sitting on the shelf. But I did really quite enjoy my one bottle of Noel that wasn't awful.

 

Besides the obvious standard saison, I enjoy Noel, Printemps and Pissenlit.

 

Shockingly, my Fantome Ete is another gusher. Not bandaids at least, but can't say it tastes good, and can't really recommend it to OP.

 

The only way to get the gold is to trade for pre 2010 bottles. It's worth it.

 

Let me ask @bhudlow23 a question: do you like herbs / spices? Not only herbs / spices in your food, but in your beverages? Do you like things like vermouth, Italian amara (various herbal bitter drinks like Cynar, Averna, Amaro Nonino, Carciofo, Fernet, etc)? I ask because I feel like some of the Fantome's have a lot in common with these beverages in terms of the way the flavors play out ... major difference being that Fantome's are dry while these beverages are often quite sweet. Standard saison is an exception to this highly herb / spice nature.

I have a pet theory; American food is not particularly spicey or herbal. Not in the way that a lot of French and some Italian food is (and I'm using the variant spelling spicey instead of spicy to kind of hint that I mean using a lot of spices and not about heat). Most American's don't encounter flavors like lavendar, anise, star anise, nutmeg, mace, spearmint, wintergreen, dandelion, bitter roots (gentian, angelica), barks, etc, in their food or drinks. But people in mountainous areas of Italy and many areas of France do. Where do American's encounter these flavors / aromas, outside of occasionally for a few in desserts? Perfumes, potpourri, body care products (soaps, lotions), medicines. What do many Americans complain that some Fantome's (and some other herbal beers) taste like? Soap, perfume, medicine.

In short, I think there's a bit of a learned preference for a lot of these tastes. That isn't to say that people that don't like them or haven't learned to are unsophisticated / unlearned ... but I do think early exposure in a lot of contexts does make people more ok with aggressive and, to an American taste, odd herb / spice combinations.

That said, yeah; some Fantome's ages ago were plasticy. I haven't had a bad one in years though.

 

I have about a 50% success rate with fantome. 4 of the 5 regular saisons I've had were amazing with the last just being OK. I've had most of the other easier to get bottles and they were all smoky bandaid garbage with the exception of hiver. That being said, I'd never hesitate to buy their regular saison if I ever see it again.

 

Hmm I guess I'm one of the lucky ones to only have gotten good bottles. For me, it is one of my favorite saison experiences. Taste is quite unique.

 

I've never had gusher problems. I make sure I chill them well in advance ... and get them really cold. And then I'm just ready to pour into glasses. The carb is often abundant ... but if you're prepared, no big deal.

 

I'd drink it.

 

That's an interesting perspective. Just about the only alcoholic beverage I enjoy these days besides beer, are drinks like Cynar, Suze, etc. I agree that drinks like these are not thought of as being particularly aligned with American tastes. Oddly enough, rather than saisons, it's the popularity of IPAs that make me think that things are changing in minor ways. An embrace of bitterness.

While I never associated these flavors with saisons before, your post brings up the similarity in botanist imagery between the romantic envisioned creation of a Fantome beer and the similar creation of something like Chartreuse. I feel like I need to now drink a Belgian saison with this in mind and see if I can marry the two in terms of flavor. I'm curious, are there any specific Fantome beers that conjure this up for you? Hopefully more than one since it's tough finding various choices with this brewery.

 

I can't think of a lot of breweries mining this vein ... but Jester Kings does seem in the forefront of challenging our preconceived notions. I'd also toss out Upright, Propolis, Plan Bee as folks that use the land, the seasons, and culinary explorations as inspiration. This, IMHO, is a big part of the future of craft beer.

Based on your comment I would 200% suggest you check out Propolis. They are wild and amazing.

 

Agreed, I've had my experiences with smoky bandaid bottles from 2010-2014, but everything I've had since last year has been much better and worthy of the Fantome buzz.

These 4 are easiest to find and a great intro to his saisons.
Good luck with your hunt!

 

Hi,

Big Fantome fan here reporting in (thanks for the tag @zid ).

From my experience, most of the smokey/bandaid/burnt rubber bottlings were circa 2012/13 and were limited to bottlings of classic saison, black ghost, five sciences batch 1, tripel gourmet, boo, hiver, printemps and pissenlit.

There was an issue at Fantome in that time period and it has since been fixed. Ive not encountered any bottlings since that had the same issue. Though, its very possible if you find a bottle of Fantome on a dusty shelf, it could be from that era since Dany does not always utilize the date coding on the labels like he has started to more regularly as of late.

Even as a big fan and apologist of this brewer, there are times I was disappointed. However, ive also had bottles of Fantome (both old and new) that ended up being the best beers ive ever drank. Because of that I will continue to be a fan. Anyone who knows Dany will tell you he is the last of a very rare breed of brewers. He has been doing the farmhouse/rustic thing longer than some of us have been alive. He is quite a character and someone who genuinely cares and appreciates knowing people enjoy his creations.

 

The Hiver i had smelled and tasted like plastic bandaids.....not good.

 

I've never had a bad Fantome bottle. Weird: yes. Bad? No. In general I like the taste of Brett phenolics, which I heavily associate with Fantome.

I always seek them out.