Everything Fantôme

Luckily I've never had anything awful from Fantôme, but my favorites were their Saison and Brise-BonBons. With that being said, I think I've only tried 5 or so of their beers. I have a bottle of Été I plan on drinking soon, hopefully I'll like that.

 

I haven't had any bad Fantome really. Some have been Flat or Sick, but never the rubber or tire thing people keep talking about. You're dealing with a mixed fermentation that mostly occurs in the bottle and these are highly carbonated saisons so yeah some may gush. Simple fix is leaving them in the fridge for a few days and having glasses ready when you pour. If anyone has Fantome sitting on their shelves locally for cheap I will trade you for every single one.

 

I've had 6 varieties of Fantome, and Fantome Saison twice. 6 of those times were great. Fantome makes some of the best saisons out there. Try any you can get your hands on. However, you are taking a gamble, unfortunately. I had Hiver and it tasted like burnt band-aid's, as many other people have complained about with different Fantome beers they've had. One of my very few drain pours. It was absolutely horrendous. Kind of ridiculous for an internationally distributed and acclaimed brewery. They really need to get their QC-shiz together.

 

I just had my first and only Fantome Saison last week. Perfect beer. I guess I was lucky. 1 out of 1 success rate so far. Not sure I'll press my luck though. Lots of comparable priced / decent options without the risk.

 

How does a brewer QC their beer when they don't even like beer?

 

Straight up, Fantome is my favorite brewery... the man works magic with herbs.

Qc department? I'm pretty sure the brewery is like the size of a small house.

 

Everything I've had from them has been fantastic. Never experienced any infections or anything like that.

Brise-BonBons and Pissenlit are my favorites. Had a 3 year old bottle of Pissenlit at Ebenezer's Pub in Maine and it was glorious. Tart, citrusy, yet still retained that funky peppery taste it has when fresh.

Still have yet to try Fantome Saison, but it's one of my top 10 most wanted.

 

You're not tooo far from VT... it's pretty abundant there.

 

My first experience was picking up a bottle of the boo to bring back from Brussels a few years ago and having it explode all over the kitchen upon opening.

Since then I've bought bottles of the standard saison which was amazing and the hiver and la Dalmatienne which were fairly good. At £8 a bottle not something I will get too often but the standard is one of the best beers I've ever had. I've recently bought some more bottles of the standard, the boo and the magic ghost.

Has anybody got any experience with fantome chocolat? Sounds interesting but also sounds like it could be disgusting.

 

+1 for Pissenlit. The one I got to try wasn't quite as aged, but still a gloriously tart saison. Only thing disappointing about it is that I didn't wet the bed that night like the name suggests (yeah, yeah I know it also means dandelion)

 

I tried Del Rey finally last night and LOVED it - fruity, funky, musty, and maybe it's my imagination but I tasted some distinctive earthy musk (wild truffles perhaps?). So as for me, I'm a Fantome believer.

 

You learn something new every day.

 

I've only had the normal saison and Pissenlit and I thought they were both amazing, I'm pretty sure they both had a year or more of age on them. I have a bottle of Coffee Ruby in my "cellar" that I haven't tried yet too.

 

I've only had 2 Fantômes so far, but I'm 2 for 2 with them both being excellent (Pissenlit and standard).

Dany, you have an admirer in me. Someday we will make a pilgrimage.

I now have Dark White, Hiver, Printemps, Desert Ghost, and another bottle of Saison happily waiting in the cellar.