Fantôme Printemps

4.2/5

AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20

750 ml bottle into tulip, no best before date notched. Pours hazy golden straw color with a fairly dense 2 finger white head with good retention that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Some spotty lacing on the glass; plenty of carbonation streaming up. Aromas of big tart apple, grape, pepper, hay, lemon, earthy spiciness, and big funk. Incredible aromas here with good strength and complexity. Taste of lemon, tart apple, pepper, hay, citrus, grass, bread, herbal spice, and some funk. Fairly dry finish; with lingering notes of lemon, apple, pepper, spices, and light tartness on the finish for a bit. Medium bodied with fairly high carbonation; with a fairly prickly, yet smooth mouthfeel that drinks easily for 8%. Alcohol presence is pretty much non existent. Overall this is definitely an excellent saison offering from Fantome. I would not expect anything less.

Another excellent Fantome beer as expected. I have a couple others in cellaring right now. I would really like to try the entire lineup eventually.

Fantôme Saison

4.5/5

AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20

750 ml bottle into tulip, best before July 2013. Excited I had to get the corkscrew once again! Pours hazy orange amber color with a 1.5 finger foamy white head with decent retention that reduces to a ring of lacing. Aromas of sweet apples, pears, strawberry, and spiciness. Very nice aromas, really fruity as well. Taste of tons of apple, pear, strawberry, lemon, and spices. Finishes with some slight tartness and tons of apple, strawberry, and spice. Some notes of fruits and spices on the finish that linger for a short period of time. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied. Very smooth drinking as well, with no alcohol noticed in the taste or finish. Overall, this is just an incredible saison, and is also very interesting with the fruitiness, but is extremely drinkable and delicious.

Absolutely incredible saison. Really unique as well, quite a bit on the pricy side(Shelton Brothers), but it was worth the experience for sure. Really looking forward to finding some more Fantôme brews to try out.