Fantôme, Brise-BonBons!

You know that really irritating taste in an IPA when you've got to it too late? The overpowering maltiness barely tempered by a nondescript herbal/vegetal parenthesis, the oily mouthfeel without the accompaniment, then a big bitterness that teases you about how good it was when fresh. This Fantôme basically. Maybe some bitter lemon flavours, some saisonyness, but mostly just the taste of dissappointment. (I've still got a Pissenlit wasting away somewhere to upset me as well.....)

Fantôme, India Red Ale

Since my first time with Fantôme, my experiences havent been so great. My second bottle of the saison seemed a little tired - there was none of that tropical, dry hop business. I put it down to hop fade (it was an older bottle that I'd been aging after all).

I figured their India Red Ale would be a pungent, dry hopped to eff saison. Not really, unfortunately. The fact that I don't have notes for it suggests I was underwhelmed although I do remember three things quite clearly - the first was this bizarre herbal taste that I didn't recognise (funnily enough, in hindsight, the closest thing I can think of that resembled that taste was the Wacky Cabbage that we used to buy from East West). Second was a very bitter finish, but not a particularly pleasant one. Lastly, I remember struggling to finish it. Overall, a bit of a shame really.

Brasserie Fantôme, Saison

A very popular Belgian saison, particularly in the US I understand. It's pretty 'complex' I suppose - there's a small sourness going on (cider vinegar on the nose), ripe orange, sweaty farmhouse (brett?) - the taste is kind of all over the shop. It's kind of cool though - I quite like the jumbly nature of it. It's not heavy going like the Moneuse, even though it's a similar abv and the colours aren't particularly dissimilar. After I'd acclimatised to it, my overriding impressions was that of a dry hopped saison: overripe fruit style hoppage - some pineapple, sweetness (malts?), acidity too. Finsh was bitter, some more hops there too iirc. Warming but not overly boozy. A warm up drink would do well I think. Fantastic saison overall. I have another one.