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Is Fantome "back"?

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OMG ISO TOME SNACKS




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Had a bottle of the most recent batch of Printemps last night. I am a sucker for sage and saison (like Stillwater Cellar Door), and there is definitely some sage in here. The herbs were prominent but not overpowering, and there was some nice citrus and funk behind the herbs. This scratched all my itches.

 
Had a bottle of the most recent batch of Printemps last night. I am a sucker for sage and saison (like Stillwater Cellar Door), and there is definitely some sage in here. The herbs were prominent but not overpowering, and there was some nice citrus and funk behind the herbs. This scratched all my itches.



Good to hear. I think I still have a bottle from a batch or two ago that I'm scared of.
 
I know this post was suppose to be about the scoobyghosty snacks. But dear lord Dany is a wonderful specimen of the human race. Just ******* look at him. "Wah you no like my green beer? Whatever ZFG!"


Seriously.

Dany is pretty much the kindest person you could ever beg to meet. We're (US brewers) making saison/farmhouse ale and establishing guidelines etc, and this guy has been doing it since 1988. You ask him about it and his response is most often, "I'm just a simple brewer". Dany dabbles in magic that science cannot comprehend, yeast labs can't wrangle, and beer geeks cannot rate. Fantôme is really about the last of the saison producers that commune with the unexplainable, metaphysical realm. And Dany is far more talented brewer than most give him credit for. He certainly thrives on intuition...which Siebel cannot offer.

Viva danyP !
 
Seriously.

Dany is pretty much the kindest person you could ever beg to meet. We're (US brewers) making saison/farmhouse ale and establishing guidelines etc, and this guy has been doing it since 1988. You ask him about it and his response is most often, "I'm just a simple brewer". Dany dabbles in magic that science cannot comprehend, yeast labs can't wrangle, and beer geeks cannot rate. Fantôme is really about the last of the saison producers that commune with the unexplainable, metaphysical realm. And Dany is far more talented brewer than most give him credit for. He certainly thrives on intuition...which Siebel cannot offer.

Viva danyP !
I hope my comment was not read as being derrogatory. If it wasnt already painfully obvious im a huge fan and I want nothing more than to meet him some day.

Just the look/expression on his face is priceless in this picture. To say "zero ***** given" was a poor choice of words because frankly he does care. Thats why he is on these forums and posts some of the most comical yet genuine things. He is, in my opinion, one of the only brewers ive seen that is so humble and genuinely excited knowing people like his product. Each and every time he releases something new he is curious to know how it is received by his patrons. I cannot tell you how many times ive seen him post on some form of media (this site, other forums, blogs and facebook) asking how we think something tastes or how we feel about it.
 
I hope my comment was not read as being derrogatory. If it wasnt already painfully obvious im a huge fan and I want nothing more than to meet him some day.

Just the look/expression on his face is priceless in this picture. To say "zero ***** given" was a poor choice of words because frankly he does care. Thats why he is on these forums and posts some of the most comical yet genuine things. He is, in my opinion, one of the only brewers ive seen that is so humble and genuinely excited knowing people like his product. Each and every time he releases something new he is curious to know how it is received by his patrons. I cannot tell you how many times ive seen him post on some form of media (this site, other forums, blogs and facebook) asking how we think something tastes or how we feel about it.


I didn't take it as such, and in fact I am in complete agreement with you!
 
Seriously.

Dany is pretty much the kindest person you could ever beg to meet. We're (US brewers) making saison/farmhouse ale and establishing guidelines etc, and this guy has been doing it since 1988. You ask him about it and his response is most often, "I'm just a simple brewer". Dany dabbles in magic that science cannot comprehend, yeast labs can't wrangle, and beer geeks cannot rate. Fantôme is really about the last of the saison producers that commune with the unexplainable, metaphysical realm. And Dany is far more talented brewer than most give him credit for. He certainly thrives on intuition...which Siebel cannot offer.

Viva danyP !

Now that was just ******' poetic.
 
Seriously.

Dany is pretty much the kindest person you could ever beg to meet. We're (US brewers) making saison/farmhouse ale and establishing guidelines etc, and this guy has been doing it since 1988. You ask him about it and his response is most often, "I'm just a simple brewer". Dany dabbles in magic that science cannot comprehend, yeast labs can't wrangle, and beer geeks cannot rate. Fantôme is really about the last of the saison producers that commune with the unexplainable, metaphysical realm. And Dany is far more talented brewer than most give him credit for. He certainly thrives on intuition...which Siebel cannot offer.

Viva danyP !
Amen, men like this are the ones that began the notion of creating unique, fun, imaginative, and special beers. The U.S. has run with this idea to the max, like we do with all things. Hey, guess what, I have had plenty of stinkers from our Brewers even with all the checks, balances, and quality control. Visit Fantome's brew house and you feel the care and magic that go into ever beer. This **** can't be replicated
 
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Dat tome cap!

Cork popped like a bullet. Had to wait 15min for head to recede past top of glass. Finger cap remains in head.
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Smell is like a minty saison DuPont. Taste is of slight bitter bakers chocolate with saisons qualities. 30min in finger cap still remains, magical!

Should have poked eyes in it for dat real fantome experience.
 
Most recent Tome experience:

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I'm detecting a pattern here when I open a Fantome:

1. I decide to open a bottle, but am not really excited about it. More just curious to try it. Partially because I have no idea what it's going to taste like.
2. I open it and smell it, not sure if the smell is at all appealing. Printemps was the most extreme case - in contrast, this bottle smelled pretty good from the start.
3. First bit of the glass is ok, it's as if I'm acclimating myself to this beer and trying to figure out the adjectives I'd use if I were making tasting notes.
4. 1/4-1/3 of the way through, I'm somewhere on the spectrum between tolerating it, liking it, and wanting to buy another bottle. Exact placement bounces back and forth, and not moving monotonically.
5. Somewhere between 1/2-3/4 of the bottle, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. At about the 3/4 point, I'm genuinely surprised at how much of the bottle is gone.
6. Finish the bottle feeling really good about Fantome.

What's interesting to me is how much my opinion changes from the beginning to the end of the bottle. And it makes me think that Fantomes might really suffer in a bottle share, where you're maybe only getting 4 ounce pours. At least for me the first 4 ounces of the bottle are the ones I least enjoy. Contrast that with a syrupy barrel-aged stout, where I often love the first 4 ounces, but sometimes get pretty fatigued as I make my way through the bottle.

It reminds me of the Coke/New Coke story, as told by Warren Buffett at a seminar several years ago:
Pepsi had come out with the Pepsi Challenge, where people were given Pepsi and Coke in a blind taste test. Although Coke was the more popular brand in sales, Pepsi was winning the Pepsi Challenge. Coke was going crazy trying to figure out what was going on, and they went so far as to revamp their classic formula to move towards Pepsi's taste. But the problem was that Pepsi was winning the Challenge because it was sweeter in a way that was appealing in smaller portions. So in a small pour taste test, Pepsi tasted better. But in a real world setting, Coke was the drink that people actually preferred to drink large volumes of.

In any event, all this made me wish I could see how different beers were rated when controlling for the size of the sample. I suspect that Fantomes would fare better in larger samples, while doing poorly when based on Chicago-sized pours.
 
Then what explains the fact that Chicago is one of the great Tome strongholds?

Pics for proof:

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The Fantome does some crazy things... The 1st photo I thought it was a chubby girl ghost?

2nd photo I realized it was a guy ghost with sweaty armpits...
I'm on a "Tome Buzz" myself o_O
 
So as far as I gather Fantome really is "back"?
I'm going to one of the biggest beer stores in Belgium soon, and I was making a shopping list, but I'm pretty safe as far as Fantome is considered? Might as well just get everything they have in stock then :)
Are there any sketchy batches left?

..which shop is it ...
 
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Thanks to tosh for pointing me towards the bottleshop that just happened to have these in stock.
All the flavors are very subtle, but combined together make a very solid and quite stellar beer.
Not much of a fantome fan boy and admittedly pretty new to drinking them, but if danyP keeps putting out beers like this and Ruby, I'm going to turn into the biggest fantome homie.

.. never to late but .. geat time for ! ... ;-)
 
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