Is Fantome "back"?

[PDXAmbassador1]

I wish it was the same or even ballparked as a similar beer.

I have/had several 90's Noel bottlings and none of them come even close to being anything like the "special unique bergerie" noel bottling that has the "shepard holding a lamb" logo. That beer was just insanely delicious and im having a hard time admitting this but it was even better than loch ness.

I place loch ness and that 93 unique noel into the category of "holy **** Dany made a barleywine/old ale."

Edit: Are the pictured bottles in your possession? Because I will willingly pop a 94/95/96 noel in the name of science and report back with misguided opinion if it will help make up your mind to just giving them to me.

Super helpful -- thanks.

Not in my possession. Once again, working on an option to trade for several old Tomes, and this Noel was on this list.

After your input, I guess I'm leaning toward an option including 94 Ete, 95 Printemps, and 97 Pissenlit. But there's also a 99 & 92 Sur Lie, a 94 Hiver, and 94 Automne I'm toying with working towards, too. I hear the Etes age well, Pissenlit is a mixed bag, and haven't heard anything of 1990s Printemps or Automne. If you have any other input lemme know. I always appreciate it!

 

[stakem1]

Super helpful -- thanks.

Not in my possession. Once again, working on an option to trade for several old Tomes, and this Noel was on this list.

After your input, I guess I'm leaning toward an option including 94 Ete, 95 Printemps, and 97 Pissenlit. But there's also a 99 & 92 Sur Lie, a 94 Hiver, and 94 Automne I'm toying with working towards, too. I hear the Etes age well, Pissenlit is a mixed bag, and haven't heard anything of 1990s Printemps or Automne. If you have any other input lemme know. I always appreciate it!

Anything I say will only be a reflection of what my individual experience/bottles were like. The chances of your experience being the same are slim to none considering not only that they are fantome we are talking about after all but also storage conditions as well as packaging failure.

The older "erezee ete" bottlings follow the same variance as the more recent ete bottles - some being very pale orange and more citrus/bitter and other bottlings being much darker like noel with dark fruited character and tartness. Its almost like dany made an ambre/bruin as well as orange/blonde version but never distinguished them. IMHO the darker ones held up a little better in the long run. Im not sure you can tell which version is which until you open them.

My 90's autumn experiences have not been the best as well as some others from the early 90's. Around the 20 year mark or so they hit a point of diminishing returns (at least for my taste) with oxidation mostly taking over. Having said that, there are exceptions like the special unique noel.

I dont know where these are coming from but im truly quite jealous. Regardless of some of my experiences not being that favorable, id still go for it as you just never know. Old ghosty tome discussion stokes my fire like nothing else in the beer world. I look forward to hearing about your experiences when you get them.

 

[PDXAmbassador1]

The older "erezee ete" bottlings follow the same variance as the more recent ete bottles - some being very pale orange and more citrus/bitter and other bottlings being much darker like noel with dark fruited character and tartness. Its almost like dany made an ambre/bruin as well as orange/blonde version but never distinguished them. IMHO the darker ones held up a little better in the long run. Im not sure you can tell which version is which until you open them.

My 90's autumn experiences have not been the best as well as some others from the early 90's. Around the 20 year mark or so they hit a point of diminishing returns (at least for my taste) with oxidation mostly taking over. Having said that, there are exceptions like the special unique noel.

I dont know where these are coming from but im truly quite jealous. Regardless of some of my experiences not being that favorable, id still go for it as you just never know. Old ghosty tome discussion stokes my fire like nothing else in the beer world. I look forward to hearing about your experiences when you get them.

I can't wait to try em and get back to you. I'll post results here.

I'm planning on sharing them with any interested parties, in Orlando (sometime December to March) and/or the San Fran area (early December), if anyone else is nearby those locales.

Will skip the noel, and go for Ete, maybe Printemps / Pissenlit / Sur Lie. Whatever I can afford to trade.

Seems like the storage on these was good. So, here's hoping.

 

[reverseapachemaster1]

The taste reminded me of a lightly sour flanders red with a long bitter finish. At colder temps the flavor was fairly muted. I enjoyed it much more as it warmed. The booze adds a little bite at the end. There's more going on here, but I lack the ability to convey it all. It paired well with my Kid Cuisine pizza.

1. Did the Kid Cuisine pizza actually have that face on it?

2. What vintage is that Kid Cuisine? It is definitely not 90s KC.

 

[tosh1]

Seen these at a bunch if places yesterday, figured I should see how they taste. Cap only on these bittles, covered in foil.

Try and ad thoughts later, but drinkable, already on second pour. I am enjoying this danyP .

 

[beeraroundtown1]

Any CA people want to send a couple for De Garde beers?

 

[mrk_d]

Any CA people want to send a couple for De Garde beers?

Looking for Artist 2 specifically? I can do it for cost+label if you want. They're $22/bottle here plus tax, not sure how that compares to elsewhere.

 

[Abitker]

The 15 d'ete that i drank 10 pours of at fofa is still haunting me. One of the best beers I've had in a long time.

 

[ChairmanHoltz1]

1. Did the Kid Cuisine pizza actually have that face on it?

2. What vintage is that Kid Cuisine? It is definitely not 90s KC.

1. The Kid Cuisine came with a packet of pizza sauce so I could draw ANYTHING I WANTED on the pizza (I went with giant red blob). The smiley face was just a serving suggestion.

2. Unsure of specific vintage. Like a fine lambic, I believe it's supposed to be consumed within 20 years of packaging. KC has changed a lot. It's like they're not even trying to capture the over 30 nostalgia crowd.

 

[instinct21]

I'll take a look!! For you

Ok now I got a chance to taste this bear and holy **** what's going on! I had to have a double take at the bottle to make sure this wasn't the boon black label I picked up earlier. instinct2 this is the 2nd bottle of chocolate you sent me a while ago as you said they've been on the shelves for a long time.... Please buy me that shelf!

This thing has taken a lambic characters while still maintaining that chile after taste, no chocolate though, but an amazing tome. Thanks to everyone involved in making me opening this on a glorious night!

 

[stakem1]

Seen these at a bunch if places yesterday, figured I should see how they taste. Cap only on these bittles, covered in foil.

Try and ad thoughts later, but drinkable, already on second pour. I am enjoying this danyP .

Still waiting to read your later thoughts. I was contemplating putting up a trade request to unload a bunch of beer from my cellar in exchange for a couple shelf tomers - this being one of them

 

[stakem1]

danyP
Take our money please, I believe all of us here want this shirt!

 

[Evahflow]

danyP
Take our money please, I believe all of us here want this shirt!

Blows my mind he isn't selling them. I'd probably by multiples

 

[boogercrack]

I'd drink this every day. Insanely crushable. Orangey/mangoes with white pepper and funk.

 

[stakem1]

I'd drink this every day. Insanely crushable. Orangey/mangoes with white pepper and funk.

I got a bottle in the fridge that I meant to drink the past 2 weekends, it will not survive this weekend. I gotta take her down and see what this fuss is all aboot.

Big thanks to GRDave by way of Pneill316 for being the tag team champs who clearly outshine the Sheltons on distro of this one.

 

[skrip]

I'd drink this every day. Insanely crushable. Orangey/mangoes with white pepper and funk.

i drank one last night and loved it! anyone still have these on the shelf by them? trade? cashish? jobsofblow?

 

[RyanG1]

danyP
Take our money please, I believe all of us here want this shirt!

Will take one in a dri fit or breathable fabric for my intense Fantome seshs.

 

[Hopping Tiger]

I also want this OG outline ghost tee and I'd even settle for the later more widely available filled in ghost.

 

[user 305963]

I'd drink this every day. Insanely crushable. Orangey/mangoes with white pepper and funk.

Don't mind the bottles of Agnes behind the glass. Nothing to see here. Move along.

 

[user 305963]

danyP
Take our money please, I believe all of us here want this shirt!

I would definitely buy multiples

 

[tosh1]

Still waiting to read your later thoughts. I was contemplating putting up a trade request to unload a bunch of beer from my cellar in exchange for a couple shelf tomers - this being one of them

My opinion is pretty worthless, I was hoping other would open bottles so I could steak their thoughts and reviews, but for what it is worth I bought a couple more bottles on Monday and will stick they away for a while to see what happens. I would never have known it was 10%, it drank much easier than that. I finished the bottle in about 30 minutes at the most, not a lot of funk or sourness, as ChairmanHoltz said flavour was pretty dialed down. Like Artist #1 I was not blown away by it, but do look forward to revisiting down the road.

 

[LuxWanderer]

 

[stakem1]

I was wondering what was going on lately with the cornucopia of different colored caps on tomes. Silver, gold, white, green and now this is just wonderful.

 

[Evahflow]

I wonder if Dany now having an assistant is freeing him up to do more or if it's renewed interest and Shelton wanting more beer? Fantome seems on a real uptick lately. The beer has been very good. I've seen some on draft various places( of course none by me) Now they have these beautiful caps. We have to start telling people the tire fire days are back or else this could get out of hand.

 

[stakem1]

I wonder if Dany now having an assistant is freeing him up to do more or if it's renewed interest and Shelton wanting more beer? Fantome seems on a real uptick lately. The beer has been very good. I've seen some on draft various places( of course none by me) Now they have these beautiful caps. We have to start telling people the tire fire days are back or else this could get out of hand.

I think, in general, saison appreciation is on the uprise across the board as folks start to realize that saisons can be amazing without being sour or barrel aged. Once someone gets bitten by the saison bug, its not long until they learn about Fantome and realize you dont know **** about saisons until you have been tome'd.

But...the other things you mentioned could very well be a part of it as well. The biggest thing I see changed recently has been the regular social media presence as well Dany specifically sending some beers/batches exclusively to the USA. The draft thing isnt anything new, it has come and gone before but very sporatically and seemingly without rhyme or reason. With the way social media is today some of the mystery has been removed.

 

[DWhite]

Love seeing all the fantome recently but never around my parts. I don't really see it in PA or NY. On my recent trip to VT and ME I was seeing bottles all over. Picked up desert ghost and dark forest ghost. Any thoughts on these recent bottles? I've had a bunch of fantomes and they are all over the board. I also have a couple bottles of hiver and noel that I honestly have no idea how old they are (possibly around 8 years), this winter may be the time to check them out.

 

[PDXAmbassador1]

I also have a couple bottles of hiver and noel that I honestly have no idea how old they are (possibly around 8 years), this winter may be the time to check them out.

ISO all possibly-eight-years-old 'Tomes.

 

[RyanG1]

Love seeing all the fantome recently but never around my parts. I don't really see it in PA or NY. On my recent trip to VT and ME I was seeing bottles all over. Picked up desert ghost and dark forest ghost. Any thoughts on these recent bottles? I've had a bunch of fantomes and they are all over the board. I also have a couple bottles of hiver and noel that I honestly have no idea how old they are (possibly around 8 years), this winter may be the time to check them out.

Dusty tomes are the best!

Just picked up some la dalmatienne from about 8 years ago.

 

[thunderbirdesq]

Fantome Friday! Tasting like Peach-o's in a dusty basement and smells like caramel, green apple and strawberry! Excellent case just arrived today at the shop.

 

[stakem1]

Fantome Friday! Tasting like Peach-o's in a dusty basement and smells like caramel, green apple and strawberry! Excellent case just arrived today at the shop.

I want to like this post but im having a hard time doing so.
So many love/hate discriptors thrown atop a beer that I do not have enjoyable history with.