33 cL bottle. 2d batch. Etre Gourmet.

Thickish looking, hazed orange body with a magnificent, ice-cream-like head. Body color is not particularly attractive (has a NEIPA look about it which I absolutely HATE). Head is resplendent. Retention and lace are great, not surprising given the colossal initial head.

The first aromas that drift across on opening (and even before the beer is poured) are a tangerine, orange whiff. On closer inspection this turns out to have a lot of mango qualities. Quite tropical when the nose gets in the Fantôme glass. The tastes start off with great, grapefruit bitterness in the back end, with tropical fruits around the edge, but with the phenols hanging around the whole beer.

Of course just when you think you know what’s going on, Dany and Fantôme pull the rug put from beneath you. The herbal notes kick in, but everything combines somewhat oddly for a sort of slightly plastic, phenol, band-aid note. This is a pretty familiar taste profile in certain beers, but a touch unusual in a Fantôme beer – not the herbal note of course, but the phenols are unusually strong.

Mouthfeel is full but smooth.Very well carbonated.

As ever, incredibly interesting, so much going on, and a beer that is so complex and difficult to pin down. There’s something unique about this beer that is definitely linked to the phenolic nature, but it’s source is unknown. The yeast? Maybe. Something else?

On one hand something that I was expecting, on the other the bitter phenols at the level that they are, I was not. Just another wonderful Fantôme experience.