lot c10 oct 18 best before end 2022. Bottle purchased and consumed at Ebenezer’s in Lovell, ME. First visit for me to this much lauded beer Mecca.

Possibly the least Fantôme-like beer I have ever tasted.

To keep it simple, there is a distinct lack of typical Fantôme yeast here, very little funk, and the trademark botanicals are really flowery, light and easy, and not as herbal as one usually encounters. Bitterness is also missing. Is it the name, or the label that creates an illusion, or is this actually as floral as it first seems?

The color is a simple orange-amber affair with some average carbonation. Nice enough, but not much to look at other than the pretty color if I’m brutally honest. Nose and tastes give up mostly simple, light botanicals but this is NOT a yeasty, funky, herbally Fantôme – it just isn’t. It’s infinitely more gentle, much more floral as the name suggests, and without bitterness at this stage in its evolution.

Clearly this is a bottle that’s a few years old, and that means that I’m without the experience that the beer once gave up, but I doubt this was ever a typical bottle of Fantôme. It seems to me like it set out from the beginning to be something a bit different.

It’s hard to pick out specific floral notes too, but I say hibiscus and lavender and maybe some mint. The herbs are not there – Cinzano Bianco clone this is not.

Very easy drinking, and just extremely tasty but some nice malts pulling the whole thing together. Happy to have been lucky enough to try this one, and I would strongly suggest trying it if you can.