Fantôme de Noël

Fantôme de Noel is a Saisön brewed by Brasserie Fantome in Belgium. This is the last of the four bottles I wanted to review before Christmas Day. I didn’t get a chance to get this one posted before Christmas Day, but the name of the beer suits today’s post as Christmas has passed and we are left with the fantome or ghost of Noël.

This Saisön is definitely interesting. It has a variety of bread yeast funk, with a citrus/tart aroma of cherries and grapes, not exactly an aroma that evokes Christmas, but maybe that’s what Noël smells like in Belgium. The pour goes flat immediately, the carbonation and head dissapate right away. It’s an easy beer to sip with flavors of dry fruits like currants, grapes, cherries, and apples and I didn’t get any Christmas flavors at all; it’s a Farmhouse Saisön and that’s probably how Christmas is like in the farm, not a lot of moms or gramma’s baking. I’m really surprised this is 10% ABV, as the alcohol is not present in the taste or aroma and it didn’t feel, like the alcohol creeped up on you. The beer has a tart dark cherry aftertaste that leads to a peppery finish.

This is closer to a sour and I couldn’t think of it as a Christmas or Holiday’s type of brew, but what do I know?! It’s an OK tasting beer and next year if you want to drink something that reminds you of Christmas, skip it and grab one of the ones I previously reviewed. I’d say go for it around the fall or if you want to drink a sour, but there’s better ones out there. Two Beer Caps for this Belgian Saison that left even this Grinch, wishing for Christmas flavors, but as a Saison or Sour, Three Beer Caps.

 

Santa’s Little Helper Bourbon Barrel-aged

It’s late in the day and Christmas is almost over, but I have enough time to post my recent beer tasting I’ve reviewed. This is a beer by Ports Brewing in San Marcos California, the beer is called Santa’s Little Helper, a fun name for a Russian Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels.

This beer had a strong aroma of bourbon that was followed by roasted malt, dark and bitter roasted coffee, dark chocolate, and alcohol. Santa’s Little Helper had a medium body with very little carbonation. The sip is slightly dry with nice tones of vanilla, roasted coffee, and dark chocolate, and the bourbon is present throughout . At 12% ABV, the alcohol is a lot more present in the aroma than in the taste and its turning out to be an easy beer to drink. The beer warms the stomach once it deposits there, but no alcohol burn in the wash.

I tend to shy away from high alcohol beers as I rarely enjoy them, they tend to be on the sweet side and the strong alcohol finish is off putting. This beer is an exception to that, and as I mentioned, the alcohol was not a strong presence when drinking. I enjoyed drinking this beer today and today being Christmas, I think the fat man in the red suit wouldn’t mind drinking this one after delivering all the toys. A lot of good things going for it, but it was not worth $18 and was missing a lil something; Three Beer Caps for this one.