brasserie fantome
- Thread starter scottreiner
- Start date
john McCarthy
john McCarthy
Yes...They are brought in by Shelton Bros. and they rock. The beer equivalent of 'Hipster Wine'. One of my favorites is the Fantme Pissenlit made with dandelions.
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Putnam Weekley
putnam
Fantome. Good stuff. Sometimes unpredictable though.
Get some La Choulette too. That's treating French malt like, I don't know, Maule, Pacalet, Foti, etc. treat their produce. Revealing the inner rhythms of the grass and seed. Getting out of the way.
Get some La Choulette too. That's treating French malt like, I don't know, Maule, Pacalet, Foti, etc. treat their produce. Revealing the inner rhythms of the grass and seed. Getting out of the way.
Kevin Roberts
Kevin Roberts
I guess this is a question I'm rather qualified to answer, as the Iowa rep for the importer. Vague commercial interest alert.
The Fantome beers are worth the effort. They can be, on ocassion, wildly inconsistent, but the reward is quite high. We get precious little of the beer, and at quite inconsistent intervals. When it's good, though, it can be some of the best artisinal farmhouse beer in the world. We recently got a decent sized Fantome shipment, so what's on shelves should be more or less pretty fresh.
The brewer, Dany Prignon, founded the brewery more or less to create another local product for the regional tourist board (which he worked for, and afaik, still does) Dany will brew using a myriad of local and obscure (and not so obscure) herbs and spices. Dany insists that his beers are not really for aging, but I've had good luck with some beers in the 2-3 year range, and I've got some really old, (10 years?) hanging int the back of my cellar.
Where are you located, Scott? We probably have some local distribution where you're at. I can probably suggest a retail location not too far away. If not, one good location to buy these online is:
It looks like they have 4 Fantome beers in stock, (they're in the belgian ale section)
If you're looking to fill up a case for ordering I've got all kinds of suggestions as for other things to try. There's lots of great Hoppy American stuff (Russian River, FTW!) and Belgian/European stuff (Orval!, Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux, no commercial interest there, just fantastic beer) as well as other Shelton Brothers beer I'm rather big on, Haandbryggeriet and Nogne O (Norwegian) and Mikkeller (Danish), and Thiriez (northern France)a personal favorite of mine.
If your clamoring for more let me know, I'll happily blather on...
Cheers,
Kevin
The Fantome beers are worth the effort. They can be, on ocassion, wildly inconsistent, but the reward is quite high. We get precious little of the beer, and at quite inconsistent intervals. When it's good, though, it can be some of the best artisinal farmhouse beer in the world. We recently got a decent sized Fantome shipment, so what's on shelves should be more or less pretty fresh.
The brewer, Dany Prignon, founded the brewery more or less to create another local product for the regional tourist board (which he worked for, and afaik, still does) Dany will brew using a myriad of local and obscure (and not so obscure) herbs and spices. Dany insists that his beers are not really for aging, but I've had good luck with some beers in the 2-3 year range, and I've got some really old, (10 years?) hanging int the back of my cellar.
Where are you located, Scott? We probably have some local distribution where you're at. I can probably suggest a retail location not too far away. If not, one good location to buy these online is:
Loading…
www.liquormax.net
It looks like they have 4 Fantome beers in stock, (they're in the belgian ale section)
If you're looking to fill up a case for ordering I've got all kinds of suggestions as for other things to try. There's lots of great Hoppy American stuff (Russian River, FTW!) and Belgian/European stuff (Orval!, Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux, no commercial interest there, just fantastic beer) as well as other Shelton Brothers beer I'm rather big on, Haandbryggeriet and Nogne O (Norwegian) and Mikkeller (Danish), and Thiriez (northern France)a personal favorite of mine.
If your clamoring for more let me know, I'll happily blather on...
Cheers,
Kevin
scottreiner
scott reiner
thanks kevin! i'm in new york city, east village. there is a restaurant called jimmy's 43 nearby that sells many beers from shelton brothers, but alas no fantome beers. any other recommended locations would be appreciated. in full disclosure, i am very much a beer neophyte, so any beers in his genre would be fun.
Kevin Roberts
Kevin Roberts
This is the one off the top of my head:
New Beer Distributors
They list Fantome beers as available, but I have not idea how frequently they update their lists. I was in there, probably 2 years ago, and its a bit of a weird place, but they had an excellent selection of things both imported and domestic. They're definitely recommended, if they don't have any I can place an email or 2 and probably find some alternatives.
Let me know if you'd like some more specific recommendations, as I'd be happy to give you some options.
Cheers,
Kevin
New Beer Distributors
They list Fantome beers as available, but I have not idea how frequently they update their lists. I was in there, probably 2 years ago, and its a bit of a weird place, but they had an excellent selection of things both imported and domestic. They're definitely recommended, if they don't have any I can place an email or 2 and probably find some alternatives.
Let me know if you'd like some more specific recommendations, as I'd be happy to give you some options.
Cheers,
Kevin
Dave Nelson
Dave Nelson
Another big fan of Fantme here. We had a few in St. Louis in the early '00s, and then nothing for a few years. Now we're back to a somewhat steady supply.
Dany truly brews to his own drummer, and I'm always happy to taste whatever he comes up with. Don't expect consistency, and don't expect every one to be your thing, and you're in for some real treats.
My personal favorites have been his Black Ghost (preferred the pink label over the purple label), t, the "regular" Saison, and La Gourmande, the last of which is one of the finest food-friendly beers I've ever had.
Cheers,
Dave
Dany truly brews to his own drummer, and I'm always happy to taste whatever he comes up with. Don't expect consistency, and don't expect every one to be your thing, and you're in for some real treats.
My personal favorites have been his Black Ghost (preferred the pink label over the purple label), t, the "regular" Saison, and La Gourmande, the last of which is one of the finest food-friendly beers I've ever had.
Cheers,
Dave
evan hansen
Evan Hansen
For those looking to find good beer shops that regularly stock things like Fantome, et cetera, I'd recommend using BeerAdvocate.com's "BeerFly" tool. While the dialogue on the forums of that site went into the tubes long ago -- in my opinion, anyhow -- the user-collected ratings of beer stores, bars, and restaurants is a pretty handy guide when looking for new shopping sources.
Of course, if one lives in an area with absolutely no good beer distribution, there are a lot of places stateside that will ship. Sam's in Chicago does (though their stock goes up and down frequently), for example.
For what it's worth, I think Fantome is both excellent and infuriating. I don't mind bottle variation -- year to year, batch to batch, whatever -- in the least, but there can be a number of bottles out there with some degree of infection or genuine off flavors. I'll also second the recommendations for Dany's Pissenlit, Gourmande, and Black Ghost. Those are three personal faves as well.
Of course, if one lives in an area with absolutely no good beer distribution, there are a lot of places stateside that will ship. Sam's in Chicago does (though their stock goes up and down frequently), for example.
For what it's worth, I think Fantome is both excellent and infuriating. I don't mind bottle variation -- year to year, batch to batch, whatever -- in the least, but there can be a number of bottles out there with some degree of infection or genuine off flavors. I'll also second the recommendations for Dany's Pissenlit, Gourmande, and Black Ghost. Those are three personal faves as well.
Saina Nieminen
Saina Nieminen
Shelton Bros seem to import some really fantastic stuff! I love the Saison Dupont. Haandbryggeriet and Ngne make impressive and big beers - I do wonder if these enormous Scandi-beers are a bit "spoofy". They are tasty in small amounts, though.
Thiriez's Etoile du Nord is, alongside the Saison Dupont and De Ranke XX Bitter, one of my favourite beers. A few others that the Shelton Bros might import (and if they don't, they should) are Brouwerij 'tIJ, De Dolle Brouwers and Cantillon.
Putnam Weekley
putnam
'tIJ, yes.
And Cantillon is to Ron Shelton what Domaine Roally is to Joe Dressner. (Forgive the crude equivalence, but it works pretty well I think.)
De Dolle is taken, otherwise Shelton might do it.