280. Fantôme Brise-BonBons!

Our third beer from Fantôme; the last two were Saison D'Erezée Printemps and Biére de Saison Pissenlit. Brise-BonBons! pours a hazy straw with a minimal white head; the nose has a candy malt sweetness along with some juicy yeast aromas and some herbal aromas. The flavor starts with candy malt before moving into the middle, which has an interesting bitter floral aroma—we’re not sure whether the bitterness is hop or herbal derived, as the bitterness tastes slightly like dandelion. The finish is bright and sweet with some lingering bitterness; Brise-BonBons! has a light body and a clean sharp bitterness—it drinks much lighter than an 8% ABV beer. Like all of Fantôme’s beers, excellent and interesting; we’re making it a Top 10 Best contender.

From the bottle: “With joy, and a little bit of mischief, Fantôme brewer Dany Prignon dedicates this very bitter beer to all of the many varieties of brese-bonbons—literally, ball-breakers—in the world. Specifically, this beer is meant for wise-guys, braggarts, pains-in-the-ass, muck-rakers, trouble-makers, know-it-alls, stuffed shirts, blow-hards, and bores, as well as nut-cracking, wind-bag, prattling-on, self-appointed experts on every-thing, and nose-in-the-air snobs, convinced they can do anything better than you. Dany intended to make a beer too bitter for a normal person to enjoy. The problem is, everyone loves it! Guess we’re all just a bunch of brises-bonbons sometimes...”

ABV: 8.0%

(4/6/2010)