Leila
Fair Isle Brewing

750 mL bottle. Clear golden. Smells of lemon, light grain, some sweetness. Tastes lightly acidic, a little lemon, sweet grain, but not bready or doughy. I guess that's the fancy barley. Earthy yeasty backdrop. Medium body. Low carbonation. Pleasant saison, if tame in its yeast character.

A: Pours with a touch of haze, golden/amber color. A dense white head rises to over two fingers. Excellent retention, and lacing for days. This is a looker.
S: A bit of a dusty, musty aroma. Earthy hay, and cut grass. With some fruity esters of apples, and light lemon.
T: I wouldn't call this "funk" per se, but a again a light dusty/musty character. That mingles with the fruity esters of apples. Lemony, grassy and earthy. Toasted cereal/malts are in there, but light. There is a lingering drying tartness that is really enjoyable, and everything is so well balanced.
M/O: A medium body that is well carbonation. Crisp, and finishes pleasantly dry. Which all leads to something that is very enjoyable, and very moreish. I can drink a lot of this with ease.

A really good, and all around well done example of a Saison. Beautiful balance, plenty of wonderful yeast characteristics. Highly recommended, and that should be expected from this brewery. They are consistently one of the better American Saison makers I have come across.

750ml bottle from Tavour. Opens with a small gush, hazy golden, foamy head subsides to a thin ring. Fruity brett aroma. Taste is apples, pears, minor tart notes. Really nice

 

Pours a hazy amber with fine-grained and fluffy foam in the big Stout glass. Tangy and sharp on the tongue with plenty of spritz. Aroma of citrus. On the sour side. Lemon flavor is quite distinct along with the acidity. The yeasty taste is quite strong which amplifies the bitter aftertaste. Overall this is quite a clean and sturdy Saison in the sour style, which of course the label doesn't warn you against, but I guess you learn to expect it from Fair Aisle. From the 16 oz can with "Batch 21073" on the bottom."

 

 

 

750 mL bottle poured into snifter.

Pours hazy, straw-yellow color with a tall, pillowy off-white foam.

Smells of citrus and fresh cut grass. There is a hint of funk, almost ozone.

Flavor matches citrus and grass from aroma, it is quite tart, but delightfully so. After a few sips, a pear note lingers.

Mouthfeel is light and grainy. A bit chewy for the style. Effervescence cuts through any heaviness though.

Murky golden pour with a thin off-white cap. Hardy grains, floral yeast, citrus esters with a kiss of funk makes up the aroma bouquet. Taste is dominated by the grains, very robust for the style, funk is more monotone toward brett but very potent especially in the finish. Feel is funky, grainy, chewy and medium bodied, but not very complex

small format, shipped fresh courtesy of my good friend who lived out that way, i am falling in love with fair isle rather quickly, considering i only learned about them last month, i look forward to their beers now almost as much as any in the game. this is a rustic tart saison done with purple egyptian barley, a cool ingredient i am starting to see a little more of in beer, especially out of washington state. this is just a little frosted looking from the bottle, massive pure white head rising up stiff and peaky above the rim of my straight sided white wine glass, this is exactly what i want saison to look like, appears well bottle conditioned. i get a little green glass funkiness to it, but no real bretty or wild character developed, smells fresher than that, with more of a clean tartness, slightly bacterial to me, but not overly acidic at all, lightly lemony and floral overall, with hints of clover and elderflower, clean and delicate, with a unique cereal base. the flavor is piquant on the first sip but my palate gets used to it quickly, i know its supposed to be about the grain, which is awesome here, but for me its still about the fermentation profile, which is so interesting here, a unique house flavor developing in their beers, i really am into it. clean lemon with light white pepper spiciness, some mild acid too. the grain is dry and full of minerals and seems to have an almost raw character which of course works in this style. light bready character as well but without being toasted or cooked to me at all. really unique flavors overall, but in quite a subtle way, nicely refined, effervescent in terms of the bubbles, and very drinkable overall. this feels classy and professionally done and really was a nice selection to kick off the christmas eve drinking, these guys are making some incredible saison and i am thankful to have been able to dip into several of them now. cant wait to visit the brewery again!

A: The beer is somewhat hazy yellow in color and has a light to moderate amount of visible carbonation. It poured with a short bright white head that left a large patch of bubbles on the surface and a narrow collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of yeast are present in the nose - some of these aromas are a bit funky.
T: The taste follows the smell, except that some of the funk seems to have been replaced by some sourness.
M: It feels light- to medium-bodied on the palate and has a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This saison has a bright, refreshing mouthfeel and isn't that sour or funky so it is easy to drink.

Serving type: bottle

Bought from Tavour. While I usually complain about paying $20 for a bottle of beer, I make an exception here.

As American crafters' advance feral yeasts and bacteria into the saison style, it does scramble ratings some as the feral/bacteria does not compare as well as the traditional saison. This is particularly true for Looks (less foam than the tradition) and Smells (fruitiness from the malts are more muted.) But the feral/bacteria makes up for these subtractions by having more subtle Tastes.

So it is with Leila. She really Looks average compared to the traditionals' abundant foam. And their Smells are so much more lively and fruity than the muted Smells of Leila who, instead, offers more barnyard than orchard. But in the Taste, the feral/bacteria shows why it has a growing fan base. And if I am patient enough to wait for the lingering dry/tart finish, I'd be a fan also. Feel is OK, but the less active yeast produces fewer bubbles for palate cleansing. June 2020 bottling, batch #2.

I had Leila with pasta and a marinara sauce. Leila worked well enough, but did not really improve an average meal.

This is my second from Fair Isle. They are a very young brewery (toddlers!), but obviously wise and accomplished brewers. Endeavoring to make farmhouse ales and terroir in an intense urban environment is not easy. I wish them well.

The purple egyptian barley lends this one an interesting almost mauve character to an otherwise desaturated amber body. Relatively cloudy with some particulate floaties. But a big billowy pillowy soft head that lingers and lingers and sticks wonderfully to the sides of the glass.

Nose is primarily fruity belgian esters and some tart lemon.

Flavour leans much further into the tart funk than to the belgian side, but, at least cold, it's a little thin for me. Nice tart lemon and moderate funk otherwise.

Smoothe and drinkable with a good complementary carbonation, it's a pleasant drinker that would probably be better served on a sunny afternoon.

Pleasantly enjoyable, but I preferred the previous offering I've had from them.