Waltrude
Fair Isle Brewing

Poured from a bottle into a tulip glass. Bright, hazy yellow color with nice initial effervescent head with good curtain lacing. Nice funky lemon and grass smell and taste. Dry white wine and oak. Pleasant and refreshing. Glad this brewery is distributed in my part of the world.

 

an immaculate spelt based saison that has been rather liberally dry hopped, this is the best of the old world and the new, coming together in an incredibly drinkable beer that is both modern and timeless. i was super impressed with all of the fair isle beer, this one included. a bright yellow color in the glass with a pure snow white belgian looking head, some droopy lacing left behind after each sip. it smells delicate, citrus forward from the hops, and dry and cereal forward from the grain, all very pale on the malt side, but still distinct, a terroir element, light peppery almost rye spice up front in the flavor, more of a wheaty texture and finish, a nice base for the hops and the yeast, which seems to be a sort of house flavor, maybe done a little warmer here to develop some esters, but also delicate to my senses. i cant place the hops, but on the one hand its got a fresh grassiness, an almost european vibe, and on the other neutral lemon and white grape fruitiness, very distinctive and clean, and without much bitterness anywhere. this is cohesive, united by this yeast, which is farmy but not funky, clean, not bretty, but still old worldy to me, rustic in a highly refined kind of way, nice application here, i love this being so dry and drinkable and low alcohol. all of the beer here is good in my experience, this is delicious as a hoppy take on the saison style, lovely!