Montgomery
Fair Isle Brewing

 

 

absolutely world class beer, in the top handful of saisons i have had all year and even beyond, its special, a new high water mark for these guys. a unique brew here, saison type, aged in fresh gin casks with locally foraged larch tree tips, wow. its golden and unassuming, almost shockingly delicate in appearance for how intense it is in aroma and flavor, really pale, shiny, bright, and frothy headed from the tap, web lacing clinging high to edges. a stunning nose of fresh gin botanicals including juniper, lime zest, and berry leaf, light white pepper from the yeast, green banana, white grape, sliced citrus, and a huge rush of not quite pine, larch being new to me here, but its decidedly different from spruce or whatever other pine family trees are more commonly brewed with, less oily, less bitter, more up front and fragrant, so compatible with the gin, and the oak element is extremely light here, although unifying. the flavor is tremendous, the tree tips first but the gin and the ferment right there too, its cleaner saison overall, maybe not even bretty, or else not set in yet, more french type, but that does not mean lacking complexity, and the compatibility of these esters and the gin elements is insane. light vanilla from the wood, a honey note even though this is super dry, and its textured like champagne. light tartness coming in as it warms, a soft white tea suggestion, and some finishing citrus with the gin. its not alcoholic at all to me, and the proportions are amazing. i taste something new each sip here, and am maybe more fascinated with it when my glass is empty than i was when i started. wildly ambitious and executed to a quality level few can ever attain, this is pure gold! beer of the year candidate for me...

Had on tap. Cloudy golden body with two fingers of white head and thick crowned lacing. Unlike Vince where the gin was front and center, here the gin is more supportive and piney in smell and taste. In the smell this works well, balancing with brett, wild yeast, lemon, grapefruit zest, mandarin orange and faded mulled berry. The taste however has the brett run away with the sip by the finish, overwhelming tasting like rubber eraser, the grains bond with it making it sneaky robust on the palate. Gin and citrus that are quite pleasant are thrown into the backseat. Feel is obviously bretty with strong yeast and funk, much drier than Vince which would be nice if balance was better in taste. Feels like a missed opportunity as I really like components of the beer but needs some fine tuning