A Beautiful Beer Named Layla

There is a spot in St. Louis known simply as The Loop. Located on Delmar near Washington University, the loop is kind of trendy with kitschy shops and ethnic restaurants. The main art house theater of St. Louis, the Tivoli, is there. You get the idea. So, my wife and I like to drop in a couple of times a year and see what shops have gone out of business and what’s replaced them. There are a few solid establishments that can be counted on – Streetside Records, Subterranean Books (though its name and ownership often change you can always count on there being a used bookstore in that spot) and most of the restaurants. One that we like is Saleems, a Lebanese restaurant whose motto is “where garlic is king.”

We found ourselves there on a cold day last February hunting for a futon frame. Window shopping wasn’t as fun as usual thanks to the weather so we ducked into Saleems and settled in for a meal. I ordered the Irish Ale from Boulevard Brewing Co. in Kansas City that I saw was on tap. It was nice. Were I making it myself I’d use a different yeast for a muddier ale. I think, though, that Boulevard uses the same yeast for everything – probably an economic choice – so I suppose that it’s not that big of a deal. It’s still a perfectly enjoyable beer.

While I waited for the meal I read their drinks menu. I was surprised to see a product labeled “Layla: dirty blonde ale from Israel.” Now, that was intriguing. In my experience countries without a lot of beer in their history – that is non-European countries besides Australia and the US – usually export only weak mega-brewery style lagers that are barely worth paying attention to. Naturally there are exceptions to the rule, but for the most part beers made in South America, Africa, Asia, the mid-East, Russia, etc. hold as much interest for me as Miller. That is to say none. I’ve gotten to the point where I simply don’t order them unless there’s something unique about them.

An ale from Israel certainly applies as unusual - so unusual that I asked the waitress if it was indeed an ale and not a lager. She assured me that it was so I ordered it. I was still skeptical so when it came to the table the first thing that I did was check the label and as I expected it was a menu typo. Layla was a lager.

Now, I rarely send things back. A dish would have to seem life threatening or completely unpalatable for me to send it back. Besides, I’d never had this label so why not give it a shot? I poured the beer and was surprised at the caramel color. I was expecting the usual straw colored swill. I tasted it and was very pleasantly surprised to find a full flavored beer. It had a rich nutty flavor and fine aroma. It reminded me of a good Oktoberfest beer – low hops, rich full flavor with subtle sweetness, and that clean lip-smacking finish of a lager. Thoroughly enjoyable.

So, the typo was a happy accident for me. I would guess that most customers don’t worry too much about the ale/lager distinction. But I felt I needed to let the waitress know about the mistake on their menu. She went into apologetic server mode and offered to take it back. I said, no, I was actually enjoying it but I just thought that they should know about it. She kindly did not charge me for the beer so I included the cost of it with her tip.

Beer lovers, seek this one out. I wish that I could give proper tasting notes but the spicy fare of Saleems makes that impossible. Nevertheless, Layla Dirty Blonde Lager is one of the best lagers that I’ve tried outside of Germany. And, if you’re on The Loop in St. Louis, check out Saleems. Not only do they carry a great lager but their food is quite tasty, too.