Monday, September 17, 2012

Gluten-Free Beer

Gluten-Free Beer Review:
Hello Readers! Today I am sharing with you a review on several Gluten-Free Beers. For those of you that don't know, my husband has Asperger's. What is that? Very very high functioning autism. Most people that meet him would never know. Actually a lot of people in our lives don't even know. People with Asperger's usually have a circumscribed area of interest which usually leaves no room for more age appropriate, common interests. Some examples are cars, boats, trains, Literature, electronics, meteorology, astronomy, history etc... My husband doesn't like that I call him a genius. But he really is. The man is so smart in so many areas. I love him to death and wouldn't change him for the world. What does this have to do with beer? Well, it has been proven that people with this disorder, don't do well with gluten. While he does not have celiac, gluten really can mess with his concentration and energy. While he is so smart, that most jobs come easy to him (He is a Power Engineer), He has to work extra hard at any thing social. It has caused strife with some of his personal relationship, because...well he can't relate to a lot of social situations, and he has a very hard time following through with family and friends at times. I tell him that those who truly love him will take the time to understand his disorder and not to worry. SO... My husband LOVES a good beer. That can be a problem because of the gluten. Let me tell you; his personality is completely different after one beer. 

He was so pleased to learn there are so many Gluten-Free beers out that taste as good as his favorite regular beer! So we decided to have a group of bind tasters over for a beer tasting night. Half were Celiac, or "Gluten-Free". The other half were regular good ole beer drinkers. This is a combination of opinions on the beer, but mostly my husbands banter. I need to let you all know that I don't drink beer. I just don't like it. So this is the "beer drinkers" opinions. To break it down, we had 4 tasters. 2 gluten-free, and 2 regular beer drinkers. So they all rated the beers. I hope you enjoy what they found!

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Appearance: Realy dark. Nice head. Not over reactive when poured
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 5
Average rating: 4.25
Smell: Pleasant. Servered very cold so it was mild
Ratings: 3, 3, 4, 4
Average rating 3.5
Taste: Like a good dark ale. slight ale taste
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 5
Average rating: 4.25
Mouth feel: Soft, velvety. Clears off the palette quickly leaving me wanting more.
Ratings: 5, 4, 4, 5
Average rating: 4.5
Overall: Left me wanting more.
Ratings: 4, 5, 4, 5
Average rating: 4.5
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Appearance: Nice amber
Ratings: 3, 3, 3.5 3
Average rating: 3.25
Smell: very mild smell
Ratings: 3, 4, 4, 4
Average rating: 3.75
Taste: Almost an apple taste. Typical IPA type
Ratings: 3, 4, 3, 2
Average rating: 3.00
Mouth feel: Lingers like an IPA
Ratings: 3, 3.5, 3, 3
Average rating: 3.13
Overall: I would rate this as better than most IPAs as the after taste is milder
Ratings: 3, 3.5, 3, 3
Average rating: 3.13
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Appearance: An amber slightly cloudy
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 4
Average rating: 4.00
Smell: Mild nose, Slightly hoppy
Ratings: 3, 4, 3.5, 3
Average rating: 3.38
Taste: Less hoppy than the blond
Ratings: 4, 4, 3, 3
Average rating: 3.5
Mouthfeel: Lingers around on the pallette
Ratings: 4, 5, 3, 3
Average rating: 3.75
Overall: Very enjoyable. Did we mention gluten free?
Ratings: 4, 4, 3, 4
Average rating: 3.75
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Appearance: Nice light amber, fairly clear
Ratings: 5, 4, 4, 4
Average rating: 4.25
Smell: Nice. Not over hoppy
Ratings: 4, 5, 4, 4
Average rating: 4.25
Taste: With a name like the
Ratings: 3, 3.5, 4, 3
Average rating: 3.38
Mouth feel: no comments
Ratings: 3, 4, 4, 3
Average rating: 3.5
Overall: While a good brew, with a name like the Glutenator we expected more
Ratings: 3, 4, 4, 3
Average rating: 3.50
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Sprecher's Shakparo
Appearance: a darker amber
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 5
Average rating: 4.25
Smell: Very mild
Ratings: 2, 3, 4, 4
Average rating 3.25
Taste: a slight orange hint. A little like a shock top
Ratings: 2, 4, 4, 5
Average rating: 3.75
Mouth feel: One taster loved this while another not so much
Ratings: 2, 4, 4, 5
Average rating: 3.75
Overall: All tasters found this an interesting brew. They were polarized on this brew
Ratings: 2, 5, 4, 5
Average rating: 4.0

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Appearance: What I would expect from a normal lager
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 4
Average rating: 4.0
Smell: mild
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 3
Average rating: 3.75
Taste: If I did not know this was gluten free I would never suspect
Ratings: 5, 5, 4, 3
Average rating: 4.25
Mouth: Pleasant finish
Ratings: 5, 4, 4, 4
Average rating: 4.35
Overall: Yum! Thank you Widmer for making this in ernest. I love seeing it in my local chain store (Albertsons). I have already purchased more =)
Ratings: 5, 4, 4, 3
Average rating: 4.00
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Appearance: Typical pale ale.
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 3
Average rating: 3.75
Smell: Nice mild scent
Ratings: 3, 4, 4, 3
Average rating: 3.5
Taste: while it was a distinct pale ale taste, I found it much more pleasant
Ratings: 4, 4, 4, 3
Average rating:
Mouth: I found it to clear off my pallet nicely
Ratings: 3, 4, 3, 3
Average rating: 3.25
Overall: This definitely is a pale ale. And gluten free to boot. While you might miss your gluten filled pale ale, it won't take you long to make this your new favorite.
Ratings: 4, 4, 3, 3
Average rating: 3.5
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Summary:
First Place: My husbands absolute favorite is the Omission Lager. On a hot day after working in the yard, it is an awesome brew. Where to buy: Albertsons and most other chain stores.


Second Place Greens Dubbel Dark Ale . If you love dark beer, you have to try this. I had to fight someone for the last bottle. We had a couple non-beer drinkers try it, and they actually enjoyed it too. Where to buy: http://www.merchantduvin.com/find-our-beer.php
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3 comments:

  1. I bet your hubby had fun helping your write this post. :) Mine would have loved this one too. :) Glad there are so many more options for people now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. He enjoyed the tasting part! Took him a month to do his write-up lol. We decided it isn't his forte! I enjoyed it more than he did. =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Two others to include the next time you do a similar test: Dogfish Head Tweason Ale - http://www.dogfish.com/tweasonale -, and Estrella - http://www.estrelladamm.com/en/daura_gluten_free_beer/ - both ones that I'd rank close to Greens and Omission.

    ReplyDelete

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