Review #12: Ace Berry Hard Cider

Today marks the start of my weekend, and I'm kicking it off with an Ace Berry Hard Cider! This cider comes from the California Cider Company. I previously reviewed another one of their offerings, the Ace Apple Hard Cider, back in June. They also have pear, pumpkin, "joker," and honey apple ciders.

The California Cider Company makes Ace Berry by mixing raspberry, blackberry and strawberry juice into their fermented apple cider. It comes in a 22oz bottle and has 5% ABV. I drank the cider from the tumbler below.

Appearance: Ace Berry pours a clear apricot color with a light stream of bubbles. No foam on top and no head.

Smell: The nose on this cider is not very strong. I detected a slight white wine aroma, and the scent of juicy apples. Not much going on here.

Taste: Honestly, this doesn't taste alcoholic. I can definitely taste the apple base, and a little bit of the raspberry flavor. To me, Ace Berry tastes a lot like Wyder's Raspberry Cider.

Mouthfeel: Very lightly carbonated. Ace Berry has a medium body with a fairly high sugar content, and low acidity.

Overall: Not bad. Nothing too special, but I would buy it again if it was on sale. A little too sweet and not much complexity in the flavor for my liking. I didn't read the label very carefully and expected a blackberry cider, and this is a mixed cider instead. So far, the California Cider Company has yet to wow me, but I will likely try their other offerings in the future.

Review #11: Omission Pale Ale

Sorry for the long delay between posts! I moved recently and am still without internet. I'm spending most days getting a feel for the new city and unpacking the seemingly endless stack of boxes.

Today's beer for review comes again from the Widmer Brothers - the Omission Pale Ale. I reviewed their lager in a previous post, which you can check out here.

Omission Pale Ale, like the lager, is brewed with barley and then deglutenized through an enzymatic process. It has 5.8% ABV. Like the other Omission beer, if you are a highly gluten-sensitive person, this beer may not be the right choice for you. It seemed ok to me, but every person is different.

I checked the gluten content on this batch on the Omission website, and it was listed as <10ppm. The 12oz bottle went into my usual pint glass.

Appearance: It pours a clear amber-copper color with a 1" off-white foam head.
Smell: I'm getting a bread aroma with light hops and citrus-y notes.
Taste: Flavor of malt, slightly sweet. Citrus notes with hoppy bitterness. This one tasted a little better after it warmed up a bit.
Mouthfeel: Medium body with moderate carbonation. Refreshing and a bit creamy. finishes dry with bitterness on the palate.

Overall: Omission Pale Ale is not my favorite gluten free beer. It's a bit bitter for my tastes, but not bad. I think put head-to-head, the Omission Lager would win easily. For an easily-found gluten free beer, it's pretty good. I think it would pass the taste test even among regular beer drinkers.

What do you think of this beer? Have you tried both varieties of Omission? Which is your favorite?

Review #10: Clos des Ducs Premium Hard Cider

Clos des Ducs is a fermented apple cider from Brittany, France. It has 5% ABV and comes in a 11.8oz/330ml bottle. It does not have any added sugars, but appears to have had its sweetness bumped up from the addition of concentrated apple juice. I enjoyed this cider from my usual pint glass.

Appearance: Pours a cloudy dark orange with a small amount of whitish fizz on top. The dark color was fairly surprising. My photo makes it appear clearer and lighter than it was. I'm still working on my lighting and photography
Smell: Apples, straw, must, sweet fruit, plenty of apple peel smell on the nose.
Taste: Sweet, juicy apple. Slightly astringent. It leaves the taste of yeast on the back palate, but finishes sweet.
Mouthfeel: Lightly carbonated and thick.
Overall: I liked this cider. It reminds me of a slightly more complex Martinelli's, the taste of which brings to mind Thanksgivings at home with my family. My final verdict is that it's not bad, but nothing terribly exciting either. I think there are more interesting ciders out there, but I enjoyed sampling this one.

Review #9: New Grist Gluten Free Session Ale

New Grist is a Pilsner-style session ale brewed by Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee. It contains 5.1% ABV. According to their website, New Grist was the first beer to get the "certified gluten free" stamp from the US government. New Grist is brewed with sorghum and rice. It is, however, their only gluten-free variety among many gluten-containing beers.

I put off trying New Grist for a long time after reading some scathing reviews of the beer online. However, I decided to give it another try while at a pub with my extended family because everyone else was having beer. I also figured it was worth a shot because most of my pagehits come from my reviews of beer and ciders that are more commonly available. :) I drank this beer out of some weird tiny beer glass that made smelling difficult. I got beer up my nose twice trying to get a good smell in and made a fool of myself in public. All for you, dear readers!


Appearance: New Grist poured a pale, crystal clear straw yellow with no head.
Smell: Has that familiar sorghum smell, but is very faint (note smell-testing issues above). There is a slight sweet fruit smell in there as well.
Taste: Obvious sorghum flavor in this one. New Grist is also slightly sweet, with a grassy flavor note not unlike spinach.
Mouthfeel: Slightly astringent mouthfeel with medium-light carbonation level.
Overall: This beer gets a big "meh" from me. As far as gluten-free beer goes, I've had a lot worse. But this definitely wouldn't be my first choice.

Review #8: Omission Lager

Apologies on the long delay between posts! The last week has been a bit crazy for me.

Without further ado, here is my review of Omission Lager from the Widmer Brothers Brewing Company.

This lager is brewed in Portland, Oregon. It is a lighter lager and has 4.6% ABV. It is brewed with barley and then de-glutenized through an enzymatic process, much like the Brunehaut Blonde I reviewed previously. Omission, like the Brunehaut ale, may not be the best choice for those that are particularly sensitive to gluten, since this beer began as a barley beer. You have to make that choice for yourself, though.

Omission has a cool feature on the website where you can enter the date on your bottle of beer and it will tell you how much gluten was in the batch that your bottle came from. My bottle was from a batch that tested  <10ppm of gluten. Good enough for me. I poured the 12oz bottle into my usual pint glass.

Appearance: The lager pours a clear straw yellow with a 1" white foam head that dissipates to leave behind a thin layer of foam. It tries to leave behind lacing but mostly fails to do so. 
Smell: Not much of a nose on this one. There is a slight bready smell with light yeast, a little nutty, and a hint of lemon.
Taste: Bready, grassy with a bit of hop flavor. Very light flavor. Leaves behind a slight bitterness on the palate, but is quite pleasant,
Mouthfeel: crisp, smooth, moderately carbonated. A little watery.

Overall: It doesn't have much going on, but I liked it. Tastes like a real beer and I probably wouldn't have guessed it was gluten free from taste alone. With Omission, the Widmer Brothers have presented an easy drinking, refreshing lager perfect for the Northwest's hot summer weather.  This would be a great beer to bring to a summer BBQ.

Review #7: Original Sin Pear Cider

This cider was a celebratory drink, because I graduated! I'm done with all my undergrad assignments and am awaiting my diploma in the mail. Now it's time to join the real world. :P


Original Sin Pear Cider is made in New York, and has 4.5% ABV. It is a traditional dry cider that is fermented from pear juice with no added sugar. I poured it into my usual conical pint glass.

Appearance: The cider pours a translucent, crystal clear pale yellow with lots of bubbles. It pours like champagne - very fizzy, then quickly mellows down to a tiny ring of foam around the edge of the glass.
Smell: There is a slight pear and honey aroma.
Taste: The taste is tart and slightly astringent at the start, but finishes sweet with a light pear flavor.
Mouthfeel: Original Sin Pear is highly carbonated with an average body. It is smooth and very crisp.

Overall: The smell and mouthfeel remind me a lot of drinking the house champagne at my favorite French bar during happy hour. I would be as happy as anything to drink this cider paired with a snack plate of fancy olives and prosciutto. I just need someone to get me some fancy olives and prosciutto first. Other pear ciders I have tried in the past have been much too sweet for my tastes. However, I was pleasantly surprised by this cider. Original Sin Pear was a tasty cider that I would definitely buy again.

Review #6: Fox Tail Gluten Free Ale

I hope everyone is having a good weekend! I decided to kick mine off with a beer, and chose the can of Fox Tail that had been sitting in my fridge for a couple weeks.

Fox Tail ale is brewed with rice and hops and made in Nevada by the Joseph James Brewing Company. It is 5% ABV and is the only canned gluten free beer I have tried so far.

I poured the beer from the can into a conical pint glass. It pours a clear light yellow color (I didn't light my photo very well, oops!) with a bright white head that leaves behind a bit of lacing.

Fox Tail has a sweet lemon scent with floral undertones. The mouthfeel is thin, but fairly well-carbonated.

The taste, however? Yuck. It has a soapy, bitter, metallic taste that was not nice at all. I gave Fox Tail the benefit of the doubt and figured it just needed a bit of time to open up, maybe warm up a bit. So I let it sit for fifteen minutes, then came back to try it again. Still the same - Horrible.

The verdict: this was the worst gluten-free beer I've tried so far. I could not even finish half of it. Fox Tail is now baiting slugs in my garden.

Review #5: Brunehaut Blonde Ale

Today's review is for Brunehaut Blonde Ale.

Brasserie de Brunehaut is a Belgian brewery. They brew several varieties of beer, four of which are gluten-free.This particular beer is an artisinal blonde ale made with "eco-friendly ingredients," or so the label states. The beer contains 6.5% ABV.

First off - if you buy this beer, open it over the kitchen sink! It was bursting with bubbles as soon as I got the cap off, which is why you see a bit of dampness below my beer glass in the photo. Oops.

As far as I can tell, Brunehaut brews this beer with barley, then de-glutenizes it through an enzymatic process that brings the finished product down to "less than 5ppm" of gluten. They say "less than 5ppm" because that's as low as current tests can detect. Current US standards do not allow for this beer to be labeled gluten-free, so you won't find those words on the label in the United States. However, you will find the lovely international gluten-free symbol on the cap, seen here.

I would like to say that people who are very sensitive to gluten may still react to this beer simply because of its ingredients. If you are one of these highly-sensitive people, then I would probably not recommend it. But that is your decision to make. I did not react to this beer and found it quite pleasant.

Onto the taste test. I poured from the 11.2 oz stubby bottle into my conical pint glass. The color is a cloudy butterscotch with a big, fluffy white head that left behind a little bit of lacing.

The beer has a slight apple-y smell with hints of yeast and grass, but the aroma itself is not very strong. The beer is a bit watery, but very smooth and lightly carbonated. It tastes like a typical Belgian blonde at the beginning, with some hits of apple and earthy hops. There is a slight bitterness in the aftertaste, but it is not unpleasantly bitter.

Basically, Brunehaut Blonde Ale tastes like a regular beer. I wouldn't have guessed it was gluten-free just from the taste. There was no weird sweetness, no grassy-ness, and no sorghum funk. Just a pretty damn good ale. This was a lovely end-of-the-day treat paired with a handful of pistachios. My only complaints are that it's a bit hard to find, and a little expensive for the size - this single bottle ran me a little over $4. 

Review #4: Ace Apple Hard Cider

TGIF, everybody! It's been a very long week, and I'm glad to present you all with a new review.

Today's brew of choice is Ace Hard Apple Cider, from the California Cider Company. This is my first time trying this particular cider. It is made in California from fermented apple juice and has a 5% ABV.

I poured the cider into a conical pint glass. The cider is clear, and a very pale yellow color, with no head. It is lightly carbonated with a wine-like smell.

The flavor is a sweet, crisp, light apple-y flavor. Yes, that sounds like I'm stating the obvious. Ace tastes like fresh apples. This cider is simple, and simply presented.

While the flavor is good, the mouthfeel of this one was very syrupy. About 3/4 the way into the cider, the sweetness became overbearing. I'm really not sure how this cider does that at only 8g of sugar per bottle, which is less than most other ciders I've had. The syrupy sweetness of this cider places this one firmly in the "pass next time" category for me.

I'm excited to present some more gluten-free reviews for you guys next week, and will be making a trip to the bottle shop to pick up the next round of brews tomorrow!

Review #3: Bard's Gold Original Sorghum Malt Beer

I'll admit; I was a bit hesitant to try this beer. It's got quite a few horrible reviews on Beer Advocate. Most gluten-free beers I've seen there do, though. But when someone says,

"When your beer is so bad that it causes you to cough and gag because of the flavor, you know something's wrong."

Or,

"This by far is the worst tasting beer we ever had. We both couldn't spit it out quick enough."

 ...I'm bound to be a little scared. However, I think these two were being a bit dramatic.

Bard's Gold is made by Bard's Tale Beer Company, and claims to be the original sorghum beer. It's a American lager that sits at 4.6% ABV, though I had to go to their website to find the latter - it's not printed on the label. I poured the Bard's into a conical pint glass. It had a small white head that disappeared shortly after pouring. Clear amber color with lots of carbonation.

It has a slightly sweet, earthy smell, with a bit of, well... that ocean smell.The taste is watery and hard to find past all the bubbles. I'm getting bitterness, with a definite bitter aftertaste, and a little bit of saltiness. There's also kind of a toasty grain flavor in there.

Overall, this beer is okay. Kind of boring. Nothing I'd throw away, but not anything I'd buy again either.

Review #2: Crispin The Saint Hard Apple Cider

The Saint is made by Crispin Hard Cider Company. It is from their Artisanal Reserve line, and boasts the addition of Belgian trappist yeast and organic maple syrup. I'll admit, I've had this cider a handful of times in the past, and it's one of my favorites. Today, I bought one specifically so that I could write a review for my readers. :)

The Saint comes in a 22oz bottle sitting at a hefty 6.9% ABV. It is made from unfiltered and fermented apple juice, which is what gives it the cloudy appearance you see in the photo above. The cider has a deep golden yellow color and is moderately carbonated with no head. It has a subtle yeasty smell right after opening that goes away after sitting a bit. 

The Saint has a complex flavor that is well-balanced and unfussy. It is a bit winey at the start, finishing with a fresh apple flavor. It is crisp on the palate with a bit of a tang. My only complaint is that I can't really taste or smell the maple syrup in it.

This cider is not too sweet, something I definitely appreciate. The Saint is easy to drink, delicious from beginning to end, and packs a little punch with its higher alcohol content. Overall, this cider is a win in my book.

Review #1: Redbridge Gluten-Free Sorghum Beer

For my first review, I decided to start with one of the most easily-found gluten-free beers: Redbridge.

Redbridge is made by Anheuser-Busch, the same company that makes Budweiser, Michelob, Shock Top, Busch, and other well-known brands. It is marketed as a "full-bodied lager" or as Beer Advocate says, an "American Amber/ Red Lager." I'm more inclined to call it a lager, because this beer would be pretty weak as an amber. Redbridge sits at 4% ABV.

I had avoided trying Redbridge again after a bad experience at a local burger joint. I ordered a Redbridge and I think it may have gone off. Maybe it spent too much time in a warm part of the kitchen. Maybe it spent too much time in the sunlight, or was just old. Either way, it was very bitter, almost metallic. I hated it. However, after hearing a gluten-free friend say it was her favorite, I thought it was worth another try.

I poured the bottle into this conical pint glass. It has a deep honey color with a big foamy white head that dissipated quickly after pouring. My first impression: "not bad." The beer has some fruity notes and a bit of a toasty flavor. I can definitely taste the sorghum in it, which for some people is off-putting. It's an acquired taste, I think. Redbridge is light on the palate--  moderately carbonated, but easy to drink, and refreshing.

The verdict: I liked this beer. It's nothing special. That is, it doesn't seem that different from most of Anheuser-Busch's offerings. However, it's an easily-found, moderately-priced gluten-free beer that is pretty tasty and definitely enjoyable.

About Me (or, Why Gluten-Free Brews?)

Hi, I'm Hilary. I'm a student living in Washington state and I've been following a gluten-free diet since February 2012.

After years of feeling sick and tired, dealing with fatigue, gastric issues, skin issues, and headaches all the time with no apparent cause, I stumbled across an article online that hinted that gluten could be the cause of my health problems. I thought, "what have I got to lose?" and I immediately switched over to a gluten-free diet. I felt a great difference to my health within the first month. Since then, I've done some experimenting with foods and my diet. My body's reaction to wheat and gluten is unpleasant to say the least, so I prefer to live without it. I've been tested for Celiac disease, but since I was not eating wheat at the time, my results came up negative. Eating gluten-free is a little tougher, but the difference I feel daily makes it worth it for me.

Before I went gluten-free, I enjoyed sampling new beers and learning to enjoy the different flavors I found. Realizing I couldn't have beer anymore was a real downer! I tried a couple gluten free beers but was unimpressed with most, and forgot about drinking beer for a while.

However, after finding an great little beer store in my town with an awesome selection of gluten-free beer and cider, I thought I'd give gluten-free brews a try again. This blog will contain my reviews of gluten-free beer and cider. Hopefully my reviews will be helpful to others who follow gluten-free diets, have Celiac disease, or who are just interested in trying a new drink.

Cheers!