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 #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.