Found one six pack locally. I had never heard of it before and learn to find out that it’s new this year. Supposedly it’s reduced gluton. I don’t see much the point unless it’s completely glutton free which you can’t get with barley. That being said, I really don’t care about that lol. It’s hopped with lemon drop and el dorado. It pours crystal clear gold with white head. The nose is very pungent, floral, herbal, spicy with flashes of soft lemon candy like Starbust. The flavor… Well, it tasted exactly how it smells. The Starburst flavors quickly get flushed out by the herbal spiciness. The beer finishes very dry and is dangerously drinkable at 7.7%. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. I’ll definetely buy and drink this again. Once again, Stone fails to disappoint.
The combo is almost Mt. Hood-ish. I have to say, as the beer warmed a bit in the glass, it became more fruitier than spicy. This beer is along the lines of Troegs Perpetual IPA…only a touch better. Lol since you can’t get Troeg’s in Indy, Jon, I guess this is a terrible comparison for you… Owell.
Interesting I might have to give perpetual another shot now with that comparison I haven’t tried perpetual in a long time, will have to find delicious and do a side by side then too you know science sake yea. Next time I’m down at tröegs I’ll snag some cans of fresh perpetual thanks for pushing me back onto a tröegs beer I have forgotten about. Lol
Ha… I’ll be interested to hear about a side by side. I haven’t had perpetual in a while either. But it’s the closest comparison off the top of my head with the herbal/spice flavor and aroma. Similar in color too. A light, golden/straw color.
I didn’t realize that this is Stone’s low Gluten beer. I saw in this article that they use Clarity Ferm to reduce the gluten content- I remember a thread on Clarity Ferm last year where people were debating the flavor impact of using it. Judging by the reviews so far, must not be much flavor impact. If there were I’m sure Stone wouldn’t use it. Need to try this beer.
gluten reduced and reduced gluten are two different things. clarity ferm reduces gluten to simplere molecules. It does this to pretty much all the gluten so it’s not reduced gluten beer it’s (theoretically) gluten free beer. I know quite a few celiac sufferers who have been enjoying Omission and other gluten reduced beers without side effects for a while now. I’m not going to come out and say it’s okay for celiac sufferers to drink this beer but…
So in theory it could/should be gluten free, but it’s safer (liability wise) to term it as ‘reduced’ . I think I’ll buy some this Friday, I’m pretty curious now.
as I understand it whatever agency is responsible for that type of label claim in the USA was not willing to say gluten free even though it passes the test used to determine certification for that because it has an ingredient that is chock full of gluten. However the reduced I beleive refers to the fact that the molecule has been reduced or broken into smaller pieces. the same way we talk about reducing sugars vs. non-reducing sugars.
John Mallet touched on it in his talk about malt at the 2013 NHC. That’s available to members. I’ll try to google around and find some more info on how it works. I’ve noticed recently that stores are calling Ommision and the like gluten free so it’s also possible the Agency In Charge as already loosened the rules.
my 8 year old called me out on eggo waffles without gluten. served them up, and she said “these taste funny , are they old?”…i chuckled and tasted them…yuck!
The FDA has the ppm for Gluten-free items as under 20 ppm. From some experiments I’ve heard, Clarity-Ferm will produce beer under that threshold, but it’s not guaranteed. If you label a product as gluten-free, you would have to guarantee that every batch is under the threshold.
Unless you’re really trying to lock down the gluten-free niche, I’d imagine you wouldn’t want to have to test every batch. And if I were a brewery the size of Stone, I’d hate to have to dump a batch for something that tests over the limit. It’s much safer to market your product as “gluten reduced”.