O'Brien Black Lager
O'Brien Brewing

Pours a dark-brown colour, clear with beautifully dense beige head, retains thick and creamy. Looks great.

Smells strange. Touch of cocoa and toffee-style malts with a twist of vinegar. Um yeah, strange.

Wow, taste is totally different, and far more schwarzbiery. Cocoa notes with a touch of rye spice, dark toffee, burnt sugar. Very malt-driven but finishes quite dry. Impressive.

Decent body, lack of carbonation is a shame, could use a little bit of cutting through.

Super impressed with this for the degree of difficulty. Given how much I've hated O'Brien's other efforts at gluten-free beers just for lack of similitude to what I expect from 'beer', this is an amazing drop. Really quite drinkable.

Tried on-tap at the GABS festival in Melbourne. I actually have a lot of respect for Rebellion Brewing (the guys who produce the O'Brien's beers)—they've put a lot of effort into getting a decent process in place for gluten-free brewing.

Pours a reddish brown colour, clear in the body and quite light-weight. Head is good, a solid foamy mess of beige that leaves pleasantly soft lacing. Looks pretty good.

Mild olive noticeable first up on the nose, with some faint roasted characters and a soft brown sugar note. Slight spice characters come through as well, giving a touch of the savoury to it. It's not bad.

Light and clean on the palate, clear entry leading to a fresh mid-palate dosed with a healthy ration of dark malty notes. Clean on the finish as the yeast tidies up, with a little residual dark malt in the aftertaste.

Feel is a little dull and empty, but that's perhaps the price you pay for the cleanliness.

Overall, this has some really pleasant flavours for a gluten free beer, and has more oomph and character. In fact, it's a perfectly fine dark lager in its own right, and the fact that it's gluten-free is kind of peripheral. That's a good thing.