Glutenator
Epic Brewing Company

 

 

Here we are on another New Beer Sunday & since everything that I have planned for today comes in a 22-fl oz bottle format, mine will be New Bomber Sunday. You may remember that last Sunday, for me, was New Gluten-Free Beer Sunday, so this week will also be partially used to continue that trend.

From the bottle: "Beer brewed with sweet potato and molasses".

Following my Pop! of the cap, my pour produced just over a finger of dense, tawny head for a brief time until it decided that it was too shy to hang around. Color was solidly Amber (SRM = > 7, < 9) with NE-quality clarity and lots of CO2 bubbles in evidence. Nose had a slight astringency, but not as pronounced as in some G-F beers that I have reviewed. Another thing to bear in mind when reviewing such beers is that unless you have Celiac, you are not the intended audience. I try to have my comments reflect this idea. Mouthfeel was medium, but prickly, due to all of the carbonation. The taste actually reflected its fermentables quite nicely. I could really taste the sweet potato, almost immediately, and the molasses (treacle) lent its standard bitterness. I will be the first to admit that treacle is not my favorite G-F ingredient, but it still beats the heck out of sorghum. I really liked the taste of the sweet potato & I wish that more beers would incorporate it. This last inspired me to do a site search & there are a lot of sweet potato beers, including one from Funky Buddha that I have in my backlog. Sorry, I got sidetracked there. The other aspect of this beer's flavor in its favor was that the treacle was not overpowering. Present, yes. Overpowering, no. It all added up to one of the more pleasant G-F beers that I have reviewed to date. Finish was semi-dry, as they usually tend to be, given that the fermentables involved leave little residual sugar in their wake.

We expected to taste more of the yam and molasses. You find it at the end of the sip, but the front is more of a pale. It's rather similar to new planet's pale ale.

Clear yellow-orange with quickly dissipating head, but carbonation can still be felt regardless that it doesn't bubble up from the bottom. Smell is sweet, taste is sweet and zesty, can definitely tell this was brewed with sweet potato. Leaves a slick feel in the mouth and residual tingliness. Overall, I would take this over a typical macrobrew (Coor's, Bud, etc.) if given the option, but wouldn't go out of my way for it. The gluten-free beer market is a tiny niche, and the only reason I tried it was because I got this for a friend who was allergic to gluten who said he misses beer. I wanted to taste what I gave him. Not so sure he loved it, but it was the thought that counts (:. If this gluten-free trend continues, I'm sure there's more to be discovered in the uncharted territory of gluten-free beer. (P.S.: This beer has something I have never seen on a beer: "Nutrition Facts" on the label. I'd love to see this become standard!)

 

 

Poured from a bomber into a shaker pint, the beer is a hazy, opaque, yellow-orange coloring with no head and a steady carbonation flow throughout the body. Aromas of heavy herbal and spice notes, citrus sweetness, lemongrass, and a cracker backbone. Flavors are sharp, almost astringent, forward, with a syrupy sweetness of molasses and caramel, with some earthy highlights, honey, cracker, and grassy notes. Very light, effervesced body with the increased carbonation. The aftertaste is more of the syrupy sweet notes, riding out on a carbonated, light finish.

 

 

 

 

 

Bottle pour for the 2014 Los Angeles Vegan Beer Festival held in West Hollywood, CA.

Pours a hazy orange with a foamy beige head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Tiny dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of apple juice, apple cider, and citrus zest aromas. Taste is much the same with apple juice and citrus zest flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of hop bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp mouthfeel. Overall, this is an above average beer that is not too bad, but seems more like a hoppy cider than a beer.

Sampled by accident this wasn't the beer I intended to buy.

Clear golden colored beer with next to no head, just a wisp of white.

Smells strange like old perfume. Faint scent of old oranges and a slight mildew funk. Like almost all gluten free beers it just smells weird.

Starts out thin and a little astringent in the mouth with that weird hyper dry flavor that all the sorghum containing beers seem to have. Flavor of chamomile tea. That is about it tastes like flower tea.

Mouthfeel is thin.

Overall this isn't good. Yes I can gag it down but if this is beer then I think I need to start drinking wine instead.

Slightly hazed golden hue with a fizzy white head, fine speckled lacing. Aroma has hints of sweet potatoes, perceived tart note almost cider like with cooked vegetables. Molasses is fermented out completely zero grams of sugar on the nutritional value statistics, only 130 calories per 11 ounce serving. There is something about the smell that comes off like perfume that I can't deal with, just very unpleasant to me. Flavors have some harsh qualities, again cooked veggies a hint of cloying quality, dead on arrival hop character tastes like stale beer and perfume sprayed into my mouth. I'm going drain pour style on this one, unless my sister wants to have my share. Mouthfeel is astringent chemical, the sweet potato and molasses fermentables didn't perform well here, very cloying on the palate light carbonation makes it feel like carbonated water. Overall I'm not a fan of the Glutenator, but I had to try it. It was from Epic and the label made me laugh.

 

im reviewing this in the context of gluten free beer, not of beer overall, and i appreciate that this still tastes like a beer, i think its really well done, the sweet potato is a nice base for this. well carbonated and head golden blonde color with just a bit of haze. aroma is sweet and earthy both, with some bitterness from hops balancing this out. yeasty too, with a touch of spice that marries well with the potato base and tastes quite good. despite a higher degree of left over sugar, i like the way this tastes, and i don't miss the gluten very much. although i wouldn't want to have more than one of these, i appreciate that its still a beer in taste, and that it has the right feel and finish. they could scale back the sweetness a bit, but this is a success on all counts as far as gluten free brews go, vegetal and interesting, refreshing too. well done for what it is.

One of the best gluten free beers that I've tried. Doesn't have the weird sour sorghum quality of many gluten free beers. Slightly thicker mouthfeel with a fair balance of flavors. Had this with pizza and I was satisfied. Not amazing, but not terrible. Better than all BMC offerings for sure.