Blanche (White)
Glutenberg Craft Brewery

Served from the can in a Mickey Finn's shaker pint glass.

Blanche was cool, but I'd have to think for a minute about who my favorite Golden Girl was. Regardless, this stuff pours a mostly clear brass topped by a finger of white foam. The nose comprises mild cracked wheat, coriander, mild orange zest, and a touch of black pepper. The taste brings in more of the same, though it's all unfortunately drowned out by the alternative grains' off-kilter rye-sourdough nonsense. This is the downfall of most GF beers I've come across, where the underlying malt-based notes ruin whatever good the rest of the recipe does. The body is a rather light medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a sorta/kinda drying finish. Overall, what could have been a nice wit is tanked by the alternative grains. If those bits could be shouted down, the world would be a nicer place, I think.

Kind of a powdery Belgian-esque scent. Not bad. Pretty thin feeling but mostly easy to drink. Kinda feels like carbonated water. Bitter taste with Belgian yeast flavors like coriander and clove

 

 

I'm taking it easy on gluten for a time, so limiting my beer consumption. I thought I'd stretch that by having some gluten free beers. I have to say, this isn't bad at all. It's a bit thicker and creamier than a standard wit (having been made with buckwheat and millet rather than wheat), and a touch earthy in the nose from the buckwheat, but otherwise fairly spot on with the other flavors as well as the adjuncts of coriander and orange. I miss the snap of the crisp finish of a normal blanche, but I can live with that. The slight sourness from the millet works here with the coriander and orange, and the flavor of the buckwheat is quite nice with an earthy graininess. Well done!

 

The pour is golden yellow. The taste is sharp orange peel, coriander, & grains but the flavors don't seem to mesh well it might due to the beer being gluten free. Furthermore, this beer is definitely lacking in pronounced flavor & there is an off taste in there as well. The pay such a high mark up for a beer of this quality in taste is just not worth it, i'm sure you can find better. Don't get me wrong the health aspect of this beer with it being gluten free along with a bevy of ancient grains is giving me quite a pleasant buzz, if they could just up the taste profile a little something. Oh well, at least now I can say that I had a beer that was made with buckwheat, millet,amaranth, quinoa, hops, water, coriander, orange peel, orange peel, & yeast. Cheers! C

DATE: May 14, 2020... OCCASION: planning to watch the final episodes of The Clone Wars with the boys... GLASSWARE: Hennepin pokal... pours a lemon yellow body teeming with bubbles, above which builds a thick, snow-white head that holds well into the first sips... bright and refreshing by its appearance... lemon, yeast, orange, coriander and a heavy dose of banana and clove invoke wheat-like fare... the amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat and millet fly under the radar... overall, the aroma approximates the style... first sip is smooth, sharp at the start and a rush of bubbles at the throat... as wits go, this has a nice, drinkable texture that encourages the next drink... an everlasting banana, clove, zesty lemon, orange and coriander, light in its cracker malts and musty in its breath... highly agreeable, refreshing and the among the best Glutenberg offers...

Happy CANada Day, hosers! Take off, eh? This is one of my FAVORITE holidays of the year since it provides me with the impetus to a) drink CANned CANadian beer ISO The CANQuest (tm); b) watch hockey (either pre-recorded games or movies, like "Slapshot"; c) watch "Strange Brew"; d) eat some beaver & e) parade nekkid in the street while waving a CANdian flag. 2017 was their 150th Anniversary so I pulled out all of the stops, using sparklers & firecrackers as accoutrements, which was attention-getting, to say the least. The local CANstabulary was bemused & amused as they led me away, but I was less-than-thrilled with the 1st & 2nd degree burns, especially to my sensitive bits! Needless to say, I have scaled back since then.

From the CAN: "100% Gluten Free*100% Great Beer"; "Ingredients: Water, Buckwheat, Millet, Amaranth, Quinoa, Hops, Coriander, Orange Peel, Yeast".

I had "Rush's Greatest Hits" playing on YouTube as I Crack!ed open the vent to begin this momentous CANebration. Man, was this one anxious to join the day's party! I beCAN a quick C-Line Glug to get it under CANtrol, but this only resulted in the quick formation of just under two fingers of fizzy, foamy, bone-white head that quickly fizzed itself out of existence. Color was an oh-so-slightly-hazy Yellow-Gold (SRM = 4 - 5). Nose had an odd but interesting spiciness. I certainly got the usual coriander & orange peel, but this was … different. It included a nuttiness that I usually do not get in the style. Hmm. Mouthfeel was medium, but soft. Soft? Like being smothered by kittens! 8=O The taste was a revelation. Buckwheat, while necessary in a gluten-free beer, is usually too sharp for my liking. Here, it may have been the source of the nuttiness that I initially noticed on the nose & really tasted now. It worked amazingly well with the orange peel & coriander + I think that the quinoa & amaranth (!) were also helping as far as the nuttiness was CANcerned. Finish was dry and spicy with a citrusy nuttiness. Now, a CANundrum - rating to style. For the most part, I could ALMOST close my eyes & envision that I was drinking a standard Witbier, if only it were not for the nuttiness. It was probably one of the best beers that I have had from these guys, but rules are rules … YMMV.

 

 

 

16 oz can with a BB date of Sept. 2018.
Pale, hazy light golden body with a somewhat weak white head.
Flavorful and nicely complex with apparent use of Belgian yeast and (too much) coriander. Mild-moderate bitter and lightly tart with hints of citrus peel and light funk.

 

 

I'm rating this as a gluten-free beer. Pours with a small head, pretty weak carbonation. I don't get a lot of smell, but this is not my best sense. Taste is strong oranges, but then quite bitter. Possibly the orange, but expect it is also from a couple of the other grains (based on my homebrewing experience - amaranth, buckwheat). It's quite syrupy, as the beer warms up (which it will do in a can of this size - around 500ml) the mouthfeel becomes a bit unpleasant. I get this with some of my homebrews with particular ingredients as well...

I wish this was in 330ml bottles, it would be much better as it would stay colder. OK, not a great experience. Better than some of the alternatives, but will stick to my GF Hoegaarden clone homebrew for now :)

A decent GF beer attempt, but still a reminder of how far GF beer has yet to go...

A: Cloudy, gold with a hint of orange, but head almost non-existent.

S: Orange dominates. There's definitely coriander, as expected with the style. Grain aromas are faint and nonspecific.

T: Maltiness is minimal. There's a fair amount of citrus flavor, both from added orange peel and the tangy hops - this is the star of the show, taste-wise. I also taste the coriander, and the bitter finish balances it all quite well.

M: Moist and refreshing, but it could've used a bit more carbonation.

O: A decent but not excellent witbier; I'd drink it again. I would not have identified this as gluten-free, had I not known.

Interestingly my can is called "Glutenberg white."

From the top of the can just under the rim: "30011096 B.B. 09/MA/2017"

Appearance: The body is an opaque grapefruit juice color with no head.

Aroma: There isn't much aroma but I am picking up a bit of what smells like clove.

Taste: I get some clove flavor along with an odd woody flavor. It has a bit of a tobacco leaf taste with a strong bitter aftertaste with some pine flavor. It doesn't taste anything like a Witbier.

Mouthfeel: It has a thick feeling body with very low carbonation and an odd bitter aftertaste.

Overall: I would strongly recommend against having this beer. It doesn't even taste like a Witbier and the flavors are all over the place. I wouldn't drink it again.

 

473ml can - it's been a while since we've seen any new Gluten-Free beers arrive in Alberta, and I'm glad it was these guys who broke the lull!

This beer pours a cloudy, medium tarnished golden yellow colour, with two fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and somewhat creamy dirty white head, which leaves some defrosting back windshield lace around the glass as things evenly subside.

It smells of musty, almost wheat-like malt, an indistinct spicy graininess, understated mixed domestic citrus notes, some white pepper and earthy coriander zinginess, and gentle leafy and weedy hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy pale-esque malt, more dirty wheat edginess, musty and faintly sour buckwheat, a still muddled citrus character, semi-sweet coriander spice, and a consistently plain leafy and sort of floral green hoppiness.

The carbonation is quite subtle in its otherwise far-reaching frothiness, the body a solid middleweight, and more or less straight-up smooth, with a nice creaminess rolling in just after the rest of the day's crew. It finishes off-dry, the very wheat-adjacent malt putting down roots next to the lingering citrus and coriander spice.

Well, it's like they took a textbook witbier, and crafted their so-called adjunct input ingredients to nail the major points as hard as they could, i.e. wheat, citrus, and coriander. Not a whole lot of subtly or nuance here, but for a New World, and certainly for a GF offering, this is more than aaaallll riiiiiiight.