Desiree's Beer & Wine Blog

In my quest to find a gluten free beer that tastes like a craft beer, many friends have come to my aide. My latest gluten free adventure is from Nick Stafford’s Hambleton Ales out of Melberby, North Yorkshire England and was given to me by Steve Stivers, fellow FOAM (Fellowship of Oklahoma Alemakers) member and friend.

They call their gluten free beer Toleration.  Their website describes this beer as a tawny ale with aromas of Cascade, Liberty and Challenger hops and specially prepared dark sugars providing full bodied initial sweetness giving way to pronounced fruit and hop character with a strong citrus finish. It has a abv of 4.8%.

When I poured the beer the head was off white and creamy.  The aroma was sweet and you get a hint of hops as well.  The color was great! It looked like an amber beer, something I’ve been trying to find in a gluten free beer.  The taste was surprisingly good. Toleration is brewed with Challenger, Liberty and Cascade hops with specially prepared sugars.  My guess is they caramelize the hell out of the sugars and it really lends a nice sweet caramel character that helps hide the fact that there isn’t any malt flavor.

As I sit and write this, the head is still present, something I haven’t seen much of in a gluten free beer.  Dave took a sip and was wowed.  He then opened a bottle of real English ale and still felt the beer I was drinking was pretty good even though his was definitely a better beer.  Hey, we can’t have everything and this beer is a damn good beer for anyone who is gluten intolerant.

I don’t know where Steve picked this up. I’m hoping it was here in Oklahoma but I’m thinking that would be too much to ask.

This beer also gives my lots of ideas on brewing my own gluten free beer.  I will try them out soon and post my results.

Cheers,

Desiree Knott
High Gravity Homebrewing & Winemaking Supplies
7164 S Memorial
Tulsa, OK 74133
(918) 461-2605
desiree@highgravitybrew.com
http://www.highgravitybrew.com

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This entry was posted by Desiree Knott on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Beer Related Posts, Gluten Free Beers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.