BREWER: Wold Top Brewery, East Yorkshire, England

STYLE: Gluten Free Beer

ABV: 4.5%

VESSEL: 500ml brown bottle

TWITTER: @woldtopbrewery

INSTAGRAM: woldtopbrew

DATE OF POST: 20th November 2020

 

SAMMY SAY’S…

This is a first for us tasters here at Muse On Booze: a gluten free beer. I know, there’s no stopping us in our quest to be all inclusive. However, there’s just one slight issue. It isn’t actually our first gluten free beer. What! I can here the unified intake of breath. You see, some of the beers we have tested previously have been brewed without gluten in their ingredients. What Against The Grain actually is, is the first beer with standard brewing ingredients that’s gluten free. And it’s the first beer we’ve tested to promote it’s free from gluten state.

So, what is ATG? Well, it’s a lager. And it looks like a lager and it smells like a lager. But then, you might not expect it’s freeness from gluten to have any impact so early in the testing phase.

And then you come to drinking the thing…

To be fair, ATG is very quaffable. It’s light and pulls slightly on your tastebuds, which is interesting considering it’s a lager. But let’s move away from it’s gluten freeness for just a moment. Let’s consider if it’s a good beer when it’s stacked up against all other beers. And that has to be the test. The answer is, resoundingly, yes; this is a good beer. Would I reach for it again, even when other lagers were available? Yes I would. I would because it’s a very good beer. Okay, it’s not the most complex lager I’ve ever had but that does not stop it from being good.

Regardless of ATG being gluten free, this is a good beer. It’s worth a try. And I’m willing to bet that many of you will be reaching for it again.

Sammy’s Rating: 76%

 

JYMI SAY’S…

Well done to Wold Top for producing this gluten free and  vegan friendly beer. At the end of the day it’s easier to just NOT produce a gluten free and vegan  friendly beer but they have taken it on and for that my cap is doffed.

Moving on, I literally hate everything about this beer. The packaging is poor, the name is quite clever on the surface but seems like one of those world changing ideas you have when you can’t sleep. The nose is a complete non event and I don’t even know what I’m going to be getting as a style of drink.

However the taste, which let’s be honest is by far and away the most important thing, is very good.

Going from the info on the label what we have with ATG is an ale (which is quite loosely mentioned I have to add) brewed with lager malts. However what they have produced is a lager. And it’s a good lager. In fact it is a really good lager. The reason being it finishes with a bitter hoppy ale tone that takes away all the bad things about a lager. See what happens is you get the initial refreshing moreish hit that a cold crisp lager brings but then where a normal lager goes down the path of gacky shabby aftertaste, ATG brings in the hop rockets to totally alleviate that situation.

A very pleasant beer indeed I have to say, just wish I hadn’t used the handled glass for the picture.

Jymi’s Rating: 78%

 

MUSE ON BOOZE RATING: 77% 

MOB review next weekend: HOOKY GOLD by HOOK NORTON BREWERY

 

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