Crop Circle

Hop Back Brewery - Crop Circle 

Crop Circle, brewed at the Wyndham Arms in Wiltshire. The brewery and chain of pubs has been going since 1986. Since then it has grown to win great recognition for its beers and ales around the UK. 

The beer has a lovely head to and a pleasant aroma. The taste matches the smell , their is a refreshing fruitiness in this beer along with a bitter after taste. Not so bitter that it dominates and not so fruity that it could turn sickly. 

This is a lovely example of not only a gluten free beer but in general a golden ale, refreshing with bitter after tones and a taste that's pleasing after many a sip. 

Below is a link to their site which shows all the shops/bars that stock Crop Circle. 

 http://www.hopback.co.uk/gluten-free.html

Alc: 4.2

Ingredients: Water, Maris Otter Malt, Maize, Two English and two Continental Hop varieties and Hop Back Yeast.

My rating: 8/10

Ambar

Cerveza Especial - Ambar

 

Ambar a Spanish made Lager, it was shortlisted in the Freefrom best beer awards 2012 and highly commended the following year. Its brewed with the unique barley malt and hop from the northern Spanish region that this beer originates.

The beer kept a light head and had a tangy flavor, most likely down to the hops. Overall this lager was easy to drink and reminded me of something like corona, it would go well with a slice of lime or lemon like the beer Sol.

Still its similar to Daura in the sense its rather flat after the initial taste, gluten free beers out of Spain dont seem to back up the volume or awards with much in the way of taste. Still with both beers put in front of me id go with the Ambar over the Daura, there is nice flavour in there.... somewhere.....

Alc: 5.2

Ingredients: (Water,  Barley malt) Im guessing, i couldn't find the ingredients anywhere. 

 My rating: 5/10

Night Mission

Glebe Farm- Night Mission

Glebe Farms Night Mission is the first ale to be reviewed in this blog and hard to beat in terms of a traditional bitter. 

The name 'Night Mission'  came about due the farms' historical links to the wartime planes used in WW2. There are many airfields in the area of Glebe farm where the pathfinder planes would take off, land and sometimes crash.

This is a beer that looks very much the part and indeed tastes the part, if you've been looking for a tradition English bitter or an amber ale that gives you that bitter taste this is a great choice. The beer kept its head through out the drinking process and with a great bitter taste that lingers, its a great gluten free beer that would make any grumpy black sheep pub goer pause for thought.

Alc:4.2

Ingredients: Secret .....

My rating: 8/10

Wold Top Beer/Lager

Wold Top- Lager/Beer

Yorkshire based Wold Top, Winner of SIBA North Gold Award for specialty beers Nov 2009 and Highly Commended in the Free From Awards 2010. This beer is an interesting mix of an ale with lager hops, more in the realm of a lager but still with a bitter sweet taste of an ale.

The smell is a pleasant smell of hops and bitterness. The lager holds a very nice head throughout the drinking process. Its refreshing with a bitter sweet after taste, overall a very pleasant experience. A nice point also is that the beer can be found for as low as £1.50 in farm shops around Yorkshire. Its also stocked in some pubs in Leeds and Harrogate, such as the Harrogate and Leeds Tap.

A pleasant beer through and through,  it really does taste and look like a proper lager, even to the extent it tastes better then a fair few lagers that contain gluten, (in my humble opinion of course). 

Alc:4.5

Ingredients: Water, Barley malt, Maize, Hops and yeast.

My rating: 7/10

Celia

Celia-Lager

Celia is a Czech lager/pilsner, winner of the coveted Free From best gluten free beer award of 2013. Celia is not only vegan friendly, gluten free but also environmentally healthy by sourcing its ingredients locally from Czech farms. Something i really like about this beer is that it is easy to find in the UK, if you go to the Celia lager website there is a map of all the UK based stores.Outside the UK you can find it online or just Celias own website. 

The Beer kept a nice little head for a while after opening, and had a rather rural smell to it. The taste was malty and easy to drink,also there was a surprising hint of spice in the after taste, most likely down the hops. After drinking two bottles i found it to have an almost chewy texture on my teeth. This is a nice easy Pilsner, its different to other beers Ive reviewed so far in its spicy tones and refreshing feel. 

Alc: 4.5

Ingredients: Organic barley malt, Organic Saaz hops, and water from the zatec foothills.

My score: 7/10

Saxon

Saxon- Lager

Saxon Lager, brewed by Calsberg, it claims to be the very first gluten free beer ever brewed in the UK. The beer has a unique ingredient in its brewing process ,Antioxidant sodium metabisulphite which helps cut down the gluten content.  

Going strong since 2006, Ive never come across it till recently. I cant say its been a happy surprise to finally taste it however. On opening the can you get lager smell and subsequently it poured very nice. However the flavor is so un-remarkable its barely noticeable, seeing the list of ingredients water is at the top and i wonder if that is actually the only ingredient .

The nice head that came out of the can quickly dissipated leaving a flat look to coincide with the flat taste. I remarked in the Daura review that it was a bit of a disapointment in the flavor and as a whole. This lager is just poor, there is little to recommend and little to be positive about, does it taste like beer? yes, but barely. 

 Alc:4.1

Ingredients: Water, Barley malt, Starch, Hops, Antioxidant sodium metabisulphite

My Rating: 2/10