The Swill: Bard's GoldThe Still: Bard's Beer Company
Utica, New York
http://www.bardsbeer.com
The Drill: Gluten-free beer made from sorghum malt, 12oz bottle, 4.6% ABV
The Spill: This beer pours amber with a frothy white head. The nose is of a wet pilsner quality. The flavor is light, yet surprisingly sweet. The aftertaste is a little undesirable, turning sour at the very end, but overall, the beer is unexpectedly good, particularly because it's missing one of beer's most basic ingredients. Taking that into account, it's hard to say what it should taste like, but it tastes more like beer than a good many piss-poor brews out there.
Says Bill: The founders of Bard's Beer Company both suffer from an intolerance to wheat gluten, as do roughly 2 million other people in the U.S., including my wife's cousin, Dawn. She told me once that beer gave her a bad reaction, with the exception of Budweiser, who infamously brews their beer with a good amount of rice to cheapen the cost of making it. This fact made it easier for her to drink their drivel, and it was the only choice for beer on account of her allergy. Thankfully, there is now another option for her and all the people like her. And of course, regular drinkers can try it, too.
Refill?: Dawn, put down the Bud. Pick up a Bard: 2.5 taps out of 5.
Bill,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review. Only Bard's malts the sorghum in its recipe making it, as you describe, "unexpectedly good."
Brian from Bard's
I'll tell you Brian, I really didn't know what to expect when I first tried your beer. However, I was delighted by its uniqueness and quality. As a matter of fact, posting this review wet my whistle for another taste of the product, so I enjoyed one last night as I did my proofreading. No lie. On behalf of all the people who are forced to drink the crap that Bud makes because they swap out some of their barley for rice, thank you for giving the gluten-intolerant community a much better alternative. (Dawn, I'm telling you, go get this beer now.)
ReplyDeleteBill