Lakefront New Grist

My 21 y/o asked me to go to a Chicago Fire game with him last night and we had a nice time. I had a beer there that was new to me, Lakefront's New Gristhttp://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/new_grist.html

Its gluten-free, which isn't necessary for me, but I was curious so I tried it. Its made with sorghum and rice. While I wasn't in a great environment to do serious tasting, I can say I was surprised how enjoyable it was - it seemed to fall somewhere around a Pilsner for me. It was maltier than I expected, balanced and had a good touch of hop bitterness. In any case, I certainly enjoyed drinking it during a pleasant evening outside watching soccer.

We also had Fat Tires and Pilsner Urquells.

I walk by that every time I go through the health food store and think to myself "Man, I'm glad I won't be drinking that this evening". Maybe I need to be more open minded? The only GF beer I've had came from this large group of hippies that wandered in to our homebrew club meeting one evening. They all looked alike, all 6 of them. Their beer had the appearance of milk, and tasted of Cascade hops and the worst punch of diacetyl I've ever experienced along with a strange chalky tartness. Terrible stuff. It was fun watching the various members attempting to dispose of whatever portion they were unfortunate enough to get stuck with... Um, anyway so the New Grist isn't bad eh?

No, it was enjoyable. Walking around the soccer field outdoors, drinking out of a plastic cup wasn't the *best* situation for a nuanced tasting, but I would say it was pilsner-ish. It did not have what I was expecting - a discernable sorghum flavor. Again, it could be that I just wasn't tasting it walking around with it. If I were Lakefront's brewmaster, I would consider upping the Saaz or whatever hops they used. But bottom-line, I enjoyed it.

I have a friend who has celiac disease so we keep some GF stuff on hand when she comes over. Bard's and Green's are both pretty good.