Brewnited Red IPA: A Gluten Free Collaboration Beer

Brewnited Red IPA: A Gluten Free Collaboration

Dedicated Gluten Free Breweries Unite

This is a very exciting review for me. The Brewnited Red IPA is the product of a serious collaboration in the dedicated gluten free beer industry. Two breweries and a malt house joined forces to brew this Red IPA, including Holidaily Brewing, Aurochs Brewing, and Grouse Malt House.

All three companies are 100% dedicated gluten free facilities which makes this an incredibly safe beer for a Celiac to consume. Holidaily and Grouse are based in Colorado (Golden and Wellington, respectively), and Aurochs is based in Pennsylvania.

Their collective passion for gluten free craft beer brought us the Brewnited Red IPA, which is available at either brewery on draft. Holidaily is also offering Brewnited crowler cans to go. (They’re bigger than my head! ^) Today I’ll be pouring one of these crowlers for the tasting.

I must say, I have an immense amount of respect for all three of the companies that partook in this project. Let’s be real. Grouse Malt House makes gluten free craft beer possible in the United States. Holidaily and Aurochs both continually rise to the challenge of creating undetectably gluten free beers. What I mean by that is that they brew gluten free beer that doesn’t taste “gluten free”. They are both up there in my top 5 favorite breweries. (It’s impossible to just choose 1!)

The Taste Test

Brewnited Red IPA

The Brewnited Red IPA has a cloudy burnt reddish brown color when poured. It did form a head, which you can see best in the beer pour video. The head didn’t linger long as you can see in the photos. Once the head dies down, the carbonation appears to be on the mellow side.

The hop profile gives this Red IPA a fruity aroma with light wafts of caramel from the malt. It’s taste reveals that it is, in fact, light on the carbonation. True to the red hybrid style, it is quite malty, but not super sweet. The hops are not very bitter, but they impart a lot of flavor. A bit floral. A bit earthy. A bit fruity.

Any bitterness from the hops quickly fades. The malt really takes center stage on the tail-end of the tasting experience. The Brewnited certainly has plenty of hop character, but it’s very mild on the bitter scale. It takes after the red-style in that department.

The beer is on the sweeter side of IPAs, but the drier side of reds. It’s quite a pleasant balance actually. Reds are often a bit too malty for me personal preference, but the blend of the malts with the heavier hoppy characteristics of an IPA is a beautiful combination. I’d peg this beer at a medium body, but the lower carbonation leads it to feel a bit lighter than that on the palate.

This beer clocks in at 6.8% so a full crowler will certainly pack a buzz. (I better save the second half for after my upcoming meeting. Ha!) Overall, I find this collaboration beer very enjoyable. My only complaint is the carbonation. It could use a bit more of it. On that note, to be fair, this beer might have tasted a bit different when enjoyed fresh at the taproom. It wasn’t exactly packaged for distribution, after all.

I think it’s safe to say that if this hop-head is going to drink a red ale, I would prefer it to be a red IPA. :) I’m so glad I was able to taste this collaboration so that I could share it with all of you! Holidaily, Aurochs, and Grouse all deserve immense support from the Celiac community. Both breweries are ‘holding down the fort’ in their home states, driving the gluten free beer industry in the right direction. And without Grouse, these breweries would only have malted rice to brew with. So THANK YOU all!

I’m super curious whether any of you readers got their hands on this brew. (Colorado and Pennsylvania people, I’m talking to you!) What was it like fresh off the tap? Was carbonation lacking at all? Comment your thought below. :)

Cheers!

P.S. Like what I do for the gluten free beer community? Consider buying me a beer for my efforts! ;)