Departed Soles Brewing GoodbIPA “Four my Homie”

Departed Soles Brewing GoodbIPA “Four my Homie”

Gluten Free, Brewed in New Jersey

This is Best Gluten Free Beer’s first official review of Departed Soles Brewing Co! Today I’m tasting the GoodbIPA “Four my Homie”, a flagship IPA that speaks to the “WHY” behind Departed Soles.

Departed Soles Brewing Co. exists today because of a dream held by two best friends (Chris and Brian) who shared a passion for craft beer. After Chris lost his life in a tragic car accident, Brian moved forward with their shared vision in memory of his best friend.

Before the accident, Chris had been recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which is why Departed Soles brews a line of gluten free beers. The GoodbIPA specifically, is a special tribute to Chris’s memory.

Since the brewery brews both regular and gluten free beers, they are very careful to avoid contamination. All of their gluten free beers are brewed with certified GF ingredients. They also take the following precautions to keep Celiac customers safe:

• 2 dedicated gluten free fermenters
• dedicated canning setup for their gluten free beers
• they never store any gluten free ingredients with gluten containing ones
• always use fresh gluten free yeast
• gluten free beers are never handled openly when non gluten free ingredients are being used in the brewery

So if you ever get the chance to taste a Departed Soles beer, make sure it’s one of their gluten free ones. I haven’t been to the taproom myself, but I’m sure the gluten free brews are all well-labeled and I can tell you that their cans explicitly identify themselves as GF. The text around the top of the can says “brewed with 100% gluten free ingredients”.

According to the brewery, they now distribute packaged product to Maine, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. (East coasters, look out!) Alright, let’s see how this IPA stacks up…

The Taste Test

GoodbIPA “Four My Homie”

The GoodbIPA pours with a muted orange color that has grayish tones in dim lighting, but then brightens up into a harvest moon orange when held up to a light source. It’s hazy and has a wonderful head that takes its time and then leaves a light layer behind once the rest has disappeared.

The nose on this beer is phenomenal. Holy citrus, Batman. It smells like a classic Pacific Northwest IPA to me–only this was brewed in New Jersey! The GoodbIPA’s aroma is intoxicating for an IPA lover such as myself. It’s like wading through flowers in an orchard of ripe citrus. This beer is brewed with 5 varieties of hops–dry-hopped with two of them–and boy, did they do their job!

The beer’s flavor is drier than it smells. It’s fruity and effervescent at first with hardly any sweetness, followed by lots of earthy notes and a dry bitterness at the back of the palate that finishes clean and then fades quickly, leaving your palate refreshed and yet still thirsty for more. Very hoppy, not at all malty.

It has a medium body and a dry–yet soft mouthfeel. The GoodbIPA smells brighter than it tastes. It makes for a nice winter IPA, honestly. By the way, there are still remnants of the beer’s head on top, even this far into the review. The carbonation looks healthy too, very visible/audible, even long after the pour. It’s an attractive brew.

What’s surprising is that this beer is brewed on a base of sorghum! Sorghum brews sure have come a long way since the early days. I don’t detect any unwanted twang in this IPA. There isn’t much malt in the flavor profile either, but lots of hoppy IPAs are that way. This beer clocks in at 70 IBU and the ABV is 6%.

Since I love the aroma, the taste, the body, and the finish of this IPA, it’s going down as a winner in my book. I would happily drink the GoodbIPA any day, and I hope those of you who live on the east coast get a chance to pay them a visit. If you do, make sure you’re careful about opting for a gluten free style though, as they do produce both.

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