Ground Breaker Brewing Luella Belgian Pale Ale

Ground Breaker Brewing Luella Belgian Pale Ale

Gluten Free Belgian Pale Ale

Today’s review is for Ground Breaker Brewing’s Luella Belgian Pale Ale, a recent release in their Ephemeral series that hybridizes two beloved styles of gluten free beer. This beer is brewed with entirely gluten free ingredients in a facility that forbids all gluten from entering its premises.   

Ground Breaker seems to be rocking the same big 5 in most of their beers lately…sorghum, rice, millet, buckwheat, and flaked quinoa. This Belgian Pale Ale has a 5.1% ABV and is packaged in 16 ounce cans. 

The Luella Belgian Pale Ale is named after Luella Love, who over a hundred years ago, helped found the Love Farm on the Oregon coast. (Back in 1905!) Ground Breaker Brewing serves as a drop-off location for the Love Farm’s CSA, which I think is wonderful. I love the idea of fresh produce and berries exchanging hands in a fully gluten free facility. 

Below is the pour video of the Luella Belgian Pale Ale. Keep reading to find out what it smells, tastes, and drinks like. At the end of the article I’ll share a link to another gluten free Belgian Pale Ale you might be interested in exploring. 

The Taste Test

Luella Belgian Pale Ale

The Luella Belgian Pale Ale poured a gorgeous sunset orange color and displayed a wonderful slow-moving head that still sits at about 50% as I type. When held it up to the light, the color is slightly cloudy, blurring the carbonation dance a bit, but certainly leaves plenty of light to turn its orange color to more of a pumpkin shade. 

The head becomes more foam-like as it bubbles down. It reminds me of the foam that sits upon a root beer float. Similar consistency. My first whiff reveals carmel and bready grain on the nose. The Belgian supersedes the Pale here. My first sip puts them in a dead heat though. 

The first sip of the Luella is somewhat surprising and exciting. There’s a lot to greet you on that first taste. First noticed is the texture, which manages to be soft in initial feel but zippy in transit to the back of the tongue. The middle of the palate is shared by both hop and grain character. Lots of carmel, and biscuit, with just a bit of bitterness from the hops. They all set in at once and then swiftly clear the palate by the swallow.

This gluten free Belgian Pale Ale is incredibly clean on the finish. It doesn’t finish with bitterness, but it’s not sweet either. In the end, I think the sweet qualities from the malt and the dry qualities from the hops kind of cancel each other out. It leaves you refreshed and ready to take another sip right away. 

The body is medium. The bitterness builds slowly on the middle palate as you continue to sip. But overall, I’d say this Belgian Pale Ale has found a perfect balance between the two styles. For a PNW pale twist, it does a good job at not over-hopping the flavor experience. 

Cheers to Ground Breaker Brewing for making a well balanced and interesting Belgian Pale hybrid. We all know PNW brewers love to IPA-hop their Pale Ales, but this one stays pretty true to both styles.

Interested in another gluten free brewery’s take on a Belgian-style Pale?

Check out this one!

Neff Brewing Ignition Switch Belgian Pale Ale

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