Today’s review is a slightly different one as I have actually been sent the beer by the brewery to review! Wainwright contacted me over on my Instagram and gifted me a few of the vegan and gluten free edition of their classic golden ale. Part of the Marston’s family of beer, the original has won a Silver Award at the World Beer Awards in 2019. It’s nice to see more traditional English styles have a gluten free option.

Visually the beer pours a classic, clear gold a light white head. On the nose the predominant aroma is a malty sweetness. There is a touch of lime citrus mixed in as well. The main body of the beer has a honey like sweetness to it that is offset well by a crisp bitterness from the hops. A good level of carbonation pushes the flavours around and makes this a rather drinkable brew.

A quick note on the bottle art: The depiction of a mountain to match their tagline of ‘Find Your Mountain’. A classic design with a unique label shape to match that of mountain peak.

This is a really solid golden ale. It’s crisp, refreshing and fairly well balanced between the sweetness of the malts and the citrus bitterness of the hops. An ideal summer beer in my mind and a more flavoursome alternative to your bog standard lager. It would be great to see this beer on the on the supermarket shelves as an alternative to the plethora of gluten free lagers. I gave my Dad, who is gluten intolerant, a couple of these and he was very chuffed. He agreed that it was great to see some of the ‘old school’ styles getting a GF option. We also think it could be a nice gateway to real ale and craft beer for your average lager drinker. They’re good value for a 500ml bottle and I would happily sink a couple in the summer sun!

Score: 7.5/10 (My Dad gave it a tad more!)

Thanks for reading and thank you to Wainwright again for sending me these beers! Cheers!

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Additional Information:

• Hops: Not Available
• Malt: Not Available
• IBU: Not Available
• ABV: 4.1%
• Gluten Free: Yes!
• Vegan: Yes!
• Purchase Price: 8 for £12.50 (On the Marston’s Website)