Billabong Australias Pale Ale

Brewed by Billabong Brewing
Style: Specialty Grain
Myaree, Australia

Serve in Lager glass, Tumbler

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330ml bottle. Sparling deep amber, almost orange colour with a shadow of white foam. Very clear and mildly carbonated. Perfumey sweet aroma with a dry medium body and a flavour more akin to a soft drink than a beer.

Tasting from late 2008.
Body as orange as Lucozade, quite bright, with a champagne like fizz atop that went up with haste then went down with little hesitation. The carbonation inside intermittent, largish. Pineapple, grapefruit and lychee over some horrid rubbery notes typical of style has the aroma. It has the inklings of a fruity Chenin Blanc in the mouth but it is also harsh and raspy in back with a rough, weedy swallow. Long, drawn sourish citrus fruit swallow with lingering notes of rubber and pasty, sorghum-like glupe. Strong taste of orange builds and adds a welcome sweetness. The body was creamy full but it has a carbonic acid bite that is unrelenting. Overall this is as close to a real pale ale as gluten-free beers will get here in Oz, but sadly I just can’t live without my Gluten!!! (33cL, No 080126, The Beer Store Morley)

Bottle 330ml. Interesting beer. Aroma has apple, and it’s floral. Taste is sweet, with bitterness at the end. Palate is oily, with a thin body. Dark yellow, with a thin head.

Bottle. Clear golden amber pour with a bubbly white head that quickly vanishes. Strange aroma with notes of honey, nuts caramel and eucalyptus. Even stranger flavour, slightly medicinal with honey, citrus, apple, riesling and maple syrup. Light mouthfeel yet oddly oily, almost syrupy, with moderate carbonation and a (thankfully) short, sweet, spirity finish. Everything about this beer was strange and kind of unpleasant. I didn’t realise it was gluten-free until after I bought it so maybe it’s my own fault. This was an admirable and interesting attempt but a failed one IMO.

Bottle. Nice citrus and tropical fruit hoppy nose. Pours an archetypal pale amber with a fluffy, quickly dissipating head. The flavour is a huge let down after that pleasant nose - astringent, some sour fruits, bitter in a bad way, and a finish that you can’t wait to - well - have finished. A shame really, but at least a step forward for a gluten free as others have observed.

Guess you’d describe this as interesting. Big large bubble head an inch and a half thick. Big bubbles of carbonation. Passionfruit and metallic tastes merge. Quite odd but drinkable. Better than other gluten frees I’ve had.

Bottle (330ml). Poured clear golden orange with a small, rocky, white head which was average lasting. A fruit cocktail aroma with pineapples, mango’s (in syrup), passionfruit, sweet biscuity malts, buttery caramel and some honey. Flavor was a light bitterness with sweet malts, passion fruit, apricots, lychee, caramel, buttery notes, and some mineral watery in the finish. Light to medium bodied with medium carbonation, a dry mouthfeel watery texture and a average finish.

This is the best gluten-free ale I’ve tasted. But that’s not much of a recommendation. There are enough hops in this to mask some of the usual problems with the genre, but the end result is not entirely satisfying. Translucent copper with a poor head that fizzled out almost instantly. Rather sorry-looking. Very sweet and fruity aroma. Bit too sweet for a pale ale. Has that boiled lolly sugar note that I normally associate with pasteurisation. Smells of red Spangles, canned peaches and tropical ice poles. Not very beer-like. Quite a hard mouthfeel but syrupy in the finish. Some good hop cut-through but it has the usual gluten-free hole in the mid-palate where the malts would normally be. Passionfruit and lychee notes but it’s too sweet for mine. Dry finish. (330ml bottle from Randwick Village Cellars. Bottled Jan 26 2008)

Clear bronze coloured body with a lasting head. Some sediment left in the glass. Fairly fruity in the aroma and I quite like the taste, especially for a gluten free beer, dry, very hoppy and fruity.