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NGB Gluten Free Lager

bottle and glass of ngb gluten free beer

NGB is Trader Joe’s contribution to the world of gluten-free beer.

I’ve been hearing rumors that the local Trader Joe’s finally had a  gluten free beer in stock. Since there isn’t a Trader Joe’s in out town I asked my brother to pick me up Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Beer and he came back with this NGB gluten free Lager. I asked him why he didn’t bring me back a 6-pack and he said he “didn’t want me to be stuck with all 6 beers if I didn’t like it.” Funny, just a few years ago I would have drove half way across the state for one decent gluten free beer. Now I get the opportunity to be picky.
By the way my brother made the right call. I can’t imagine a situation where I would ever want to drink 6 of these.

From what I can gather about this beer, Trader Joe’s contracts Minhas Craft Brewery to brew it for them. There is no website for the beer itself and the Minhas website has several of it’s own beers, including it’s own gluten free offerings, but also a big section about
Private and custom label and contract packaging, leading me to assume that Trader Joe’s contracts this beer out to them.
My biggest question is this: what does ngb stand for? Leave me a answer in the comments if you know.

Overall this beer was very light and watery. Not much flavor to report. I’m not sure why this beer is considered a lager, but there is little in it that I would equate with the taste of a lager.

However, this is the first gluten free beer that I’ve seen available at Trader Joe’s, and its made from sorghum, so its a true gluten-free beer. For these reasons I salute ngb and Trader Joe’s (raised glass).

 

Tasting Notes:

Pours very light and watery with a golden yellow color and a foamy white head that was gone in 30 seconds.
The smell is of barley with a hint of sweet honey.

The taste is very a light toasted barley with a sweet apple. This beer shares several characteristics with a light apple cider. I can detect a hint of our old friend sorghum, but just slightly. Props to the folks at NGB for doing such a job of hiding the sorghum flavor, but they seem to have gotten rid of the rest of the flavor at the same time!

The NGB body is light and watery, with medium carbonation.

bottle of ngb gluten free beerOverall, If it was a hot day and I was looking for a light beer to just quench my thirst, I’d reach for this beer instead of Redbridge, but I’m afraid that’s the best thing that I can say about this forgettable lager.

 

4% alcohol by volume

Brewed and bottled by Minhas Craft Brewery, Monroe, WI

Feb 22, 2016Jeff
  • Look
  • Smell
  • Body
  • Taste
  • Overall
1.8

Summary

Light and Watery lager available at Trader Joe’s. NGB Gluten Free Lager review.

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User Review
5 (4 votes)
New Belgium Glutiny Pale AleGreen's Discovery Amber Ale
Comments: 7
  1. Megan
    June 29, 2016 at 3:22 am

    I actually think it’s pretty great! Like you said the sourgum is much less pronounced than most. What makes this beer a lager is how it’s fermented. Lagers Take longer to ferment and are “bottom fermented. ” This makes their flavor more simple. I stuck a lemon in it and drank it cold- refreshing!

    ReplyCancel
  2. Geoff
    July 10, 2016 at 10:48 pm

    I love this beer. It’s got a light, crisp, fruity taste without tasting bland. It lacks the bitterness of most gluten-free beers. I’d have to say this is the BEST gluten-free beer I’ve tasted, and is the closest thing to Corona (my favorite beer before I became gluten-intolerant) I’ve found.

    ReplyCancel
  3. Stephanie
    July 24, 2016 at 8:32 pm

    I actually love this beer. It’s hard to find a tasty gluten free beer. Ciders are way too sweet and I’m not a fan of ales. This is great!!

    ReplyCancel
  4. Bruce
    August 19, 2016 at 6:54 am

    Made the mistake of buying a 6-pack. NGB is probably probably the worst-tasting GF beer I’ve tried yet. A reddit thread about it mentions a Trader Joe’s employee warning a customer off by claiming NGB stood for Not Good Beer, and I’d concur.

    ReplyCancel
    • Jeff
      September 5, 2016 at 10:42 pm

      Yes, NGB = Not Good Beer, Thet really fits. I’ll remember that one!

      ReplyCancel
  5. Kuckie
    November 15, 2016 at 4:08 pm

    Not a bad taste. Pretty weak but does the job. I poured my first one into a glass and it came out clear (never having it before I was very skeptical) so I tasted it anyway And realized I got a lemon. Something got missed on this bottle from the assembly line process. I opened another from that same 6 pack and actually got beer. So I got screwed out of a beer

    ReplyCancel
  6. Dogbite Williams
    March 2, 2017 at 7:34 am

    NGB = Non Gluten Beer

    I am glad that Trader Joe’s carries this for celiacs, but I am only gluten intolerant. I have never tried any sorghum-based beers based on their terrible reputations.

    At Trader Joe’s my go-to low-gluten beers are Stone Delicious IPA, Warsteiner and Pilsner Urquell, the last two having tested as “Low Gluten” by Steffen of lowgluten.org.

    ReplyCancel

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