Review of Fox Tail Gluten Free Ale

I saw this gluten free Fox Tail gluten free ale at the liquor store for the first time a few days ago and decided I had to give it a try.

I'm going to do my best here to give a proper review for those of you on the look out for gluten free beers.

I've also been doing a fair amount of cooking and baking with GF beer lately, and the last several recipes (i.e. Gluten Free Blueberry Beer Scones and GF Cheddar Beer Biscuits) have actually made use of this pale ale. 


Now that my gluten free pasta cookbook (Recipes for Unusual Gluten Free Pasta: Pierogis, Dumplings, Desserts and More! ) is finished and available for purchase, my time is a bit freer to experiment and I've set my sights on doing some cooking and baking with gluten free beer. My husband, who likes both beer and glutinous beer-infused foods, is pretty happy about it. I've discovered some interesting things about working with GF beer and am working on a post that I'll share here soon.

But as for this Fox Tail Gluten Free Ale made by Joseph James Brewing Company in Nevada, here are my thoughts:



What's it made of? According to the Joseph James website, the base of the Fox Tail is organic rice, so it gets an extra point in my book for being organic based.


Look: As you can see from the above photo, this is a very, very pale ale. Lighter than apple juice. However, it does actually foam and fizzle when poured (some GF beers have no head, but this does provide some).

Smell: There is a distinct apple scent to it, although their website says it has "pear like esters". To me, it smells more like cider than beer.

Feel: Fizzy and carbonated. There is a lot of fizz here. Not nearly as much as champagne or anything, but like a cider mixed with a soda. 

Taste: Again, I'm going with apples here, and some light florals. There were moments when I noticed a slightly cardboard-ish aftertaste. There is a chance, though, that this might actually have been the rice base I was tasting.

Overall, while this does taste like an ale (even according to my glutinous beer-drinking husband), hubby and I both decided that ultimately the Fox Tail tastes and feels more like a lawnmower beer mixed with a cider. It's not quite as sweet as a cider, but it's more cider than ale in my books. It does have a beer-ish bite and aftertaste, though.

I'm going to put it somewhere in the same category of fruity ale beers that I put the Dogfish Head's Strawberry Tweason' Ale in  (you can read my review of that here along with a recipe for Healthy Gluten Free Chocolate Beer Cake). 


I think the Fox Tail is a decent enough beer on a hot summer day/night for sitting out on a patio or going to a BBQ. It wouldn't, however, be my first choice on a cold winter's night. I'm still on the hunt for the best stout-like GF beer, and Green's Dubbel Dark Ale is the closest I've come yet.


Do you have a favorite gluten free beer?

Have you checked out my gluten free pasta book  Recipes for Unusual Gluten Free Pasta: Pierogis, Dumplings, Desserts and More!? Get yourself a copy and start making GF won tons, pierogis, dumplings, and orzo today :)

This post was shared on the following great link parties: Real Food Recipe Roundup, Hearth and Soul Hop, Gluten Free and DIY Tuesday, Fat Tuesday,