To be completely clear, this is not a gluten-free beer. I believe that Stone is using a similar system to that of Widmer and the Omission series of beers where the gluten is stripped out later. Not brewed without gluten. Either way, the fact that Lemondrop and El Dorado hops are being used should be enough to get anyone, regardless of dietary needs, to check this out. I have been hard on Stone in past years for falling into a rut with their mainline IPA’s but they have done good work with the Enjoy By series and their Liberty Station brews are interesting and fun. 2015 might be a mini-revival for the brand in my eyes. And I will be looking for this beer.
UPDATE – If you can withstand a little bit of gluten, then this might be your IPA. And if you are gluten tolerant, then it might become an alternative, along with Go To Session IPA, to the massive hop bombs that are in the regular Stone line-up. This is a mighty hoppy beer. But it is also subtle. There are grape notes and a bit of peppery rye type spice in here. The bitterness really lingers on the palate but is quite nice. And big plus, it doesn’t have the Tofurky curse that some gluten free beers have where you know they had to substitute, and it just doesn’t match up. Good work.