No wheat, no barley, no beer? Part 3: Skye's Verdict

After hearing about Rudy's experience I must admit that I was hesitant about tasting the beers I had selected. I picked up all the gluten free imports I could find at my local Total Wine and was given a bonus bottle by my brother Cody. 


The results!


St. Peter's Sorgham Beer
I'd heard good things about St. Peter's Brewery so I was excited for this beer. It poured a clear golden color with little head. This is labeled a pilsner but it didn't have the crisp bite I would have expected. Instead it seemed a bit flat, and it was light on the carbonation. It drank smooth but had a very long bitter aftertaste and it reminded me of sipping my dad's beer when I was a kid, I immediately had a negative reaction to it. I didn't like it, and was slightly taken a back by that. The taste was off but I'm going to chalk that up to my misplaced expectations and that I may have had a bad bottle. I did not have the opportunity to try another one of these but I will drink another and update accordingly. It comes in at an ABV 4.2. 

If your beer has to be gluten-free then
I recommend these

The other three that I had bought were all brewed by Green's Brewery which makes a range of gluten-free beers, but only a few are available in North America. 


Green's Discovery Amber Ale, 
This poured a nice clear amber color, with a decent light tan head that stuck around a bit with some lacing glomming to the side of the glass. The taste was sweet and light with a decent carbonation. It had a crisp bite to it. Overall this was rather refreshing, it had a slight bitterness in the aftertaste but it cleared off the palate quickly. It is lighter than I expected, with little alcohol taste though it comes in at a 6.5% ABV. This is a solid go to beer.

Green's Endeavour Dubbel Dark Ale. 
This was intriguing. It poured a clear dark brown color with a tannish head. It had a distinct cidery sweet taste to it, good carbonation, and a pleasant bite. This cleared off the palate incredibly quick leaving a dryness in the mouth. It may be a dark beer but it is not the least bit heavy. It has some heft to it in the alcohol department coming in at 7% ABV. It doesn't have the complexity of other dubbels but it is not just an imitation of one either.  This was a good beer.

Green's Quest Tripel Blonde Ale
I found this to be very good. It poured clear and golden with a puffy white head It had some good fruitiness in the taste, a little sweet, with good carbonation and smoothness. That gave way to an aftertaste that was tart and slightly barnyardish, similar to a biere de garde, but not as grassy. It lasted for a bit slowly giving way to a dryness of the mouth. The Tripel was the only one where the alcohol was apparent while you were drinking it. It wasn't overpowering in the taste, but you could tell it was there. While that is true it is also deceptive this beer packs some punch coming in at a bold 8.5% ABV. Hands down this was the best of the lot and I will drink this one again. I would also recommend it to all beer drinkers.  


Bonus bottle!

Dogfish Head Tweason'ale 
First recommendation, take a big whiff of the beer as you pour it. This beer smells fantastic. It is one of the best smelling beers I have encountered recently. It poured a clear dark gold with minimal head. It was light in taste, with not a lot of body, but good carbonation and a smooth drink. The strawberry taste is evident immediately while the honey rides along in the background. The fruit taste turns into a slight bitterness in the aftertaste. Overall this reminds more of a crisp type of mead. The fruit taste in it is a definite change of pace from the other gluten free beers that were tried. It comes in at 6% ABV but alcohol is masked well. I get think this would be decent on a hot summer day and while I am not quite sold on it I would gladly drink another if offered it. 


Final thoughts.


The hardest part of these tastings was getting over my expectations and approaching the beer with a fresh perspective. The truth behind some of these beers is that they are not new things at all, brewers over the last 10,000 years have been brewing with all sorts of things including the ingredients found in gluten free beers. The new thing is the beers we tried are being brewed for a specific reason now. We talk a lot about the three tenets around here and these tastings were a good reminder of that. Somewhere, somebody is enjoying one of these to the fullest and that is a very good thing. An even better thing is that brewers are taking the time to brew beer that is challenging and rewarding for all people and that is worth celebrating. So while Rudy and I had our struggles doing these tastings we are both glad that we did them and we hope that some of our ramblings prove useful.  

No wheat, no barley, No beer? Part 2: Rudy's Verdict

Rudy's Gluten free taste trials. 

No Gluten allowed! (Original here)

Rudy: In my own small town of Minocqua, WI, we have several types of sorguhm beers availible to us. I decided to try three of them, for some reason three is my magic number when  tasting beers, I tend to like variety and contrast and since one is not a variety and two does not have much contrast, three is genrally perfect for this task! 



The beers:


Bard’s Original Sorghum Malt Beer brewed by Bard’s Tale Beer Company in Utica, New York, 
I was taken in by the label and was very excited to try this beer, however that soon left me as the beer rushed to my mouth. The first thing I thought of was wow, this is horrible…I have had bad beer before, I think we all have, but this was worse! I decided that one taste was not enough, for the sake of a true review I must give it a second chance…Nope! It was still bad, the taste is somewhere between a fizzy 9-volt battery test on your tongue topped off with a heady alcoholic slap to the face. I did try one more gulp, ( because three is the magic number), and then I sinned and poured it down the drain. I am not proud of the fact I wasted beer, but some things are more important; like retaining the contents of my stomach.


Redbridge, an Anheuser-Busch product from St. Louis, Missouri.
I was a little gun shy about tasting this beer, after all the Bard's was atrocious. Needless to say I marched forward and found this beer drinkable. It had the same attributes as many types of non-alcoholic beers. O’Doul’s would be the closest example. It did not taste bad, or at least not as bad as the first beer. I noticed the same cotton mouthed flavour that Budweiser is famous for. In comparison to the first beer this was much more palatable.

Lakefront New Grist brewed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Lakefront Brewery. 
This beer was the best of the lot. I could finally finish a beer and want another one from the same brewery. New Grist is that perfect summer beer for a hot and muggy day. It was cool, crisp, light in color, with a smidge of citrus taste. On the whole a good tasting beer. If I were unable to eat gluten products and this was presented to me I would think, someone finally cared about me and my dietary problems. Lakefront took the time to create a beer that tastes like a beer, (even if it is kind of like a wine cooler), but a beer non the less.


My final analysis of these beers is this I would not be inclined to consume these beers on a daily basis or anytime in the near future. The Lakefront New Grist was enjoyable, but the other two had an in your face taste and I was left with a queasy stomach after drinking them. I'm glad to have tried them but will stick to the normal and not so normal grain beers I have come to enjoy. I hope that brewers can provide a better gluten free beer in the future.



Skye: Being located in the DC metro region I had a slightly larger selection at hand so I choose some imports. I'll reveal my findings and thoughts tomorrow.

No wheat, no barley, no beer? Part 1

The Problem:


Skye: As we have been getting around and exploring the room of beer culture, history, and enjoyment it has become more and more clear that beer is a personal thing. People enjoy it differently, both in types, how and where they drink it, and their expectations from it.


For folks that suffer from celiac disease though any enjoyment of beer is a hard sell.  Being allergic to wheat, barley, and other grains can put a real damper on enjoying a beverage that revels in them,


Here is what the Mayo Clinic says about it:

This would not be an
enjoyable way through life
(Original here)

"Celiac (SEE-lee-ak) disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is primarily found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients."


Rudy: I am stilled amazed at how many people have developed allergies to food. It seems we can not go a day in the kitchen without having a customer relate to a server that they have a food allergy, (celiac disease). Over the last 30 odd years I have worked in many types and styles of restaurants; one of the major concerns has always been food allergies. Gluten allergies are the worst, for many reasons. We tend to use gluten in everything; pasta, thickeners, breads, pastry’s, cereals and the list goes on.


Wikipedia describes gluten as:
"Gluten (from Latin gluten, "glue") is a protein composite found in foods processed from wheat and related grain species, including barley and rye. It gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and to keep its shape, and often giving the final product a chewy texture."


Now that we have a background on “Gluten free” we can finally discuss the real reasons why we are writing this article. Today's brewers are imaginative and creative to say the least and the pure genius of creating diverse beer is remarkable, but to create beer for everyone is a gift worth celebrating (and consuming.) We here at JGF are going to explore some gluten-free beers and look for an answer to the question, "Are they worthwhile?" 


If you have any recommendation let us know in the comments. Stay tuned because on Thursday we will let you know what we found out!