ghostfish

My 11 year gluten-free anniversary came and went without any fanfare. There is something pleasant about it being a non-event. I remember when everything felt, so ick. My body felt awful, going out to eat was not fun (Can't have wheat?! Just get the white bread instead!), gluten-free packaged replacement foods were very expensive and only available at specialty shops.

It is a lot easier now. Gluten-free became a fad, and while cross-contamination is a much bigger issue now, everything else is, for the most part, a lot easier.

There is a lot more awareness, more blogs, more books, more support groups, more doctors who don't think "it must be in your head", though plenty still don't listen to women.

One thing I still miss is beer. More than beer I miss the flexibility of spontaneity and not having to plan meals, but I digress.

There are lovely gluten-free beers, but it is not the same as being able to share a beer that a friend is excited about. Gluten-free beers still have significant hurdles:
-the finish is often sweet or soapy
-the texture is often thin
-for some reason hops are driven by the building, but never make it into the beer
-there are a lot more gluten-removed beers, which are not safe for people with celiac (this irks me more than I can say... but I guess "yay" for those folks who can drink them)

Ghostfish was a pleasant surprise! Dedicated gluten-free facility and beer that tastes like my memory of "real" beer. The Grapefruit IPA is definitely less bitter than Groundbreaker's #5, but the grapefruit comes through in a way that doesn't overpower the hops.

Shrouded Summer is not something I would normally pick up because juniper is an ingredient. (also big props to beer makers who go above and beyond the required labeling laws and list ALL ingredients)
I really dislike juniper, but it is not loud and in no way gin-like... and I like what it does in this beer, providing something in the background that is needed.

I am excited to try more in the line-up.

ce ce ce celia - a gluten free beer

I tried Celia beer a little over a year ago and really didn't like it. Maybe it was an off-batch, maybe I have grown and my tastes have changed... it doesn't much matter because it is great. It is hands-down the best gluten-free beer I have tasted.

It is actually the only gluten-free beer I have come across that actually has pronounced hops. That's right folks, this isn't a weird cloying-ly sweet beer, and it is also devoid of that strong sour finish that most sorghum-based gf beers suffer from. The texture is also the closest I have come to "real beer". For those who have read all of my beer reviews, one of my largest complaints is lack of adequate carbonation. This beer has it!

This beer is solid enough that it is the first I have served to gluten-mouths at a party... and people enjoyed and went back for seconds. The use of orange peel is genius, and while it is a little heavy for everyday, it clearly stood up to my Indian food left overs. (This is probably a horrible pairing; spicy curries go great with sweet wines and light beers, but I like to call dinnertime the time to randomly pick things out of the fridge like taste-bud roulette.)

Three cheers for a local beer company doing it right!

gluten free alcohol - new rules

I tried Omission beer and really fell in love with it. Heck it is a gluten-removed beer, so real beer. The problem was, shortly after I was polishing a post about it, I read that the ELISA tests that Omission uses is not sensitive to be less than 20ppm accurate. I decided hold off on blogging and to email Omission directly about their testing policies. One of their reps said they would look into it and get back to me. Well that was in March of 2013... I am still waiting.

So I have chosen not to drink Omission, or Dura, or any of the other gluten-removed beers. It doesn't seem worth the risk, especially with all of the confusion. (Most of the confusion is because in the U.S. alcohol does not have to be labeled the way food does; it is actually a separate governmental agency Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, that deals with labeling, not the FDA.)

Today ATT released a revised policy on gluten in alcoholic beverages and spirits. This is huge because there are now rules about what alcoholic beverages can (and can't) be labeled gluten-free. The gluten-removed beers, they cannot use the term. I hope this helps everyone, but especially the newly diagnosed, better navigate the world of beverages.

Thanks to Gluten Free Fun for sharing the news.

The bare truth about beer, what a bear

So I have been sitting on a post about Omission beer. It is pretty much my new favorite (ok was my favorite till this morning) but I have been having trouble figuring out just how to write about it.

Omission is brewed with gluten-containing items, i.e. barley. But then the beer goes through a magical process that renders it gluten-free, or really very very low gluten. They post their ELISA tests for each batch online. This level of transparency, plus the taste of REAL BEER, made me feel like this was a slam dunk. (I have consumed it 7 times without a gluten-reaction; and my reactions tend to be pretty strong and violent.)

I was feeling pretty great about this brew until this research came out, and now I am looking long and hard about my beverage decision. The guts of the study show that basically the ELISA test (the one used by Omission) is coming up with false negatives. Yup, you read correctly, the test is not consistently detecting gluten.

This leaves me, and perhaps you dear reader, in the same leaking boat. Without legal standards (still waiting on the FDA), and with faulty testing, it is up to each person to determine what risks to take when eating and drinking. What really infuriates me is what about people who don't have access to the internet, or the time to do all of this research and then extra research about the research to ensure they have the facts about what they are about to ingest?!

Is it worth rolling the digestive and long-term-health dice for a delicious beverage? If you are up for the challenge I have 11 beers with your name on them.

Thanks to Gluten Dude for highlighting the research. 

Dear Dogfishhead,

You owe me more than a beer. You owe me an apology. For over a year I have been excited, touting the hypothetical glory that would be getting to sip that very first sip of your gluten free beer offering. A small, craft brewer, taking their time to concoct something different, something good, something that didn't taste like all the other gluten free beers out there. The hairs on the back of my neck bristled a bit when I heard you were creating something with fruit. I gave you the benefit of the doubt, perhaps you were making a lambic. No. Still I held out hope that your brew house wouldn't waste your time, and customer's money - customers who are so often disappointed by crappy gluten free offerings. 

And then you went out and one-upped me on all of the worse possible combinations of wrong I ever thought could be shoved into a glass bottle. 

Let's start at the smell shall we?

Nail salon plus ode de Strawberry Shortcake doll from the 80s. How did you bend chemistry to morph fruit and sorghum to reek of acetone?

The taste... not much better.
It is sweet and sour-ish at the same time.
I find it hard to believe a hops came anywhere near the bottle. 
The carbonation is all wrong, bubbles too small and not enough of them.

The Tweason'ale is the only gluten free beer I have not finished. Two sips and I was done, forever. The rest got poured down the drain.

I could not be more dissapointed,

Kristina
 

Daura - not-so-gluten-free-beer

UPDATE - apparently this is designated as a "low gluten beer" and is NOT gluten-free. Please consider this before you make the decision to consume this beverage.
**

I tried Daura Estrella Damm last week. The bar has been set pretty low in the gluten-free beer category, so I might be over-selling it.

Pros - It tastes like beer!
Cons - It tastes like crappy beer.

I have to give the company credit for creating a gluten-free beer from barley. Bravo on mastering that science experiment. Sadly, the result tastes a lot like college drinking games. I found it reminiscent of Coors Light or Busch Light. My drinking companion said it tasted like Corona.

Here I am clearly making a personal preference judgement call. I do not like this style of beer. To be fare, it is the MOST beer-like gluten-free beer I have ever had. The carbonation is right, the flavor is light, the hops are slight - but it is beer. So if you enjoy an easy-drinking beer, this might be exactly what you are looking for.

Like minds

It appears that the folks at Serious Eats have come to the same conclusion I have about gluten free beers.

New labeling laws for beer

Its made with sorghum, but is it gluten free?
Confusion in the liquor store might lessened with the new FDA ruling that beers, tested and confirmed to be gluten free, can be labeled gluten free.

Full USA Today article: Gluten-free beer can be labeled as such under FDA

Psssst - beer brewers, this lady would love to taste a gluten free stout. (Cough gluten free oats cough)

Green's Quest

Green's Quest
Sweeter than expected. Small, light carbonation. Citrus notes, very fruity. Overwhelmingly it tasted more like wine than beer.

I still am excited about gluten free beers!

St. Peter's Sorghum Beer

I have to admit that I was simultaneously skeptical and excited to try St. Peter's sorghum beer. I first heard about St. Peter's when I was working at a gourmet food shop. I really like their products and was thrilled to learn they were putting out a gluten-free option. The skepticism reared its ugly head when I read that it was a sorghum brew. I have previously tried both Bard's (previously Bard's Tale) and Redbridge. Both are made with sorghum, both have a sour off-putting aftertaste, though the Redbridge is markedly worse.

I was more than pleasantly surprised with St. Peter's. The light amber ale has a clean finish and light aroma. (The website and reviews say it has a citrus and mandarin nose, but I got coriander and a hint of amaretto.) The carbonation is light and very tiny bubbles but the most noticeable aspect of this drink is the fact that there are hops - hops that can be tasted. To be fair, its not a very hoppy beer, but the lack of hops is one of the things that I missed in Bard's, Bard's Tale, Redbridge, New Grits, and the two Green's I have tasted.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that St. Peter's Sorghum is the most beer-like gluten free beer I have had. I happened to be eating a spicy lentil curry and a sweet potato, coconut curry and it was refreshing, clean and crisp and a great addition to the meal.

Green's Endeavour

I did not realize that Green's offered more than one selection. I was pleasantly surprised to see this at the store:
Endeavour is very different beer from Discovery, the only other Green's I have come across. Their website offers 8 different varieties, of which I hope more will be available in the States really soon.

Nose: cherry and coffee (reminded me of a coffee porter)

Taste: dark chocolate color that requires a slow pour. sweeter than I expected, cherry-ameretto, a hint of chocolate/coffee

Texture: small, light carbonation, it felt like the bubbles were really small and perhaps there was not enough

The finish was light, and not sour like most gluten free beers, but oddly fleeting. Looking at in the glass, I expected more of a finish and more of an aftertaste for a heavier beer.

Sediment at the bottom, so don't pour all of it into the glass

It is not an every day drinking beer, but is good and would pair well with something salty and I will definitely be drinking it again.

Beer steamed Brats

I had some pretty stupendous bratwurst last weekend, but some skunked New Grits beer prevented the full beer-in-brat experience. It was pretty important that this be rectified. Strolling down the isles a the grocery store, this new line of 'wursts proudly proclaimed to be "gluten free" and I knew the time was right.

Side dishes are almost as important as the brat itself - they need to compliment the meat without overpowering it. Pretty tough feat considering how essential spicy mustard is! For some reason, I really got excited about radishes and thought that a carrot-apple-radish salad could work.

Step 1 - steam brats in beer
Since they came fully cooked, I sliced a medium onion, added it to a hot pan with a tablespoon of oil and cooked the onion till it caramelized.
I then added in the brats and enough gf beer to come up half way on the brats, then covered and reduced the heat to a simmer.

Step 2 - salad
I shredded 8+ baby carrots (on a box grater)
Diced one apple.
Sliced 3 radishes into thin rounds.
I added a good pinch of sea salt and a splash of apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

Step 3 - condiments
Spicy mustard (dijion is what I had, but I really wished I had found a good stone ground)
Sauerkraut. I am a big fan of Real Pickles brand of sauerkraut.

Step 4 - pour remaining beer into fun glass



Verdict - There was a lot of sour on the plate. I could have mixed the salad in with the kraut and probably would have worked out fine. The brat was mild and had a really great texture. The onions were crucial, but I probably would cut them smaller next time.

Green's Ale

This is by far the best gluten free beer I have tried. (The others have been: Redbridge, Bard's Tale & New Grits.)


A few others were in for the tasting adventure. Two noted that it smelled like sherry, I smelled cherry blossoms. Overall it was not strongly carbonated, but did taste like hops more than drove by the vat. At 6% it was pretty substantial, but not a terribly strong brew.

Verdict - will definitely enjoy again!