FLAVOR// I Want It All, and I Want It Now

One writer’s foray into a gluten-free lifestyle proves that breweries are paying attention

Story by Robyn-Crummer Olsen, Photography by Erin Berzel

After I received the news in 2004 that I needed to omit gluten from my diet, I wandered around the grocery store with nothing but rice cakes in my shopping cart. I wept. I missed beer. During dinner at one of the only gluten-free restaurants in Portland, Oregon, my husband cheerfully ordered a second Rogue Dead Guy, and I smacked my parched lips. “Excuse me,” I asked the waiter, “but is there such a thing as a gluten-free… beer?” I said the last word as I would have said unicorn. “Yeah,” he replied, “I think there’s one brewed in Italy.” My heart swelled. “But they don’t export,” he added. My heart withered.

This was my beerless existence until I was slowly able to reintroduce gluten into my diet. Not so for approximately one in 133 people in the United States who live with gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivities treated only by completely restricting gluten from their diets. Fortunately for them, several breweries are making a foray into this new market. To spare others from having their beer dreams dashed on the pub floor, I dedicate this article to the exciting new taste sensations sweeping the gluten-free beer scene in Portland and beyond. Other cities take note: there are a lot of thirsty gluten-free folks out there.

When asked about hosting a gluten-free beer tasting event, one Portland-area bottle shop owner replied, “I don’t think we would have much success having a gluten-free beer tasting… because gluten-free people don’t drink beer… gluten-free beer tastings sound like trying to get wine snobs to a non-alcoholic wine tasting.” Yikes.

I approached another Portland bottle shop owner, Sean Campbell of The BeerMongers, and he happened to have six different
gluten-free beers chilling in the fridge at the moment I called. “I’ve always got at least six different kinds. Sometimes more.” And of home brewing verus store bought? He replied, “That’s where a lot of the gluten-free brewing innovation is—on the home front.” Many people with gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity have learned to be fiercely self-reliant. So, why would their attitude toward beer be any different?

Campbell directed me to one of Portland’s newest appearances in the crowded but thriving beer scene—Portland U-Brew (P.U.B)—as a crucible for gluten-free home brewing experimentation. I headed there and found owner Aaron Gillham, a very enthusiastic champion of gluten-free beer brewing’s ease and accessibility. He said that if a homebrewer already has the proper equipment, “In under three hours, and about $25 for ingredients, someone at home can brew up a nice batch of gluten-free beer and they’re all set. It’s super easy.”

And with that, Gillham and co-owner Jason Web showed me how to brew two batches of gluten-free sorghum beer—one was a simple ale and the other had additions of toasted amaranth as well as winter spices of cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and black peppercorns. They also introduced me to a Portland homebrewer who let me taste his collection of all-grain homebrews, including a witbier, saison (my favorite), ESB golden, nut brown, and an Imperial Cascade dark ale.

Commercial gluten-free beers rely heavily on sorghum-based recipes, although microbreweries and homebrewers are experimenting with more sorghum-and-grain or all-grain-based recipes. Sorghum is the primary fermentable ingredient in gluten-free beers and also the one that imparts a distinctive tart-apple aftertaste. Bard’s Tale gluten-free beer uses malted sorghum grain as opposed to sorghum syrup, which is made from the stalks of sorghum plants. Many brewers I interviewed mentioned that sorghum can be hard to brew with. The prominent syrupy flavor can be difficult to harmonize with other flavor notes without taking extreme measures to mask it entirely. Homebrewers are yielding some interesting flavor results as they incorporate gluten-free malted grains such as amaranth, buckwheat, or millet.

For the gluten-free DIY’ers out there, a quick spin through HomeBrewTalk.com delivered lively discussion forums, including one entirely dedicated to gluten-free home brewing. With at least one and as many as four new threads started each day, there’s a robust gluten-free home brewing scene. It was through these forums that I even stumbled upon a recipe for gluten-free chestnut beer on the Trails End Chestnuts website (chestnuttrails.com), a chestnut-growing company in Moses Lake, Washington that offers gluten-free, dry-roasted chestnut chips as an alternative to grain.

In addition to interviewing gluten-free brewers, I also chatted with Pete Bronski who wrote a very informative article for the fall 2008 issue of what was then Beer Northwest. Bronski now lives in New York and has continued his work as a prominent gluten-free blogger (noglutennoproblem.blogspot.com) and cookbook author. I wanted to get his perspective on how much the gluten-free beer scene had changed in the last three years. “On a national [beer] distribution level, there has not been as much change as the gluten-free consumer would like to see,” says Bronski. “There are some big changes at more of a regional level, and imports are another place we’ve seen some change.” On the distinctions between domestic and imported production practices, he explains, “In domestically produced gluten-free beers, they brew from gluten-free sources. In several imports such as Estrella’s Damm Daura and St Peter’s Sorghum, these barley-based beers have had the gluten removed.” This distinction may seem unimportant to some, but for those with severe gluten intolerance, it could mean the difference between a night of revelry and a night of agony.

Bronski agrees that home brewing is where some of the most exciting gluten-free action is happening, such as experimentation with malting grains, including millet, quinoa, buckwheat, and amaranth. For those who don’t want or need to brew their own gluten-free beer, some breweries continue to offer a regular gluten-free selection, and several exclusively gluten-free breweries are cropping up as well.

One of the more consistent regional brewers producing gluten-free selections is Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. Since 2005, brewmaster Larry Sidor has offered several gluten-free recipes, but the two most popular have been the malt-forward Gluten-free ESB and the current hop-happy Gluten-free NWPA (Northwest Pale Ale). With these beers representing two ends of the flavor spectrum, Sidor believes that they appeal to the majority of gluten-free palates. Currently, Deschutes offers gluten-free beers in the pubs, but after completing new tank construction, Sidor ultimately hopes to increase production so they can begin bottling their gluten-free beers. [Editor's note: Sidor will be leaving Deschutes not long after the winter issue of Beer West hits newsstands to open his own brewery. We at Beer West look forward to tasting how Deschutes' new brewmaster will continue the gluten-free legacy with more delicious beers in 2012.]

Since 2009, New Planet Brewing Company out of Boulder, Colorado has been brewing nothing but gluten-free beers. Owner Pedro Gonzalez wants New Planet to advance gluten-free brewing methods to offer the widest flavor variety possible to gluten-free consumers. Gonzalez says, “For a lot of brewers, gluten-free is just another style. Gluten-free isn’t a style. For the gluten-free consumer, they want all styles in gluten-free beer.”

While their Tread Lightly Blonde Ale is by far their best seller to date, it’s their 3R Raspberry Ale that is their most decorated. The 3R has won bronze at the Great American Beer Festival, silver in the Craft Lager Festival, and gold at the Los Angeles International Commercial Beer Competition—all in the gluten-free category. New Planet is currently experimenting with some all-grain, non-sorghum-based recipes but must do so within the constraints of their supply chain, since not all grain sources can be reliably scaled up to meet growing demand. Gonzalez not only wants to push the boundaries of flavor, but he wants to make sure he can continue to meet the standards of their gluten-free beer fans. Speaking of fans, I heard about their most recent addition, Off Grid Pale Ale—a delightfully hop-forward brew—but it seemed like I was always arriving to the bottle shop or grocery store just moments before they sold out.

The latest arrival to the gluten-free brewing scene is Harvester Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon. Harvester is slated to open this winter and many gluten-free foodies in the region are eagerly anticipating their first offerings.

Rumor has it that there are other Oregon breweries testing gluten-free recipes, too, and that a sustainable, completely grain-based, gluten-free brewery is in the works. I predict an entirely gluten-free beer festival coming soon, and perhaps gluten-free beers will someday compete in the same categories as traditional beers.

Gluten-free people do drink beer, and they’re very knowledgeable about their food, for some out of necessity and for others, out of passion. Every day, more people are discovering the health benefits of reducing or eliminating gluten from their diets. No doubt these growing numbers of knowledgeable eaters and die-hard beer lovers will start demanding high-quality, gluten-free beers in every style they thirst for.

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