Friday, June 19, 2009

Beer and Celiacs

I'm brewing tonight, and as I do, I thought I'd tell a little story.

A few weeks ago, my family and I participated in the 8th International Walk for Celiac Disease.[1] I talked about this two years ago. Remember? If not, here's the link.

The main issue with Celiacs disease is those afflicted cannot tolerate gluten in their diet. Gluten is found in many grains including barley. That means no beer for those with Celiacs. That's not as bad as being allergic to hops because there is a solution: beer made using sorghum.

In 2007 I discovered Redbridge. The Anheuser-Busch gluten-free beer. OK, but not really that good. Very low hop flavor.

In 2009, I discovered Bards. Now this beer is a lot more interesting and flavorful. The most notable difference between this and the Redbridge is that the Bard's brewers don't mind using hops. The Hersbruker and Tettenang come shining through in the most delightful way. The result is a beer I would drink not because I had to, but because I want to.

Sadly, at the walk I only got a few small tastes. I will hopefully be able to find it around here. I'd like to try an entire 6

[1] the name is a bit misleading. We were not walking 'for' Celiacs disease. We are actually quite against it. We were walking to raise funds to research a cure.

5 comments:

Gwen said...

Celiacs don't gluten, they hop.

(There's a really stretching reference to Tigger in there. Give me some slack, look at the time.)

Chemgeek said...

As a proficient Tigger impersonator (I'm famous in my house), I appreciate the reference. Stretched as it may be.

MJenks said...

Yeah, I was hoping that I had something like Celiac's disease, so I could at least drink sorghum-based beer, but since I can eat bread and stuff with no lingering side effects (other than fatness), it does seem to be the hops.

Lisa-tastrophies said...

Is having a glutten free diet healthier if you don't have Celiac's? I never knew about this disease or at least it didn't register in my school studies. Thanks for letting me know.

Al Anine said...

This gave me a whole new outlook on things. This tech who came to bar with us last night said he doesn't drink beer and I was about to call him crazy but then thought that maybe he has celiacs!