"Can you recommend a good gluten-free beer?"
If only I had a nickel for every time I've been asked that. Gluten is a protein found in the most common beer-making grains: barley, wheat and rye. For the 1 percent of Americans diagnosed with celiac disease, it makes enjoying a cold pint impossible.
So what's a gluten-intolerant beer lover to do? There are gluten-free alternatives. Beers made from alternative grains such as sorghum, rice and quinoa are becoming readily available. Brewers have even turned to starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes for fermentable sugars to make beer.
The problem is that many of these celiac-safe brews are unpalatable and decidedly un-beer-like. Sorghum beers for instance, are often overly sweet, with soapy and bruised apple flavors that leave most drinkers longing for the real thing.
But there are some decent options out there. These fall into two categories — gluten-free and low-gluten. Truly gluten-free beers must be made from gluten-free grain or another sugar source. Low-gluten beers are brewed using traditional ingredients such as barley. The offending protein is then removed with a natural enzyme called Brewers Clarex. This brings the gluten content to less than 10 ppm, well below the 20 ppm threshold proposed by the FDA. But these beers do still contain gluten. Check with a physician before trying these brews if you're avoiding gluten out of necessity (life-threatening issues). And look at those beer labels.
A choice of beers
St. Peter's Sorgham Beer is the best of the gluten-free beers I have tried. This English-brewed ale is light and nuanced. Gentle grainy sweetness and subtle notes of caramel support citrusy hop flavors and a sharp, stony bitterness. Sorghum's most unpleasant elements are almost completely absent. Be advised though, this is an extraordinarily bitter beer.
Green's Amber Ale is another good option from England. It leads with loads of chocolate and dark fruits, supported by a vaguely Belgian yeast character. Touches of caramel round things out, while flashes of grassy hops and pithy bitterness provide balance. The apple flavors common to sorghum beers punch through, but with everything else going on they become just one note among many.
New Grist from Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery was the first beer to be U.S.-certified gluten-free. It avoids the sticky sweetness of many sorghum beers, leaving it light on the palate. The apple flavors lean to the tart, green varieties instead of the more typical bruised red. While it may not be the most interesting beer on the shelf, it also isn't off-putting.
