This might be the first time I’ve ever written about beer, gluten-free or not, in my decade-long career as a food writer. But in this COVID-19 world of being stuck at home, we might as well find some joy in, well, something…so lots of people have been opening those bottles they’ve been saving for ages.
The fact that I’ve never written about beer might have something to do with being gluten-intolerant, so most beer is off-limits. Or it might be the fact that I know how good beer can be, since I wasn’t always gluten-intolerant. I do know what I’m missing: Belgian trappist dubbels, stouts that drink like a meal, porters, hoppy IPAs, citrusy blanches. So the problem is that I really appreciated beer. And now I essentially can’t, because gluten-free beer is generally awful.
“But there’s Glutenberg!”
That’s the common response I hear when I tell people I’m gluten-free and can’t have beer. Well I’m sorry, but Glutenberg is usually weirdly sweet and bitter from the candi hops (or candy syrup or demerara sugar) and the millet and other grains used. On hot summer days when I really feel like having a refreshing beer and do open one, hoping it’ll be better than last time, I generally end up taking a few sips and inevitably end up finding the after-taste so bitter that I pour the rest down the sink.
Lots of people love Glutenberg, I know, but I just can’t get past the bitterness. Even Glutenberg’s least nose-wrinkling beer (the blonde, I feel) has so much of it at the end that at first makes me want to take another sweet sip to get rid of it, but eventually only makes me wrinkle my nose more and give up.
My nose is, in fact, currently wrinkling just thinking about it.
That’s why this specialty edition 750mL Saison Froide 2014 sat in my cupboard for at least two years before I drank it. It was a gift from a friend. And you can’t throw out or regift a gift like that. I had to give it a try. But it’d be a lot to throw out if I didn’t like it, so it sat there in my cupboard, unopened.
The Verdict
This might have been the best Glutenberg I’ve ever had! I don’t know if it was the aging or the beer itself, but it tasted less sweet and less bitter than others – smoother, with a nice, mousse-y head. I drank it a couple of days in a row because I didn’t have anyone to drink it with (such are the Covid-19 times, unfortunately), and it did lose its lustre, but at least it had some lustre to begin with (last night I used the rest for a roast chicken). This one I didn’t pour down the drain, at least.
Two Other Gluten-Free Beers That I Think Are Actually Decent
There are days when I really just want a beer, and I do have two go-tos.
1. New Grist
This is from Lakefront Brewery out of Milwaukee, WI. It’s a gluten-free pilsner made with sorghum, rice, hops, water and gluten-free yeast. It’s not made with bitter millet or buckwheat or anything that would require dousing the drink with sugar to compensate for. I like it better than option #2, but since New Grist isn’t available at the SAQ and I have to buy a case in Toronto and haul it back here, I generally opt for option #2 out of desperation. (Yes, I have occasionally lugged a case of New Grist back from Ontario because it’s that much better than the alternatives.)
2. La Messagère Blonde
This ale from the Microbrasserie Nouvelle France in Saint-Alexis-des-Monts, QC, is made with rice and buckwheat, I believe. It doesn’t have the intense bitterness of Glutenberg’s regular line, but there’s this overpowering flavour of honey and this weird astringency at the same time. You need to drink it super cold, I feel. This one is more about gulping on a hot day than sipping, which is not what I like to recommend when drinking anything but water.
Note that both the New Grist and La Messagère are gluten-free, not gluten-removed. I still can’t have the gluten-removed beers because they’re wheat-based. The brewing process essentially removed enough of the gluten that in terms of parts per million (PPM), the beers are legally gluten-free, but they’re still wheat-based, so I still have a bad reaction. (Bakers can do something similar with really low-fermented sourdough where there’s so little gluten left over that it won’t bother most Celiacs or gluten-intolerants, but that doesn’t include me, as I found out at a restaurant in Tucson with the most amazing baguette from Barrio Bakery.)
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