I have to admit I’ve had this fear someday I might have to switch to a gluten-free diet. While for the most part I try to cut out a lot of gluten with my food choices, I couldn’t imagine living in a world where I couldn’t partake in my favorite drink.

I’ve talked to many people that for one reason or another have had to cut out gluten from their diets. If they were fans of beer they had 3 options.

The first is to stop drinking beer altogether. Next they could continue drinking good beer, yet they’d suffer the consequences of there actions which could take shape in many forms depending on their condition. The final option would be to drink crappy gluten-free beer.

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the attempts to make beer for people on gluten-free diets, however lets all agree that they don’t taste all that great.

Most gluten-free beers are made with some sort of substitute for barley such as sorghum, millet, or buckwheat.

The 4 main ingredients in beer is water, barley, hops and yeast. When you take 1 out and replace it with a knock off, it just isn’t quite the same. It’s like if the band U2 where to replace Bono with Chaz Bono (Sonny and Cher’s son). While it might sound like music, it wouldn’t be quite the same.

These gluten-free beers just didn’t cut it. However the times are changing and the beer industry is starting to see some pretty amazing innovations over the past few years.

Widmer Brewing Company here in Portland, OR has been working on a project that they just released this year called Omission.

It’s the first line of gluten-free beers that I’ve tried that are actually made with malted barley. They however have developed a way to remove the gluten from the malted barley, which creates beers that don’t suck.

Here is a video they created that explains how it came about and how they test their beer.

They were kind enough to send me some samples, and I’ll be honest, they are awesome for gluten-free beers. Below are my quick reviews of their Pale Ale and Lager.

The biggest downfall right now is that they are only available in Oregon (sorry rest of the country). If however you love beer and can’t handle gluten, find a way to come to Portland and smuggle it home, it’s worth it if you’re stuck drinking Red Bridge.

Omission Gluten-Free Pale Ale

The pale ale poured a reddish copper color that had lots of visible carbonation. There is a little white head on the top that quickly left. It has the smell of a traditional pale ale which got me really excited to taste it. Some slight carmel malts which break way to a florally hop aroma.

I’ve tried multiple gluten free beers in the past and have yet to drink one that I’d ever want to drink again… until now. Wow, this is a great easy drinking pale ale. Carmel notes follow the nose and it’s very hop forward with some nice citrus, grassiness, and floral flavors breaking through.

While compared to other pale ales it doesn’t strike me as the greatest pale ale in the world, however compared to other gluten free beers on the market, Omission Pale Ale stands alone at the top.

No other gluten free beer tastes so much like, well… beer.

My Omission Gluten-Free Pale Ale Review: B (Compared to other gluten free beers it gets an A+)

Here are the details:

ABV: 5.8%
IBUs: 33
Style: American Pale Ale

Omission Gluten-Free Lager

The lager poured a very clean golden yellow color  with some slightly noticeable carbonation and a small layer of white head that didn’t last long. The nose is very light with some grainy bread-like aromas being the main focus with some florally hops present.

I’m pretty impressed with the way the flavor hits the lager style pretty accurately even though it’s gluten free. Its slightly sweet carmel malt duals it out with some light citrusy hops.

This is an incredibly refreshing and easy beer to drink that would turn any macro beer drinker into a fan. The subtle complexities of this beer makes it much more enjoyable than the macro lagers as well.

Perfect for summer days or while watching a game.

My Omission Gluten-Free Lager Review: B+ (Compared to other gluten free beers it gets an A+)

Here are the details:

ABV: 4.6%
IBUs: 20
Style: Lager

If you live in Oregon or near by, give both of these a try, even if you aren’t on a gluten-free diet. Both would make great gifts to those friends in your life living with celiac or other related diseases.

Have you tried Omission beers? What do you think?

What’s so great about 16-ounce cans? Simple, 4 more ounces of beer than your average 12-ounce can or bottle.

While multiple breweries have 16-ounce cans (a pint), the 12-ouncers still remain king of beer containers in the US. New Belgium Brewing out of Ft. Collins, CO is looking at changing things up with its newest year-round beer offering, Shift Pale Lager.

Shift will enter the market starting April 2nd, and you guessed it, they are only available in the larger 16-ounce cans. However the only downfall (if you can call it that), is that it will be offered in a four-pack, made of 100% recycled paper, so you might have to buy a few packs to properly stock your fridge.

“We’re excited to put a New Belgium twist on pale lager,” said New Belgium spokesperson Bryan Simpson. “The 16-ounce can is the perfect delivery system for this beer and it travels well.”

I’ve always been a fan of New Belgium and looking forward to trying their new 5% ABV beer. The lager is brewed with newly developed Nelson Sauvin hops which should give it a soft fruit flavor.

To check out if they will be launching it in your area, check out their beer finder here.

What do you think about 16-ounce cans?

New Belgium Brewing declares a snow day for everyone! This joyful phrase conjures universal meaning: forget work and enjoy.  Snow Day Ale replaces 2ºBelow as New Belgium’s winter seasonal, bringing warmth and relaxation to cold winter days.

Snow Day carries the subtle chocolate and caramel flavors of the newly developed Midnight Wheat malt. Pleasantly hoppy, the Styrian Golding, Centennial and Cascade hops bring a bright note to complement roasty undertones.  Snow Day is the deep garnet of roasted walnut and presents a creamy tan head.

“With its layered hops, Snow Day delivers the depth people crave in a winter beer but it’s very drinkable,” said Grady Hull, assistant brewmaster at New Belgium Brewing.  “We intentionally created a beer that could carry its weight without weighing you down.”

Snow Day has 6.25 percent ABV and 55 IBUs.  It’s available in most New Belgium markets and pricing may vary.

I’m definitely looking forward to trying it as New Belgium usually produces some pretty good beers.

If you want to see if it’s available near you, visit their beer finder.

Two things that I absolutely love in this world other than my family and friends is beer (of course) and music. When the two get together it makes a magical event.

While I’ve been to many concerts and enjoyed some good beer, there hasn’t been many unions that I know of quite like the latest Dogfish Head beer being released in mid-October to celebrate Pearl Jam’s 20th anniversary as a band.

The beer, named Faithfull Ale, is a belgian style golden ale brewed with 10 incremental additions of black currants and a modest 20 IBUs and 7% ABV. The name comes from their song Faithfull off of their album titled Yield (from 1998).

“To me, ‘Ten’ is the perfect example of a record-lover’s-record. The whole thing rocks. As an off-centered brewery, we believe in celebrating the breadth of our whole portfolio and we feel an affinity for Pearl Jam a long-player band in a singles-obsessed world.” – Dogfish Head President & Founder Sam Calagione

If you’re like me and excited to give it a try (I’m sure it’s worth a try even if you’re not a Pearl Jam fan) you are probably in luck. The company said it plans to distribute the tribute beer to all states in their current distribution.

I wonder how they decided on a belgian style ale with currants. It sounds like it could be pretty good, but I’m curious if there is any connection with the band.

Will you try it?

Living in the Northwest, I sometimes take for granted that I can drive to a local beer shop and choose from hundreds of great craft brews. We do have some bad laws, such as not being able to get beers like Sam Adams Utopias in Oregon or Washington, but for the most part we have access to quite a few beers.

This is not so in Mississippi.

Did you know that Mississippi is the only state in the country that limits alcohol by weight (ABW) for beer to only 5%?

Seriously Mississippi?  5%? Are stakeholders in Anheuser-Busch and Molson Coors running your legislation over there?

What’s strange to me is that they do allow wine over 5%.  That seems like a double standard to me.  There are many beers that are aged similar to wine and are so good, yet because they are considered beer, residents of the state can’t buy them.

According to Raise Your Pint, a grassroots, non-profit organization whose mission is to help bring the highest quality beers in the world to Mississippi, 87 of the worlds top 100 beers (beeradvocate.com) aren’t available to Mississippians because of their laws.

They are unable to buy 19 of 22 Dogfish Head Brewery beers.

On top of the smack to the face to craft beer drinkers, homebrewing BEER is still illegal in Mississippi (Alabama is the only other state in the country).  They can make wine, just not beer.

Mississippi it’s time you change your outdated laws.  If you live in the state, definitely check out Raise Your Pints website to see how you can get involved.

Let Mississippi drink good beer!

I came across this video this morning put out by Bonefish Grill which has Tim Curci (founder of Bonefish Grill) doing an interview at Pike Brewery in Seattle, WA with Charles Finkel. It’s a great interview where they talk about everything from craft beer and prohibition to beer & food pairings.

Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Just a quick update for all you Maine readers out there: while you’re all patiently waiting for the arrival of Baxter Brewing Co. beers this fall, you’ll have some new out-of-state beery arrivals to help tide you over. Three breweries from across the country have started to distribute their beers in the state of Maine this month and their arrivals are absolutely welcome ones!

First, a the first of May heralded the long-awaited arrival of Southern Tier Brewing Co. Southern Tier (out of Lakewood, NY) began distributing four of their beers, I believe, across southern Maine a few weeks ago, including their Unearthly Double IPA – a personal favorite beer of mine. I just hope that if these four are successful, they’ll ship their Jah*va Coffee and Imperial Oatmeal stouts as well. Southern Tier is being distributed by Central Distributors in Lewiston.

Next, on May 10th, Morrisville, VT’s Rock Art Brewing Co. announced via their Facebook Fan Page that they were about to begin shipping beer to Maine via Portland-based distributor Mariner Beverage. I’m not sure how many Rock Art varieties have arrived, but according to one Facebook comment, at least the Vermonster and a Belvidere Big IPA are now available at RSVP in here in Portland. You may remember the Rock Art name from the little legal battle they had with beverage giant Monster Energy Drinks in October of 2009.

Lastly, I just discovered this one this morning: New Orleans’ Abita Brewing Co. (which is actually located in Abita Springs, Louisiana, 30 miles north of New Orleans) have sneaked their way into the state. While I haven’t yet seen their beer on any store shelves and Maine isn’t listed on the “beer finder” page of their website yet, according to the below screenshot of an official Abita Tweet, it certainly looks like their beers should be in state by now.

This is all very exciting news as Maine finally begins to catch up with the rest of the country as far as beer availability and diversity. The summer beer drinking is definitely looking up!

A few BlogAboutBeer.com readers probably already know the news I’m about the share but I’m pretty sure that most do not. What I am about to write has been a non-stop, full-time eleven months in the making (and many years in a dream): I am opening my own brewery.

Baxter Brewing Co. will be the first brewery north of Connecticut to can its entire line of beer. Located in the historic Bates Mill in Lewiston, Maine, Baxter beers will be distributed throughout the state of Maine beginning in September 2010 and across northern New England in 2011.

What’s With the Flying Moose?

The creature in our logo is Pamola, an Abenaki and Penobscot legend of a spirit which is said to be the god of Thunder, the cause of cold weather and protector of Mt Katahdin, the tallest peak in the state of Maine. The Indians described him as having the head of a moose, the body of a man and the wings and talons of an eagle. Pamola was both feared and respected by the tribes who believed in him.

Personally, I will be handling the marketing, sales and administration side of the company and have hired local Brewmaster Michael LaCharite – who founded Casco Bay Brewing Co. in the mid 1990s – to run the brewing side of the business. You can expect to see cans of our flagship Stowaway IPA across the state of Maine beginning around Labor Day. Our brewery itself will feature a nearly-new, state-of-the-art 30 barrel brewing system, manufactured by Newlands Systems Inc (NSI) and an automatic canning line capable of filling thirty cans a minute from Cask Brewing Systems Inc.

What Happens to BlogAboutBeer.com?

What does this mean for the future of BlogAboutBeer.com? Well, undoubtedly I won’t have the time any more necessary to devote to the blog (clearly, since it’s been nearly a week since my last update and posts are getting much less frequent as my schedule gets busier). And it would be unfair to all of you if I were to either turn this blog into an entirely Baxter-centric blog (I will have one of those I’m sure, but it will run as part of BaxterBrewing.com), or abandon it all together (the last thing I want to happen). I do plan to list the site for sale on Flippa and would hope for it to get what it’s worth, but more importantly, I hope that whatever hands it ends up in continue to develop the site, its content and its culture in the same vein I have been doing for the past 2+ years. So if you have an idea for the site, or are interested in purchasing it or taking it over, please get in touch with me.

So in Conclusion…

As for Baxter, I’m sure there will be questions from the crowd, so I’ll leave it at that. But please fire away (maybe they will require a couple of follow-up posts). And check out www.baxterbrewing.com and follow us on Twitter @BaxterBrewing.

Most importantly, I want to thank you all so much for all of the support you have shown BlogAboutBeer.com since its inception in August of 2007. Thousands and thousands of people have visited the site, have commented on posts, emailed me, introduced themselves, written guest posts, sent me beer and schwag, invited me into their events and into their homes and bars and without the site and without all of you, I certainly wouldn’t love craft beer nearly as much as I do and I damn sure wouldn’t be starting a brewery. So I thank you all from the bottom of my heart (and my glass) and please keep reading and keep in touch! Cheers!

Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the beer which had for a couple of weeks been the most alcoholic beer in the world — before German brewer Schorschbrau released a 40% ABV beer called Schorschbock and BrewDog fired back with their Sink the Bismarck!, which checks in at 41% ABV and a highly-alcoholic and somewhat pointless cock fight ensued — is now making its away across the pond for limited release across the U.S.ofA (Mainers, I know that Central Distributors in Lewiston got a few cases but I don’t know where they’ll end up). A move which only makes sense in the eyes of the folks at BrewDog, since about half of the bottles of Tactical Nuclear Penguin which have been sold or traded online (through either the BrewDog website or eBay) have gone to the United States.

According to Time Magazine (Time.com),

Because of the painstaking process involved with producing such a strong drink, an 11.2-oz. bottle of Sink the Bismarck! costs some $60, minus shipping. [While] Tactical Nuclear Penguin costs about $53 a bottle, and can also be ordered online.

For those concerned that the high levels of Alcohol in T.N.P. will lead to chugging and binge drinking (despite the bottle’s ungodly price tag), a warning label on the Tactical Nuclear Penguin bottle does state, “This is an extremely strong beer; it should be enjoyed in small servings and with an air of aristocratic nonchalance. It is exactly the same manner you would enjoy a fine whiskey, a Frank Zappa album or a visit from a friendly yet anxious ghost.”

For more on Tactical Nuclear Penguin, including an explanation of the (admittedly very cool) way in which the beer was made, check out this promotional video from BrewDog (warning! The video does include simulated penguin sex and a naked Scot… you’ve been warned):

Tickets went on sale yesterday for the 3rd annual American Craft Beer Festival. Sponsored by BeerAdvocate and Harpoon Brewery, the American Craft Beer Fest features over 325 craft beers from over 80 American brewers. The festival is held at the Seaport World Trader Center on the waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts. The ACBF is the largest annual craft beer festival on the east coast.

This year’s event will take place over two days, June 18th and 19th; tickets are $40 a piece (plus service charges) and unlike many beer festivals — including all those here in Maine — include unlimited 2 ounce pours (no drink tickets required). Be sure and get your tickets early, however, as all sessions of the ACBF will undoubtedly sell out. For more information, visit beeradvocate.com/acbf/