Ignorant Question About Alpine Beer

The answer to question 2 is that it is brand new, and various breweries have only started experimenting with it. I guess Alpine was the first to get results good enough that they felt confident coming forward.

 

The way I understand this is that it doesn't completely eliminate the gluten from beer. It still contains enough gluten to make people with Celiac react poorly to it. So basically, my add on questions is: What's the point?

 

I know Automatic is treating their beers with the enzyme as well. As far as I know, it doesn't affect taste (or at least enough for the brewers themselves to notice). I'm assuming there aren't more breweries doing it because it's still relatively new. I feel like it'll probably catch on more and more though. I know Stone has experimented with it at Liberty Station.

 

Amplified Ale Works (Cali Kebab in PB) is also using it, per an article that Brandon Hernandez did. He might have mentioned one or two others, but I don't recall.

Per this morning's email:

Take that as you will. Their 10ppm claim isn't independently verified, but it doesn't seem like the type of thing they'd make up.

 

That's an interesting claim. I know that when the Stone store in Pasadena got the Liberty Station beer that was treated with it, they were still not recommending it as a sure thing for people with Celiac or gluten sensitivity. I guess I'm just happy to not have it be an issue.

 

It is this stuff? It has been around a few years.
http://www.whitelabs.com/other-products/wln4000-clarity-ferm

Charlie Papazian wrote about brewing beers with it in Zymurgy back in 2011.

 

sounds like stone has better risk management philospophy.

 

Look in the markets now. Gluten free is gaining major popularity and its not just Celiac pts. Its people who do have or even just think they have a degree of gluten intolerance. I know a bunch of those types personally.

 

Moonlight Brewing and Berryessa Brewing are two well known California breweries that have been doing this for a long time. Their beer is outstanding. Both say most of their beer around 5 ppm. I believe Clarex is the enzyme.

 

I'm not too familiar with enzymes, but when it comes to affecting taste of beer it boils down to two things:

Price and Rarity

In all seriousness, the removal of gluten (a protein) is probably to help with haze and help clarify the beer. From a culinary perspective, I would take a guess that removal of gluten could have an affect on the mouth feel of the beer.

There are a lot of sources about removing proteins from beer, but I found this that deliberately talks about gluten:

http://www.twobrothersbrewing.com/prairie-path-faqs/

 

You can't tell the difference. Several breweries are now doing this and I expect more to do so in the future.

 

I read it differently, that it has less gluten than Celiacs usually respond to. Still, I wouldn't think Alpine would want to inadvertently make specific health claims, which their announcement comes close to; i.e., "Celiac sufferers need not abstain any longer."

 

So what we're really saying is we need someone with Celiac to bit the bullet and be the guinea pig for a scientific BA survey. I just want to tell you good luck. We're all counting on you.

 

We've all got to compete for the smallest amount of Alpine anyway . . . now we have to fight off hordes of Celiac sufferers!

 

I don't have Celiac disease, but from what I know the Alpine account sounds on the right track. Most beers that are bottle conditioned for long periods of time break down enough of the gluten such that people with Celiac disease can enjoy them without negative repercussions. In Europe, people with Celiac are told that it's ok to drink bottle conditoned beers, whereas in the US people are told that they should avoid any food/drink that has ever had an amount of gluten in it, even if it is likely to have been broken down over time. I had an ex that had Celiac disease, and who reacted severely to even the slightest bit of contamination in food, but who was able to drink bottle-fermented Belgian ales with no problem. I am guessing that the enzyme Alpine is using does a similar thing to the longer period of bottle-conditioning, but just more quickly.

 

Maybe if you only sip it, you will be ok.

 

As exciting as gluten apparently is to some people, the actual awesome in the latest newsletter was that Keene Idea is on now for growler fills and Exponential will be out in bottles on Thursday. I picked up two growlers of Keene today along with a variety of bottled Alpine goodness. It tastes as awesome as ever, regardless of the added enzyme.