First Draft: Aurochs Brewing Co.

By Chris Betz

The first thing you'll notice about Aurochs Brewing Co.'s logo is the tenacious bull-like creature and the black-and-yellow color scheme. The colors represent Pittsburgh, where Aurochs is based, and the animal is an aurochs, an extinct super cow-like beast. As the brewery's founders explain: "We brew with ancient, untamed grains to impart complex flavors shaped by generations of growth in the wilderness. We develop our own unique, original recipes that hark back to a time when man and beast refused to give up a life of freedom."

Auroch Brewing Co.'s founders (from left) Doug and Ryan

Aurochs' founders, Doug (who has celiac disease) and Ryan (diagnosed with gluten intolerance), are passionate about brewing great gluten-free beer. They produce only gluten-free brews in a dedicated gluten free brewery located outside of Pittsburgh, in Emsworth, Pennsylvania. Their dedication to quality and uncompromising flavor comes through loud and clear in their beers.

Session IPA (4.6% ABV): After years of big, strong, high-alcohol beers serving as the go-to for craft beer lovers, session beers have been gaining popularity. As the name suggests, session beers are intended for drinkers to be able to enjoy more than one in a sitting without compromising taste or complexity. Aurochs Session IPA lives up to that promise. It has a great hop nose with a piney-citrus bite that cleans up nicely. This is in sharp contrast to many gluten-free IPAs that tend to be syrupy and thick. Enjoy this with your favorite gluten free pizza or BBQ.

Blonde Ale (4.6% ABV): Aurochs Blonde Ale is a light and citrusy brew that reminds me of a Belgian Blonde. Banana and sweet lemon flavors dominate. Mouthfeel is light, making this an extremely drinkable beer. This beer pairs well with any light food like chicken or salmon. If you're into spicy foods, this brew will cut through the heat and bring balance.

The Blonde Ale and Session IPA, Aurochs' first two bottle offerings, will soon be available in the Philadelphia area, including at the all-gluten-free Farmers Keep in Center City (10 S. 20th St., 215-309-2928). (Check the beer finder option on the brewery's website for all locations.) I hope to see more of their beers this side of Pennsylvania like their Cascadian Dark Ale and Porter, currently only on draft at their tap room in Emsworth.

First Draft: Holidaily Brewing Company

By Chris Betz

The rocky mountains of Golden, Colorado might be the home of Coors, but it's also where Holidaily Brewing Company is making a name for itself, Holidaily is a dedicated gluten-free brewery founded by Karen Hertz, a cancer survivor who was given a treatment plan that included being on a lifelong gluten-free diet. As a beer lover, she wanted a better tasting gluten-free brew. After years of research, she launched Holidaily.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Holidaily brews a Black India Pale Ale and an Imperial Stout, as many gluten free breweries don't venture far from the basics. Here's a recap of some of the brewery's styles.

(Photo credit: Holidaily Brewing/Facebook)

Favorite Blonde (5% ABV): Using millet and buckwheat and just the right amount of hops, Holidaily has brewed a blonde ale (its flagship beer) that would surprise many traditional beer drinkers by the fact that it's gluten free. Its light body and mellow hoppy taste make this an easy drinking, delightful beer. With a smooth beer like this, you can pair this with just about anything, or enjoy on its own.

First Draft: Craft a Brew Gluten-Free Brewing Kit

By Chris Betz

Homebrewing is a rite of passage for any beer lover. Being able to make your own beer from scratch and share it with others is a fulfilling adventure. I had brewed a couple batches of beer before my Celiac Disease diagnosis, so I was eager to jump back in where I left off. Craft a Brew aims to make beer lovers beer brewers by providing kits containing nearly all of the equipment needed to brew a batch a beer, along with quality ingredients and detailed instructions.

First Draft: Burning Brothers Brewing

By Chris Betz

The founders of Minnesota-based Burning Brothers Brewing, Dane Breimhorst and Thom Fos, have set out to brew great beer that just happens to be gluten free. After the two friends set out to start a brewery, Dane was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Instead of giving up their dream, they decided to create a dedicated brewery where they could create gluten-free beer to share with the world.

Pyro, an American Pale Ale (4.6% ABV), comes in a 16-ounce can strikingly labeled with a bold "ΠΡ," the Greek letters phonetically spelling out the name of the beer. A pint-glass pour reveals a golden color with a foamy white head and a pleasant semi-sweet hop aroma. It tastes slightly bitter, with an agreeable citrusy flavor reminiscent of lemon or orange peel. Light to moderate in mouth feel, Pyro is a delicious, crisp APA that masks the sorghum well. This versatile beer can be enjoyed with a variety of foods but works especially well with grilled meats and smoky cheese.

I opted to use a tulip glass to try Burning Brothers' Roasted Coffee Ale (7.7% ABV), a strong, dark ale blended with cold-brewed coffee. Cracking open the can ignites the aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans along with a light sweetness. Unsurprisingly, this reddish-brown ale has toasty coffee flavors that finish dry, hiding the sorghum flavor. This unique variety is an excellent beer that pushes the boundaries of gluten-free brewing - a real pleasure to drink! Pair this one with your favorite gluten free dessert, perhaps one with dark fruits.

I appreciate that the brewers minimize the "gluten free" designation on their cans, as that tells me that they want to be compared alongside their traditional peers. I'm extremely impressed with Burning Brothers and can't wait to try more offerings from them.

Currently, Burning Brothers beers can be found in Minnesota (including at the taproom in St. Paul), Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, but the brewers are working on expanding distribution and Pennsylvania is one of the target markets.

First Draft: Spiked Seltzer

Call it clear beer, Call it hard water, Whatever you call it, Spiked Seltzer is a welcome new gluten-free alcoholic beverage option.

The fizzy, low-carb Spiked Seltzer is not gluten reduced or a beer made with ancient grains. It's brewed with purified water, and the alcohol is derived from citrus essence and sugar. Yet it's not cloyingly sweet. I preferred the West Indies Lime and Valencia Orange flavors (Indian River Grapefruit and Cape Cod Cranberry are the other seltzer-style flavors) and enjoyed them straight from the can, but they can also be mixed with juices and spirits to create a variety of cocktails. All of them have a kick (6% ABV, comparable to a strong cider).

Spiked Seltzer has a heavy presence in New England, but is rapidly becoming available elsewhere along the East Coast. In New Jersey, the beverages are sold at wine-and-spirits stores throughout the state. A Facebook reader mentioned that The Bottle Shop in South Philadelphia stocks them as well, though there are no Pennsylvania locations currently listed on the company's product finder page.

DISCLOSURE: While Boathouse Beverage provided product samples for me to review at no cost, such compensation did not influence my review. Neither I am nor any immediate family member is an employee, officer, director or agent of Boathouse Beverage or its respective parent, subsidiary and affiliated entities, advertising and promotional agencies. Click here for my complete Disclosure.

First Draft: Ghostfish Brewing Company

By Chris Betz

Ghostfish Brewing Company is giving Usain Bolt a run for his money. The all-gluten-free brewery from Seattle took home gold and bronze medals at the 2015 Great American Beer Festival held last month and a gold medal at this year's U.S. Open Beer Championship. Brewing primarily with artisan millet and buckwheat malts, the company is making waves in the gluten-free brewing world.

The first of the flagship beers I tried was the Shrouded Summit Witbier. When brewed traditionally, this style gets its cloudy white appearance from the large amount of wheat used in the brewing process. Though there is no wheat in Shrouded Summit, its hazy yellow color and white head made it look authentic - a "witbier without," if you will. It smelled and tasted like a clone of its wheat counterpart.

First Draft: Coors Peak

By Chris Betz

Looking at a bottle of Coors Peak Copper Lager, you might not realize it's gluten free - and that's a good thing. Using a combination of malted brown rice, pea protein, hops and caramel sugar, MillerCoors has created a brew that smells and tastes more like a traditional lager. The sweet caramel and toasted maltiness flavors remind me of an Oktoberfest lager. There's little hop aroma or flavor and the pea protein is not noticeable.

I'm guessing the pea protein in the gluten-free-certified Coors Peak (4.7% ABV) was added to give the beer more substance and body, but this beer remains quite thin. The real key here, however, is what the brewers didn't put in the recipe: sorghum. When used in large quantities, sorghum can give beer an off-putting sour taste that overwhelms all other flavors. This beer tastes like a beer.

Unfortunately, Coors Peak is not yet available in the Philadelphia region; due to production constraints, it's only sold for now in the Seattle and Portland metro areas for about $8 per 6-pack. (Perhaps requesting East Coast distribution on the Facebook page for the beer will help?)

Coors Peak Copper Lager is without a doubt the best beer that Coors makes - gluten free or otherwise. With widespread distribution, I have no doubt that it would knock Redbridge from its perch as the nation's best-selling gluten-free beer.

First Draft: Ground Breaker Brewing

By Chris Betz

Much has changed since I reviewed three beers from Harvester Brewing last April. The company has a new name, new brews, and has tweaked recipes of old favorites. Ground Breaker Brewing, based in Portland, Oregon, uses ingredients like Willamette Valley chestnuts and Indie hops to brew a variety of beers. Ground Breaker currently has four beers available year round and three seasonal beers, all available in 22-ounce bottles.

Dark Ale (4.5% ABV): A gold medal winner at the 2014 Great American Beer Festival, the Dark Ale features a reformulated recipe using roasted lentils instead of gluten-free oats. While I can't do a side-by-side tasting of the oat-based recipe to the new one, I can say that this beer certainly maintained its body and roasted flavor. The flavors of cocoa nibs and coffee are great in this cold weather. If you are fan of Glutenberg's Red Ale, be sure to give this year-round beer a try.

Common Core

By Chris Betz

Ahead of the current boom in the market for hard cider, Kensington's Philadelphia Brewing Company expanded its product line two years ago by creating Commonwealth Ciders. In addition to being gluten free, the company's ciders are all natural - free of any artificial colors, preservatives or colors. Commonwealth does not add any additional sweeteners, relying only on the apples' natural sugars. The traditional dry fermentation technique, incorporating some non-traditional ingredients like ginger, make for some unique and must-try ciders.

First Draft: Steadfast Beer Co.

By Chris Betz

Steadfast Beer Co., based in Albany, New York, uses only gluten-free ingredients and ensures that their brewing process is free of cross-contamination. Steadfast's depiction of Sisyphus on every bottle shows that they recognize brewing a great gluten-free beer is a challenge. They've chosen a compass to represent the brand "as a nod to finding one’s bearings and a sense of direction amid a lifestyle change that can be dizzying and discouraging." Amen to that.

First Draft: Harvester Brewing

(Photo credit: Harvester Brewing/Facebook)

By Chris Betz

While vacationing in Vermont last summer, I did a double take when I saw bottles of an unfamiliar gluten-free beer at a local market. It was made by Portland, Oregon's Harvester Brewing, and I've come to appreciate the brewer's unique approach to craft brewing. Harvester is a dedicated gluten-free brewery that uses locally sourced ingredients like Willamette Valley chestnuts and hops and certified gluten-free oats from Montana. Their lineup goes well beyond the three year-round flagship styles I review here, including a seasonal Coffee Pale Ale, Apple IPA and beet-and-date-sugar-based Dubbel style ale. (Look for my review of these in a future column.)

First Draft: New Planet Beer

By Chris Betz

Coors isn't the only popular beer born in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. In 2008, Pedro Gonzalez co-founded Boulder-based New Planet Beer after being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Today, all-gluten-free New Planet has six beer styles and is available in 46 states.

First Draft: Gluten-Free Beer Singles

By Chris Betz

While it's great to have brewers like New Planet, Glutenberg and Green's craft entire lines of gluten-free beers, there are also some excellent stand-alone varieties. For this month's column, I took on the enviable task of sampling several of them.

Bard's (4.6% ABV): Bard's sets its self apart from other gluten-free beers by malting sorghum in its recipe just like barley is malted in traditional beer. In fact, it's the only beer that is brewed with 100% malted gluten-free sorghum. The result is an ale that has the flavor, aroma and color of a gluten-full beer. If you avoid gluten and miss a "beery" tasting beer, give this one a try. Its clean, refreshing finish will be welcome at any BBQ or tailgate.

First Draft: Winter Ciders

By Chris Betz

During the long, cold winter months you may not think to reach for a cold, crisp hard apple cider. Truth is, there are many excellent seasonal ciders that make their appearance this time of year. Much more complex in taste, these gluten-free ciders generally have interesting spices added to more traditional recipes.

Woodchuck Winter Cider (5.0% ABV): Vermont-based Woodchuck uses a combination of Premium French and Traditional American Oak to give this cider its complexity. Like other Woodchuck offerings, this cider is on the sweeter side, but oak and vanilla flavors give it a seasonal balance. Try this one with heartier winter meals like chili or stew.

Angry Orchard Iceman (10.0% ABV): Angry Orchard uses a traditional method of freezing the juices of apples to create this ice cider, part of the Boston Beer Company-owned cidery's Cider House Collection. This results in a much richer flavor and density, as well as a higher alcohol content. Sold in a corked and caged 750 mL bottle, this is meant to be shared with others. Like the Woodchuck cider, there are hints of oak and vanilla along with mild toffee notes. This hearty cider goes well with a steak, pork or other meats.

Angry Orchard Cinnful Apple (5.0% ABV): I was expecting strong flavors in this one, and indeed the initial tartness quickly led to an overwhelmingly cinnamon essence. Due to the spice level, Cinnful Apple pairs best with vanilla ice cream or gluten-free carrot cake.

J.K.’s Cuvée Winterruption Farmhouse Hard Cider (6.9% ABV): Spiced with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup, this is an extremely well-balanced cider that I would drink year round if available. With each sip, I managed to taste something different. While complex, this organic cider from Michigan was still quite crisp and drinkable. I savored the cider cold but it could also be warmed up with some cinnamon sticks. Enjoy this with a slice of gluten-free pie, cheeses, or spiced pecans or walnuts.

First Draft: Green's Gluten-Free Beers

By Chris Betz

Last year, I traveled to Belgium and was able to visit some of the world's greatest breweries. Though I no longer drink traditional beers, I discovered that Green's gluten-free beers captured the essence of what makes Belgian beers special.

Green's beers have been brewed since 2004 at the legendary DeProef Brewery in Lochristi, Belgium, making them one of the longest continuously produced gluten-free beers in the world. In place of barley malt, Green's uses a blend of millet, sorghum, rice and buckwheat. All four varieties have received accolades: the Amber Ale won a Gold Medal at the 2013 World Beer Championships and the Dubbel Ale took the Top Gluten-Free Beer award at this year's Calgary International Brewfest.

First Draft: Glutenberg Beer

Publisher's Note: Today's post is the first in an new, occasional series covering the growing variety of gluten-free beers, ciders and meads.

By Chris Betz

I first heard of Glutenberg last year after the Canadian brewer swept the World Beer Cup, medaling in all three places in the Gluten-Free Beer category. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Glutenberg is a 100% gluten-free brewery. The brewery has broadened its reach beyond several New England states and recently found distribution throughout New Jersey. Here's my take on their award-winning beers, Blonde (Bronze), American Pale Ale (Silver) and Red (Gold), which are available in 16 oz. cans in the U.S.:

Glutenberg's three award-winning beers are available in New Jersey and
three New England states (Photo courtesy Glutenberg/Facebook)

Blonde (4.5% ABV): Crisp and dry, this brew is thirst quenching while maintaining an interesting profile. There are nice citrus notes in both the aroma and taste. This beer should delight drinkers that are new to the world of beer as well as those with more experienced palates. Glutenberg's Blonde will not overwhelm lighter foods like chicken or salmon dishes.