Bad tasting gluten-free beer no longer a stumbling block for adopting a gluten-free diet.

Inability to drink beer is one of the great stumbling blocks for many of my patients with Celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Giving up beer has prevented more than one of my relatives from embacing a gluten-free diet despite evidence they have gluten sensitivity. My physician wife with Celiac disease used to love the beer Fat Tire. After her diagnosis she once purchased a gluten-free beer from Europe called Bard. Though I thought it had a very cool logo we both agreed it tasted like !@#%. Now, we can enjoy a great tasting and gluten-free beer.

Though I personally don't like beer that much, Anheuser-Busch's new gluten-free beer Red Bridge I actually like. See my blog www.The Gluten Free Food Report for more personal comments on this beer. Use of sorghum, a grass grain originating in Africa, for alcholic beverages dates back many centuries. However, beer brewed with sorghum usually contains barley malt and therefore is not safe for consumption by those with Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. Commercial production on a large scale of a sorghum based gluten free beer had never been done until Anheuser-Busch responded to a growing demand for gluten-free products and in particular a gluten-free beer. Another brewery is producing a gluten-free beer, New Grist, but it appears to be much less available.

Sorghum gives Red Bridge a somewhat sweet taste without losing the flavor and character of beer. In my opinion, inability to give up beer should no longer be an argument against adopting a gluten-free diet, especially for those who must do so because of Celiac disease. In my experience many people who do not have Celiac disease respond dramatically to a gluten-free diet with improved energy, weight loss, loss of painful bloating and excess gas, improved concentration, better feeling joints and muscles, improved skin and neurological symptoms. If you haven't been tested for Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity I urge you to do so and then give a gluten-free diet a trial even if don't have Celiac disease. And now you have a great tasting beer to drink while you celebrate your decision. Also, check in on the Food Doc Twinkie Experiment to see how long it takes to see any deterioration or mold. So far, no signs after two weeks.

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