20061221

Allergy avoidance goes national


Beer for everyone, even if they have allergies.

My prior post informed you about Dark Hills Brewery, a new boutique brewery near Fayetteville, AR, preparing to make gluten-free beers. Now comes word from St. Louis that industry kingpin Anheuser-Busch is making a brew for people with wheat/gluten allergies.

Redbridge -- which A-B claims is the first nationally available sorghum beer, and who are we to argue with them? -- is now being made available in various restaurants and stores selling organic products. In addition to sorghum, the lager is made from corn, yeast, hops and water, avoiding wheat or barley.

Sorghum is a grain, but does not contain the protein gluten that is found in wheat, rye and barley and which is harmful to people with celiac disease, an intestinal antipathy to glutens. Sorghum is widely used in many African beers, so using it in special domestic brews is not reinventing the wheel. A-B getting into the niche is news because all other domestic suppliers of gluten-free beer are, essentially, only regional in scope.

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