Written by Chris Carr, Head Brewer at Aurochs Brewing. This Western PA microbrewery specializes in making ales that are naturally gluten-free, brewed with different roasts of malted millet, quinoa and sometimes buckwheat.

Brewing gluten free beer can be a bit of a challenge but, has a much higher reward value. We’re taking what humans have been doing for ten thousand years and coming out with a new way of making beer that has a missing protein, and that’s gluten.

The transition of being able to pickup any beer you like to having to quit beer completely is the definition of loved and lost. I’ve talked to a lot of new customers who are so thrilled that they don’t have to quit drinking beer because of a medical condition and we want to be able to keep giving them great beer. I’ve met people who haven’t had a beer in 20 years and seeing their faces light up after taking their first sip is a great feeling. When we brew a new style, it might be the first time that some of our consumers are trying that beer for the first time. First impressions are huge in the brewing world, gluten free or not. Some people might think that brewing GF beer changes the taste and it absolutely does not change the flavor or quality. 

We have regulars who aren’t gluten free who just want to have a great beer. We don’t want to be known as just a gluten free brewery. In my opinion we don’t make gluten free beer, we make great beer that happens to be gluten free.

We brew with ancient grains including quinoa, and our malting process let’s us access all of the flavors and aromas that you would get from barley and other grains. There’s no sacrifice on flavor or quality just because we slapped the title of gluten free on our label. When new customers come in to have a few pints I’ll tell them the beer they’re enjoying is gluten free and they must think I’m joking, seeing the expression on there face. It’s a trip.

This goes beyond brewing beer, it is much bigger than that. This is beer that everyone can enjoy. No longer do people have to worry about being left out of the group just because of medical reasons or lifestyle changes. We sell our beer on draft and in bottles (soon to be cans) in a great number of locations throughout Pennsylvania including other breweries.

There are a handful of breweries in the United States that are brewing dedicated GF craft beer and those breweries are Ghostfish, Holidaily, and Ground Breaker just to name a few. As far as commercial options for GF beer goes, there’s not many good choices out there. A lot of GF beer was made with sorghum and it not only tastes bad but these breweries have created a stigma of what gluten free beer is. The beer I’m hinting towards is red bridge from Anheuser-Busch. It used to be the only option for GF beer. When you have one option for drinking GF beer there’s not much craft or soul that goes into it. We have people drive over 5 hours just to pick up some Auroch’s beer.

We are filling in a gap that some breweries just can’t do safely. There’s dangers in gluten reduced beers and cross contamination that some breweries don’t understand or can’t contain safely. There’s also breweries that claim to have GF beer like Stone Brewing, but are actually gluten reduced and can be extremely harmful to someone. They brew beer as normal with barley and add Clarex which can remove a great deal of gluten but that doesn’t make it GF. People who are gluten sensitive can wind up in the hospital if there’s any chance that what they are enjoying at the time is contaminated. In America our standard for what can be considered GF is 20 ppm. But for most that can be too high. And we want more people to be aware of it. We are a dedicated gluten free brewery and keep or levels well below 5ppm.

A lot of what we do behind each beer is research and development. We’re at the forefront of great gluten free beer and are developing ways to maintaining quality and creating new flavors that everyone can enjoy. We have brewed a collaboration Red IPA for CBC 2019 in Denver with a local Colorado brewery, Holidaily. We will be speaking about the risks that come with gluten reduced beers and some of our procedures amongst other things. If you’re going to be visiting CBC this year make sure to stop by the seminar and sample some free beer.

To stay up to date on Aurochs latest make sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or make sure to visit their brewery in Emsworth.