Boulder Triathlon Club Samples New Planet Beer

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At the last meeting of the Boulder Triathlon Club, in Boulder, CO, local athletes sampled and evaluated New Planet Beer.

Endurance athletes stress their bodies with long training hours. Many are conscious of limiting their intake of inflammatory substances, such as gluten, because their hard training already produces inflammation of muscles, tendons and ligaments.

After tasting New Planet Beer, athletes voted on the beers and their lifestyle choices.

  • Nearly two dozen triathletes were evenly split on their favorite New Planet beers – Off Grid Pale Ale and Tread Lightly Ale tied as the favorite, with 3R Raspberry Ale coming in close behind.
  • One third of the athletes are reducing or avoiding gluten in their diets, but two thirds report that they would reduce gluten if they experienced better training results.
  • Two thirds reported that New Planet Beer tasted better than they expected. Five percent would rather drink beer with gluten.
  • Sixty percent would recommend New Planet Beer to all their friends, and 23% would recommend it to friends who follow a gluten-free diet.

Thanks to the Boulder Triathlon Club for sampling New Planet Beer and giving their opinions.

 

May is National Celiac Awareness Month

The Celiac Disease Foundation declared May as National Celiac Disease Awareness Month. Learn what it means to have a gluten allergy and the effects that gluten can have on one’s health. New Planet Beer is dedicated to providing guaranteed gluten-free beer with a great taste that everyone can enjoy.

Know the Gluten-Free Facts

  1. Gluten is the common name for the proteins in specific grains that are harmful to some persons experiencing celiac disease and gluten sensitivities.
  2. These proteins are found in ALL forms of wheat (including durum, semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn and faro) and related grains rye, barley and triticale and MUST be eliminated.
  3. The incidence of celiac disease is rising sharply with 1 in 133 Americans being diagnosed. Experts think as many as 1 in 20 Americans may have gluten sensitivity.
  4. A few common symptoms caused by celiac disease or gluten sensitivities are: abdominal cramping, bloating, fatigue, migraine headaches, depression and hair loss. There are many possible symptoms, so check with your doctor.
  5. A gluten-free diet is the recommended treatment for celiac disease or gluten sensitivities.

New Planet Beer’s Six Guarantees

  1. New Planet Beer is made from 100% gluten-free ingredients: Sorghum, Corn, Hops and Yeast. With one beer made with brown rice instead of corn for those who also have corn allergies.
  2. Every batch is tested in a lab to guarantee 100% gluten-free beer.
  3. Our brewing facility takes extra cleaning measures to eliminate cross contamination.
  4. New Planet Beer delivers a great taste without sacrificing natural ingredients and alcohol content.
  5. New Planet Beer gives a portion of proceeds to environmental programs that support sustainable living.
  6. New Planet Beer makes a gluten-free beer for every style of beer drinker: Enjoy a light flavor, fruity flavor or a beer with a little extra hop.

 

Make the Earth a Better Place

Earth Day is the perfect opportunity to remind our fans how New Planet Beer makes the environment a priority in their business practices. It’s also a good time to reflect on what you are doing for the environment and what small adjustments we can all make in our daily lives that can help make the Earth a better place.

New Planet Beer’s Earth Day Celebrations

  1. The company name ‘New Planet’ came about as an inspiration to help reinvigorate the planet.
  2. Each beer that New Planet Beer brews has a different environmental giveback that supports sustainable living.
  3. Tread Lightly Ale dedicates a percentage of proceeds for restoring the natural environment.
  4. 3R Raspberry Ale dedicates a percentage of proceeds for purchasing BottleHood  Glassware who take used New Planet Beer bottles and recreates them into usable items that get donated to local non-profit organizations.
  5. Off Grid Pale Ale dedicates a percentage of proceeds for organizations that support alternative  energy.
  6. New Planet Beer employees volunteer each year with the Wildlands Restoration Volunteers, a non-profit organization that provides an opportunity for people to come together, learn about their natural environment, and take direct action to restore and care for the land..
  7. New Planet Beer constantly looks for ways to use recycled materials which includes the boxes used to ship New Planet Beer, cups used for sampling, office supplies, and we always look for ways to reduce the materials we do need to use.
  8. New Planet Beer is participating in the Microbreweries for the Environment 2011 on Earth Day, which will benefit the environmental efforts of four local non-profit organizations: CU Environmental Center, Flatirons Neighborhood Farm, The GrowHaus, and Sprout City Farms.
  9. New Planet Beer partners with Fort Collins Brewery in the production of their beers. The brewery utilizes the most current thinking in sustainable, green technologies, including a water waste system which is not connected to a public sewer.
  10. The New Planet brewing process follows these environmental practices with Fort Collins Brewery:

  • We reuse the water on the bottling line for watering lawns.
  • We ship excess grain, hops, yeast, beer and rinse water to a cattle ranch because these ingredients are a great protein supplement to a cows normal diet.
  • We reduce our use of power during peak load hours by coordinating with the Fort Collins Power Authority.
  • We use fans to bring in night air to cool our storage rather than keep it cold with air conditioners.
  • We use infra-red heating tubes to heat areas employees work in but not the entire plant providing localized heating.
  • We brew on demand so we don’t store and keep beer refrigerated for long periods of time.

New Planet Beer is dedicated to making great tasting gluten-free beer and doing good things for the environment. New Planet Beer can’t do it alone, but if we all do our part, the collective will make a difference.

What are you doing to help make Earth a better place?

 

 

April 22nd: Microbreweries for the Environment 2011

Think Globally, Drink Locally: 19 Breweries, $2 Pints, 1 Planet. Doors open at 8:00PM.

KGNU and the Boulder Weekly proudly present the 19th annual Microbreweries for the Environment benefit on Friday, April 22 at The Boulder Theater.

Since 1993, the Microbreweries for the Environment benefit has raised over $120,000 for local environmental causes. The proceeds from this year’s benefit will further the environmental efforts of four local non-profit organizations: CU Environmental Center, Flatirons Neighborhood Farm, The GrowHaus, and Sprout City Farms.

Nineteen Colorado microbreweries serve their best beers for only $2 each, including New Planet Beer. We’ll have all three of our beers available for purchase: Tread Lightly Ale, 3R Raspberry Ale and Off Grid Pale Ale. Enjoy the evening with a good gluten-free beer while celebrating a great cause.

For more information visit the Boulder Theater website.

 

Brewing with Millet Could Be Good For the Environment

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You may have seen some of the recent articles on the discussion between Colorado agriculture officials and brewers and the use of millet in their brews. Millet is a cereal grain and “Colorado is the country’s top millet producer, accounting for about 60 percent of U.S. production last year,” reported by By CATHERINE TSAI Associated Press.

Our own New Planet Beer Co-Founder and CEO, Pedro Gonzalez was interviewed on New Planet Beer’s thoughts on using the gluten-free grain – millet. Read the article below, which was posted on Forbes.com and Denverpost.com.

DENVER—Colorado agriculture officials are turning to brewers to see if they can help boost the state’s sales of millet, a cereal grain that so far is a sliver of the nation’s food industry. Colorado is the country’s top millet producer, accounting for about 60 percent of U.S. production last year.

It’s a $50 million crop for the U.S., while wheat is worth several billion dollars each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Still, it represents an area where rural Colorado businesses can grow, said Timothy Larsen, senior international marketing specialist for the state agriculture department.

“What agriculture has to do is find a bunch of niche opportunities to expand,” Larsen said.

Millet is often used as birdseed, but Colorado agriculture officials have been promoting its gluten-free qualities and working with Colorado State University to develop recipes for it.

They’ve also asked Colorado Malting Co. in Alamosa to ship malted samples to Colorado-based brewers to experiment in making millet beers.

“We hope to create a new sector,” Larsen said.

Colorado Malting Co. is preparing about 6,000 pounds of millet from the Fort Morgan area—2,000 pounds each of three varieties—for commercial brewers this spring. The company recently finished malting golden German millet.

“I was impressed with the nutty flavors we got out of it,” said Colorado Malting Co. co-owner Jason Cody.

However, brewers may have to add enzymes to the millet, and the millet also is taking longer to dry than barley, Cody said.

Pedro Gonzalez, co-founder of gluten-free beer company New Planet Beer, said he’s eager to see if the brewers his company works with can find a recipe that appeals to customers the way some millet-based imports do. New Planet’s existing beers primarily use sorghum, corn and brown rice.

“The palate is used to the malted barley. It’s a very unique taste,” Gonzalez said. “The gluten, the proteins in beer, make it thick and full of body and tasty. So when you choose not to have barley or wheat in your beer, then you lose those qualities.”

New Planet Beers use ingredients such as raspberry puree and molasses to add flavor. If New Planet Beer can use Colorado-grown millet, it could help the company meet its mission of being environmentally responsible by using ingredients that don’t have to be shipped far, Gonzalez said.

Scott Kimball in Buena Vista, Eddyline Restaurant and Brewing Co. head brewer, is among those signed up to experiment with malted millet. He isn’t guaranteeing his customers a millet beer until he can see how it tastes.

Pagosa Brewing Co. in Pagosa Springs also plans to play with millet. “It’s an opportunity where if we have a gluten-free beer that actually tastes good, let’s try it,” said head brewer Tony Simmons, who has home brewed with millet before. “I’m a big fan,” he said.

The state agriculture department is using a $42,000 USDA grant to help Colorado’s millet industry market itself, domestically and overseas.

Millet grows on about 200,000 acres in Colorado and can be rotated with wheat, which grows on about 2 million acres, Larsen said.

“If the market demand is there, we can certainly produce more,” he said.