Most beers are brewed with malted barley or wheat and will contain gluten. New Planet Beer is amongst a few companies worldwide – and the only one in Colorado – dedicated to brewing guaranteed gluten-free craft beer for the growing community of people being diagnosed with Celiac Disease (CD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), gluten intolerance, or for those that are choosing a gluten-free lifestyle for health or athletic performance reasons.

What does it mean to be gluten-free?

The US FDA definition states that for a food or beverage to be labeled “gluten-free” it must not contain any of the following:

• An ingredient that is any species of the grains wheat, rye, barley, or a crossbred hybrid of these prohibited grains
• An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain that hasn’t been processed to remove gluten (e.g. wheat flour)
• An ingredient that is derived from a prohibited grain and that has been processed to remove gluten (e.g. wheat starch), if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20ppm (parts per million) or more, gluten is considered to be in the food
• 20ppm or more of gluten

Each batch of beer is guaranteed gluten-free.

New Planet Beer guarantees that our beer is gluten-free by testing each batch at the Microbac Laboratories, Inc. in Boulder, CO. We use the most stringent gluten-free threshold test available in the market today – a baseline test of less than 1ppm for each label produced. Once a label has passed the 1ppm test – we test every individual batch with the FDA required 20ppm test. All records are kept at the New Planet offices and can be verified upon request.

We take additional steps to ensure our beer is guaranteed gluten-free. First, we only use FDA approved gluten-free ingredients. Unlike other reduced gluten products in the market we don’t use ingredients that contain gluten. Second, we use extract ingredients that don’t utilize Mill Operation or the Mash Tun Operation, which is where the risk for cross contamination is highest. We also use a closed loop system where the beer goes directly from the brew kettle, to the fermentation tank, and then to the conditioning tank before packaging. Third, all of the equipment is thoroughly sanitized before use and our production process is scheduled separately from anything that could be a threat of contamination. Finally, we pride ourselves on being an ethical company that cares about the quality and certification of our products. We’ve never had a problem with a batch and they’re all guaranteed gluten-free. If any mistakes are made in the production process we’re prepared to take all necessary steps to resolve or recall all products that don’t meet our standards.

Alternative Gluten-Free Ingredients

Sorghum: New Planet Beer uses Sorghum as an alternative to wheat and barley. Sorghum is a grass that is cultivated in warmer and drier climates worldwide. Sorghum is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia with one species native to Mexico. It’s now grown throughout the world, with the United States producing 9.8 metric tons, the largest amount in 2005. This little known crop is actually the fifth most important cereal crop grown in the world.

Yeast: Propagated on our proprietary gluten-free sorghum base, New Planet Beer distinguishes itself by using a guaranteed gluten-free yeast to brew our beer.  Additionally, we use a 1 micron filter, one of the finest filters available, to filter out our yeast to ensure the cleanest, best tasting beer possible.