Pedro Gonzalez, founder of New Planet gluten free brewery in Boulder, Colorado tells The Pint that making gluten free beer is essentially like making a modern day house, with a “1940’s tool box.” It is not an easy task to brew with gluten free ingredients such as: millet, sorghum, rice, and corn, and make them taste like the same carbonated, malty, beverage we’ve all come to love.

“There’s a large segment of the population allergic to gluten, as high as 10%. Gluten free and gluten-reduced beers provide us with an avenue to be able to drink beer.” Said Gonzalez. He himself suffers from celiac disease, and when The Pint asked why he began brewing, he simply said, “I wanted to drink craft beer!” While Gluten free beer is made in the complete absence of gluten, beers that are crafted to reduce gluten are made with traditional ingredients such as malted barely, and wheat, but under go a process of enzyme hydrolyzation which breaks up the gluten. Gluten free, or gluten aware, New Planet offers a solution.

New Planet is unique in the fact that it focuses heavily on its bottle sales. New Planets flagship selection of gluten free beers: Pale ale, Blond ale, Belgian ale, and Raspberry ale, can be found in liquor stores across the continental US. Ingredients are of up most importance to gluten free consumers. All of New planets Gluten free, and gluten-reduced beers are in accordance with the TTB (Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau.) Which states that gluten free beer must have a list of ingredients on the label, while gluten reduced labels must indicate that the beer is not completely gluten free, and may still contain traces of gluten.

New Planets taproom is open 3:00 pm-8:00 pm on Friday and Saturday and has rotating taps that offer experimental gluten-reduced brews. The Pint had the pleasure of trying their current brews on tap including their Oatmeal Stout, an unlikely favorite this summer. It is a dark yet refreshing beer sitting at 5.2% ABV. A sneak peak of an unreleased IPA had an amazing tropical aroma of pineapple, and banana, and yet drank like an American session IPA, smooth with just the right touch of hops at the finish.

Indeed, New Planet is proving that gluten free beer is not to be discounted in the world of Craft brews. They are pioneering the way with refreshing, healthy, and overall comparable gluten free beers. New planet is passionate about providing everyone with a good brew because “You do not solve the worlds problems over a glass of white wine.” Says Gonzalez.

By: Kendra Hamman

Read the original article on The Pint.