Lentils in a beer? That's what the label says! Come into my post and find out more about this gluten-free beer from Ground Breaker Brewery in Portland, Oregon. It's Olallie Blackberry Rose Hip Ale!
Why Make Gluten-Free Beer?
Beer is barley! At least, barley and beer have been synonymous for a long time. Early beer purity laws, like the 1516 Bavarian law said that the only ingredients allowed were barley, water and hops. These days, a lot of other grains are used to make beer. But wheat and rye, and all their hybrids, like spelt, have gluten, too.
Some folks are sensitive to gluten. Folks with Celiac disease can't have any gluten at all! The number of folks wanting to avoid gluten must be huge. Because there are entire breweries that make nothing but gluten-free beer!
How Does It Taste?
I'm going to start writing down what I think a new beer is going to taste like. It would have been worth doing for this beer. This beer should taste like blackberries. It's even in the name -- Olallie. That's a variety of blackberry developed in the 1930s from crossing blackberries, raspberries, and dewberries.
In 
Olallie is a light-tasting beer. To me, it seems thin -- the complete opposite of a thick stout or porter! And, wow, it's an acidic beer. I'm not against that, but I kept thinking, wow, this is an acidic beer! Maybe that's the rose hips coming through. Maybe it seemed so acidic because it's not a sweet beer. It has a great blackberry flavor, but it's not sweet. If you like fruit beers, but aren't so fond of how they can seem too sweet, you might like Olallie Blackberry Rose Hip Ale!
Gluten-Free Beer Resources
If you know folks searching for beer that's gluten free, here are some resources to help.
- A List of 60 Brands of Gluten-Free Beer: updated in February 2018
- An Interactive Searchable List of Gluten-Free Beer updated in February 2018
- A List of 10 Gluten-Free Breweries I was surprised to see that 4 of those 10 breweries are in Oregon! If you want me to tour any of them, let me know in the comments!
A Contest!
This is the first beer I've ever had with beans in it! Tell me a joke about beans! I'll pick my favorite one submitted during this post's payout period. And the winner will get a $1 SBD prize.
What Do You Think?
- Have you ever had an Olallie beer?
- Have you ever had a gluten-free beer?
- Do you prefer your beer in a bottle or a can?
- Do you like fruit beers?
My other beer reviews: An Eclipse Special - The 8.2 Lunar Lager // Helles Belles Helles Lager // Session Premium Lager // Pray for Snow Winter Ale
Haphazard Homestead
foraging, gardening, nature, simple living close to the land