When I discovered my gluten intolerance back in late 1998 one of the hardest things to forego was good beer. It was nearly 10 years before I tried my first gluten free, sorgham based beer and it was pretty damn good. Actually it was heaven because I’m not really a fan of wine and a Cave Man can only drink so many NorCal Margaritas before wanting something else. About a year ago I was hanging with John Welbourn and he said he had some gluten free beer. He presented me with something that looked like a bottle of Absynthe. An anchient looking green bottle with with a label that said “St. Peters.”
I shrugged, gave it a try and in as calm a voice as I could muster asked john: “How many of these do you have?”
“Three” he said.
I had a serious problem. I was drinking one of only three remaining beers and my drinking budy weighs 300lbs. I was not likely to see the remaining beer!
I snapped a photo of the bottle and thought longingly of it but our local Chico shops did not stock it.
St. Peters: Love at first taste.
Well, about a year went by and I was hanging out with Brian Wilson of Potomac CrossFit and he took me to a restaurant right next to his gym that stocks (at his prodding) St. Peters beer! A great dinner and a few St. Peters later I was committed to finding a consistent supply of this fantastic beer and spreading the word about it.
Just as good the 2nd time.
With a little work I tracked down St. Peters Brewery in the UK and their distributors in the US and elsewhere. Then I had a wacky idea: The Paleolithic Solution book tour needs an Official Beer. The folks at St. Peters liked the idea so here we are!
So thank you to St. Peters Brewery and to Eurobrew for the sponsorship. Thanks to y’all for the continued interest and support. If you need help tracking down some of this precious nectar, contact Eurobrew for details.
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too bad we didn’t have that at the CFSBK seminar… it was my first exposure to gluten-free beer, and after the first sip, i walked outside and blessed the sidewalk with the remainder of the bottle.
Michele-
This is quite a bit better than the Redbridge and even that seemed like it might have been a little on the old side. It’s usually better.
I was at the Primavera Sound festival organised by San Miguel Beer, in Barcelona, earlier in the summer and they were advertising San Miguel Celiac Beer for sale, but it never materialised in bars. I’ve not found it by Googling, but maybe it is something they’re intending to bring to market soon.
Hollaback yo.
Glad you liked it.
My local Whole Foods carries it! I’ll give it a shot!
Sweet! Love that the Paleo Solution signing has a “official beer”. Let us know when you’re back in our area and we’ll see if we can’t dip into Lyon Hall’s supply again.
mega cool, have to look for it in the shops around here.
Hell yes! After hearing you mention gluten free beer on the podcast I managed to track St. Peter’s at London’s Borough Market. Really enjoyed it then discovered my local pub, literally a minute’s stumble from home, serves not one but TWO gluten free beers, St Peter’s and Neumarkter Lammsbrau Pilsner from Germany! Heaven! Me enjoying a beer at my local: serveyoursoul.tumblr.com/post/1072017573/gluten-free-st-peters-beer
Gluten Free pub crawl when you hit up London?
Eddie! hell-yes! I think we need an international pub directory of places serving GF beer. The new site is almost done, but I think wee need a new page!
Yeah…I’ve tried the redbridge and wasn’t really impressed. If this is better I will give it a try. Give me a ballpark for taste…Stella? Or maybe even a little heartier? It still looks a bit light still so it can’t be too hearty. Give me something to go on brother!
Will-
Like a paleo Ale but without the bite…it is no Guinness and for that I will be forever sad.
Ha ha. I love GOOD beer, and we have a fantastic variety available here in the Phoenix (Tempe) area – and St. Peter’s Sorghum is definitely a good one – but since going paleo I hardly ever touch the stuff. The irony of a Paleolithic Solution book tour being sponsored by a grain-based beverage cracks me up.
Since we’re on the subject; what effect do the malting, mashing, lautering, boiling, and fermenting have on lectins and such?
I prefer a good dry cider.
Melissa- me too actually but when I’m hankering for a beer this is a nice option. Sweeden had the most amazing ciders.
I realize this post is now four months old, but I’m curious, like John, about the lectin levels of gluten-free beer. Does the fermenting take care of them? Any other health concerns we should be concerned with when drinking gluten-free beer?
redbridge has saved me a few times, there is another one that is brewed near me (norwalk,ct) called bard’s, i enjoy this one. more of a pale ale. and when really in a pinch amstel and heiniken are accepted as gluten free as they have like .002% gluten. robb any thoughts on the amstel and heiniken?
My local Whole Foods carries several beers by this brewery, so I will check it out. I thought Red Bridge was pretty crappy, but not bad when mixed half and half with cider. It also takes the sweetness off the cider so that it doesn’t taste like alcoholic apple juice.
In other news, any quick zingers to contradict this latest piece of “science”?:
http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/06/animal-based-protein-diets-increase-mortality-rate/?iref=allsearch
Hey Coach,
Quick off- the- drinking- topic- of- beer- question:
Recently my GF went to a lecture held by her chiropractor and the gent went on to explain a direct cause and effect link between spinal health and the immune system. From what she told me he stated such things that constant adjustments to the spine and keeping it health maintains and regulates a health immune system.
So can I give up paleo and just get adjusted??
I performed a quick google search and the only things that came up were on chiropractic websites mostly claiming that though there is linkage between emotional, postural and physical stress it’s really the nervous system that controls the immune system and once your spine is correctly adjusted can you have a healthy immune system.
Your take?
XO
If this isn’t a benchmark that you have finally “made it,” I honestly don’t know what is. AWESOME!
I have noticed Coach Rut hasn’t updated his sit for quite some time. Is he okay? Maybe just on vacation?
Thanks for the post, Robb. I’ve been missing my beer so you’re a lifesaver.
Because of your post, I hopped (pun intended) over to the Beverage Warehouse in West LA (near Venice and Marina del Rey) and picked up four bottles of St. Peters Sorgham Beer. Can’t wait to try it out tonight! I couldn’t resist buying a four-pack of Dogfish Head’s Midas Touch, as well.
Robb – I hear you about the Guiness. My friends call me names now because I won’t drink beer, on account of how sick it makes me, but… They don’t know the real suffering that giving up Guiness has caused… Thanks for the post. I am looking that stuff up ASAP. In the meantime, I’ve noticed Sake doesn’t make me sick at all. (More experimentation is required, however!)
Bard’s is pretty good too, better than St. Peter’s, New Grist and Redbridge. I asked my local store to carry it for me and they obliged. But what I really want is a good IPA. I’ve made lots of homebrew in the past and decided to take matters into my own hands. I’ve got a sorghum based IPA aging and will be brewing a chestnut based beer in the near future. I’ve tried the wine thing and it’s OK once in awhile, but there’s nothing like a good beer.
I’m still thinking about cavemen with margaritas. Congrats on the hook up for your signing!
I am guessing you were at Lyon Hall? St. Peter’s really is my fave gluten free beer as well. Enjoying it on Lyon Hall’s patio makes for a nice evening as well. If only we could get them to stock their menu with Paleo entries. More reasons to return to the DC area for a book signing! Sadly, too much alcohol has an effect on how I look, feel and perform whether it’s gluten-free or not.
Here’s a couple for you when you head down under
http://scottsbrewing.co.nz/
http://www.obrienbrewing.com.au/
I like the St. Peter’s Sorghum as well. My daughter suggested it when she returned from a 6 month stay in London. Better than RedBridge, which is fine in a pinch. She says, however, that Bulmer’s Cider from Ireland is the absolute best gluten-free alcoholic beverage.
Been listening to your podcasts all summer and just ordered the new book!
This is pretty cool. I will have to give it a try. I believe Sake and Scotch are also gluten free. Both are awesome and tasty drinking options. I want to find some pure honey based Mead as well.
.. and if you want the bottom to drop out of your world Drink St Peters and watch the world drop oot of your bottom”
It was an old Flowers ale lament and likely many other ales that could make one ‘runny’
I find myself exclaiming “Holy cats!” more frequently than prior to paleo.
Official Beer Sponsor. You have officially arrived. You’re like the dang NFL. Nothing can stop you now.
Boyd- big time indeed ;0)
That rules!!! Will have to find the Aussie supplier.
Holy cats!
What else can I say!
Have to try and find that from Finland.
Thanks for your big effort on the blog and podcasts. Can´t wait ´til I get my hands on the book.
@Chris: there are pubmed articles about chiropractic care improving immune system health; basic physiology & anatomy will also lead you to the link btwn CNS & immune system; lots too of recent developments in this field as well.
I’m a chiropractor who makes sure my patients are getting their nervous system working optimally, while eating paleo to ensure they are nourished properly as well as reducing inflammation, on top of doing movements to improve all aspects of their health. Tremendous results when combined. Instead of looking at either/or…
Now if only you could get an official tequila of the Paleolithic Solution, life couldn’t get much better!
Working on it!
@Michael: I understand a connection but the way that the chiropractors are explaining it to me just isn’t making sense. Recently I’ve noticed chrios talking about putting people on “plans” similar to personal training in which they try and suggest that the patient/client come in 3x a week for X amount of months. Sounds like gibberish to me. My GF got swept up in this, every chiro is contradicting the other, everyone’s trying to put her on a plan and she’s fine. I know of people with nervous system damage that still have very well working immune systems. The “direct effect” that it sounded this chrio was trying to draw was over the top. It was almost as if he was stating the ONLY way to a health immune system is a properly aligned spine. This hints at the idea that Stephen Hawkins and Christopher Reeves didn’t/don’t have well working immune systems because they didn’t have much of a functioning nervous system. Not sure on that linkage. Everything I read and have read about this is from Chrios. I couldn’t find outside evidence on the matter. This guy was looking at ONLY, which bothered me, so I wanted Robbs take on the matter because I find the handsome lad to be a pretty good source of info. He has yet to let me down. Thanks for your input though
Robb,
I’d like to interrogate you about those fabulous Swedish ciders. I totally missed out on them during my decades in Sweden. Though my focus in my younger years was mostly on beer and hard liquor – the stuff that keeps vikings mellow and submissive to the tax man.
Christian W-
Man, they are good.
Robb,
“Holy Cats! This is some good beer!” is a great jingle, and not offensive like the spooky singing cats for the gluten promoting sandwiches.
Non-gluten beer=cool holy cats
Gluten sandwiches=freaky singing cats
Holy cats, I’m glad it’s Friday… this may be the most strange comment I’ve ever posted.
Yes, this is by far the best bottled gluten free beer I’ve found. My favorite ever is Jolly Pumpkin brewery’s Golden Manatee Belipago. Very complex belgian sour. I hope they bottle it but in the meantime I can get growlers.
We adore St Peter’s beer at home and beer is the one thing I’ve failed to ween my partner off. It probably helps that we live in the UK. Every so often we come across a supermarket or corner shop that stocks St Peter’s and I get a couple of bottles for my partner, but I didn’t know that they do gluten-free beer. This could be the way for me to finally get him over the beer hurdle (previous gluten-free beer has been considered too unpleasant for a lover of micro-brewery beers).
Thanks for the heads up!
[...] despite living across the pond, Robb Wolf has discovered that British Beer really is best, with this endorsement of gluten-free St [...]
So, is this beer considered Paleo or what?
Bradford-
No, but it is considered delicious.
So I saw this post and headed off to Total Wine to pick some up, well they didn’t have St Peters Sorghum beer, but they had Bards and Redbridge which are both Sorghum beers as well. I drank one of each Sunday afternoon – I thought both tasted like crap, but I think pretty much all beer but Guinness does – Anyways, I had a slight buzz and felt great after wards. Well I woke up in the middle of the night to some explosive diarrhea. I had the same experience again in the morning and this makes the 4th day now that I’ve had butt-pee. Aaaah! What gives?! I’m never drinking Sorghum beer again!
[...] Robb Wolf endorses St. Peters Sorghum beer. I have bought a couple of bottles but haven’t been willing to hit 100 burpees for the sample. [...]
[...] Robb Wolf endorses St. Peters Sorghum beer. I have bought a couple of bottles but haven’t been willing to hit 100 burpees for the sample. [...]
[...] gluten-free option called St. Peters Sorgham Beer. I, myself, have not tried it, but according to Robb Wolf, it [...]
[...] Chris loves beer and I’ve failed to get him off wheat-based beer. It’s his one reason to never go completely Paleo. However, it seems that St Peter’s, a UK brewer who we know well and who we already treated as best-beer for special treats, does a gluten-free beer. Apparently it’s so good that Robb Wolf got them to be the official beer of his book tour. [...]
[...] Sisson Robb Wolf [...]
[...] people, I bring to you…. Gluten free beer! My favorite happens to be Robb Wolfs as well, St. Peters Sorgham. LikeBe the first to like this post. [...]
Hi Rob,
Thank you for pointing this out. I’m new to Paleo but am loving it! Glad to hear the Gluten Free beer is ok to drink. There is a gluten free beer invented right here in Lees Summit, MO called Bard’s Tale. I picked some up today and cant wait to try it out. Thanks for the wonderful site and all the great information!
Green’s are by far the best gluten free beers. They also pack a punch with 10-12% alcohol