Research

Falling in Love with Beer

I grew up in Northern California. For a long time, I lived and played in San Diego, CA. I got married there, in, of course, a brewery! I loved beer. The first beer that did it for me was a home brew made by my sister decades ago, I was fascinated, even smitten. It was just at the time when the industry of micro-brew was emerging and there were so many new brews to try and love. A great time indeed.

In 2009,  I traveled to Europe and reveled in the European beer, in every pub I went to, tasting the brews I didn’t have access to back home, analyzing the taste difference between the same-brew American version vs European. I didn’t keep a travel log, I kept a beer log…a great time indeed.

Breaking up with Beer

A life-long swimmer and triathlete, I was already in great shape and I thought I might shoot for a half-ironman. So when I got back from my Euro trip, I started training. Then one day, I woke up and was so sore I couldn’t move. Over-trained? The Flu? I couldn’t stand without getting so dizzy I would get nauseated and drop to the floor. That and many symptoms that I thought would go away. But it didn’t go away after a week. Or a month. Or three months. Sometimes I would think I was getting better and do a long ocean swim with my trolls from the pool, but it would set me back weeks. “Had I seen the doctor?” Oy. “What doctor didn’t I see?”, is the real question.

This went on for a very long time, a very long time indeed.

One day, my friend pointed me to an experienced allergist. who helped me identify that I was allergic to wheat. It was missed earlier since the first physicians I saw were looking at Gluten. All this disruption from a tiny little protein in wheat; not gluten, but a sister protein left undetected by the early targeted testing that so many doctors had tried with me. Don’t get me wrong, I am more than thankful everyday for being healthy again, but part of the deal was: no beer. It can’t be, I thought. But it was, and so I stopped. For 8 years.

A Hypothesis

A few years ago, I relocated to  one of the best cities and, incidentally, one of the best beer towns on earth. Portland, OR. Beer is everywhere here: a stones throw from any point in the city will hit several excellent brew pubs, if not dozens of home brewers. So, you see, I had to find a way. I wanted to imbibe from the taps and take in a rich, crisp brew outdoors on the glorious summer days offered by Portland.

Since I am allergic to wheat and not gluten, I could not have gluten reduced beer, which takes the gluten out with an enzyme and leaves in the protein to which I am allergic. I found some really great grain-free beers, such as Groundbreaker, but my mind kept coming back to this question/hypothesis:

“how much wheat could there really be in a barley-based beer, knowing the barley is highly contaminated in the supply chain and in local malting with wheat? And if, according to the ADA, distillation removes all allergens from libations such as Vodka, then could the processing and filtering remove or breakdown enough allergens in beer to an acceptable level?”

I was determined to find out. I started with a research-based effort to understand Guinness stout. It is not exhaustive by any means, but I focused on the areas that would likely be the greatest source of cross-contamination. Here is what I looked for in the product and supply chain:

Product:

• Ingredients do not include wheat or wheat malts: Guinness stout brewed in Ireland does not.

Supply:

• Sources of Grain: Guinness sources its grain from local Irish Barley growers. We could reasonably assume low cross-contamination given the dedication of the supplier.
• Sources of Malts: Many brewers outsource their malts to suppliers, most of them produce both barley and wheat malts. In at least 2 cases, when called, the malt producer acknowledged that their wheat malts and barley malts are processed on the same equipment. In at least one case, when called, a brewer acknowledged that they outsource malts and do not disclose their supplier. One could guess there is more than one supplier.  Guinness Ireland does not outsource its malts. Deduction: there is low probability of cross contamination.

Reuniting with Beer

I never knowingly consume anything that could have wheat in it. In this case, I felt confident enough to try a Guinness Stout brewed in its Ireland facility. Each bottle shows brewing location. So in September of  2017 in Lake Tahoe, CA with my sisters and extended family around me, and in the name of my dear late brother-in-law, Stan , who also loved beer, I tried a luscious, lovely, smooth Guinness Stout, for the first time in 8 years. I had no symptoms whatsoever.

I thought “there must be more”. Anchoring back on my initial hypothesis, I immediately started to research wheat and gluten testing kits and this set the path to the creation of this blog. I found kits that were suitable and now launch a new journey that includes beer and shares information that can help others. A great time indeed!

I catalogued the test results and compiled them in a table. Click on the image below to get to the Test Results Table: