The Future of Gluten Free Brewing

Hey all, My name’s Dan and I am a Commerical Brewer, and Gluten Free Brewer, long time friend of Gluten Free Brian and now a new contributor to his website. I figured id talk about the state of brewing and see where yall land.

With so many recent closures of normal breweries and gluten-free breweries across the country I think it needs to be said: the world of homebrewing and commercial brewing at a craft level is dying. OK, maybe I’m being hyperbolic. But is it really dying or is it simply responding to the constraints of the market? Are people becoming more and more health conscious these days and putting drinking behind them? These are obviously questions for the initiated or the economics majors out there. But seeing as I’m neither of these, I guess I’ll give my opinion based on my experience in the commercial brewing world, as well as the general homebrewing community. I do see a large portion of home brew stores closing, as well as a number of breweries around me (Eastern PA). People do seem to be less interested in making their own beer at home and more interested in finding that beer that they crave out in public, since even though there are breweries closing, two more sprout up somewhere around them. The ones that have existed for 5,10, or 15 years are putting out some of the best beer that they ever have, and have dialed in their distribution and tap rooms to service their fans at a pretty high level. Some commercial breweries are offering venue space, but most are incorporating kitchens into their business model, allowing for food and beer to be paired together , creating a specific and unique experience at any of these establishments. This also helps make sure they have diversified streams of income coming in. Because of that, people are more interested in community, and beyond that, homebrewing can be lonely sometimes. Does this mean I think that Homebrewing is dead? No, not at all but it is definitely going through lull. If we want people, whether normal homebrewers or gluten-free homebrewers, to get into homebrewing once more, I think it falls to commercial breweries to incentivize that culture of experimentation and make it accessible again. The next generation of drinkers cares more about craft and uniqueness than their predecessors as far as I can tell, and that needs to be passed on to them through us. And this brings me to my next point: I think the age of dedicated gluten-free brewing needs to change. Now, more than ever as maltsters across the US are creating some of the best product The gluten-free brewing community has ever seen; we need to see mass adoption of these alternative grains, being used at a commercial level in non-gluten-free breweries. Personally, I would love to see gluten-free Homebrewers go to any commercial brewery and volunteer their services to make a small batch of gluten-free beer for that brewery, showing them what it takes to make that beer as well as advising them on correct practices for maintaining gluten-free standards in the brewing process. On a small format this is easily achievable for almost any brewery. Gluten free breweries could even do the same, effectively mentoring their non gf counterparts to increase the market of gf and working together to make gf beer even better than it already is. Collabs are one thing , but business integration is another. Pilot systems, small batch fermenters, small batch mills, and dedicated lines for service are all achievable at a commercial level, making it fairly easy for a commercial brewery to  make a beer for the gluten-free community. This adaptation at a state or national level, even on the small scale, would make massive waves in the gluten-free brewing world, showing what is possible with these “specialty“ grains, and allowing commercial breweries, gluten-free or not, to perfect the craft so many of us enjoy. The particulars of how this would be possible may be more difficult, but we as a gluten-free brewing community have to start somewhere if we want our favorite maltsters to survive/thrive and if we want our small niche community of gluten-free home brewers to grow and be accepted in the greater brewing community. I know I don’t speak from any major point of authority, but working as a commercial brewer in Pennsylvania and seeing a number of gluten-free breweries closing, it scares me to know that this art we all enjoy so much could quickly fade overnight. It would be great if all of us could work together even at the tiniest scale to facilitate gluten-free brewing to new heights. Thanks for reading this blog post and I hope you all never stop brewing