One of the biggest things I was concerned about when I found out I had coeliac disease was beer. How was I going to survive without beer? Luckily there have been a few gluten free beers come on the market in Australia over the last couple of years, much to my relief.The best gluten free beer I've tasted so far has been made by O'Brien Brewery. O'Brien Brewery is in Ballarat, and is apparently the only completely gluten-free brewery in the country. There are three O'Brien beers - a premium lager, brown ale and pale ale. Of the three, I prefer the premium lager as the best all-rounder, however the ales really come into their own during the cooler months. Best of all, they all actually taste like beer, not some watery imitation.
Since it was first released , the price has dropped about $10 a case, but it's still really expensive. The last carton I bought from Dan Murphy's was about $75, so it's not the kind of beer you can just guzzle away. Otherwise you can order it directly from the O'Brien Brewing website, which also has information on where you can buy the beer all over Australia. I've found that most Dan Murphy's in Brisbane seem to stock at least one of the O'Brien beers.
O'Brien Brewery
PO Box 191
Ascot Vale VIC 3032
P - 1300 432 337
W - http://www.obrienbrewing.com.au/
1 comment:
Personally I prefer the "Pale Ale", but I get the lager every so often to mix things up. Dan Murpheys usually sell it to me for $69.90, they usually only have singles and six-packs but if you ask them, they will put four 6-packs in a random box and charge the carton price. It costs a lot more if you buy 4 6-packs as aposed to one carton. Which is ridiculous... Since it's the same thing sans the box, which is usually just a random wine box from out the back.
Billabong beer and Snitzer Brau are also gluten free but by the time Billabong gets to Brisbane from WA it's usually oxidized and has that metallic iron taste that oxidization causes, the same goes for Schnitzer Brau which I think is brewed in Germany to Reinheitsgebot standards. Billabong Ginger flavoured beer isn't too bad if you're a fan of ginger beer, but the rest really don't compare to O'Briens. Theres a few other gluten free brands around though. Such as "Wilde" and a whole bunch of imported brands which are inconsistantly stocked, severely overpriced and usually oxidized.
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