Out of curiosity as well as by accident, I have recently tried a couple of beers that do not rely entirely on a wheat source. In the beer making process, a starch source is needed for a fermentable material and is a key ingredient related to the taste and alcohol content of the beer.
Typically, mashed barley is mixed with hot water to start the process and is then mixed with some other malted or unmalted substances such as wheat, rice, oats, rye, or even corn and sorghum. Barley malt is usually best to use, not only because it is easy to convert into a mash, but also because it is rich in amylase, which is a digestive enzyme that creates sugars from starch more easily.
Unfortunately, not everyone likes gluten products. Even if they do, their stomachs might not, which forces the consumer toward harder substances of alcohol that are not exactly allowed on campus. People can turn to wine or the rice wine, sake, but they may feel like they are missing out.
For these people (or in some cases, for the hell of it), brewers have concocted brews to try to avoid the biggest, most convenient ingredient in beer.
This first beer is not entirely gluten-free, but brewed primarily with rice in a sake format. Hitachino Nest Beer Red Rice Ale is a nice example of a new twist on two old things. It has all the complex sake flavors mixed with the sweet tones of malt found in beer. It has some hints of strawberry, and ends with a strange mix of sake, beer, and bitter notes. For those not accustomed to sake, the taste is weird at first, but gets better as the bottle gets emptier. The brewing begins with the polishing, washing, soaking, and steaming of rice to break down some of the starches. A pilsner malt is added to the mash, and then later, hops, as is typical in beer. Because of the mix, two different yeasts must be used, both beer and sake yeast, to further break down starches in the rice and the malt. It is fermented for a couple of weeks and matured before being distributed in Japan and the U.S. I found this particular beer at Frontier Café, but I have not seen it there in a while.
For the die-hard gluten-haters, an entirely gluten-free beer exists, and it is widely distributed. This beer is Redbridge, and can be found at Hannaford.
It's produced by the Anheuser-Busch, which is behind Budweiser and all its incarnations, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. Redbridge cites only four ingredients: water, fermented sorghum, hops, and yeast.
Sorghum is a type of grass and has been used as an alternative ingredient for beer for a while. In southern Africa, it produces the local version of Guinness, as well as other beers. While a gluten-free Guinness does not exist (as malt barley is still used as well), Redbridge has taken out the gluten for its beer.
I had very low expectations for an Anheuser Busch-produced beer that was made out of, well, grass. On tasting, the beer was not as bad as I anticipated, but that really doesn't say much. It is unmistakably beer, but there is really nothing too interesting about it aside from the fact that it is gluten free.
There is no captivating taste or aroma, but I imagine this would be quite the hot ticket if I had Celiac Disease.