Dogfish's gluten-free beer hitting the market

A new gluten-free beer should be appearing on Jacksonville area store shelves in the coming days.
Dogfish Head is introducing a bear called Tweason'ale that will be shipped to Florida distributors next week, the company told me.
Tweason'ale is a bit different than other beers, brewed with strawberries and honey. But it's always nice to find more choices.

“It seems as if lots of folks who have gluten- tolerance issues are pining for an interesting beer,” Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione said in a pitch for Tweason'ale. “While there are a few well-made examples that mirror traditional beer styles, there aren’t any off-centered offerings.”
Here's Dogfish's description of Tweason'ale:
"We replaced the classic barley foundation of beer with a mild sorghum base. The hints of molasses and pit-fruit are balanced by vibrant strawberry notes and a unique complexity that comes with the addition of a malty buckwheat honey."
Tweason'ale will be sold in 12-ounce four-packs.

Joseph's now has gluten-free pizza!

Nothing makes my day more than finding out that another Jacksonville restaurant has added gluten-free pizza to its menu. I've found some good places for pizza, but I was getting bored with them.
So when Jennifer of glutenfreejacksonville.com posted on Facebook this morning that Joseph's Pizza now has gluten-free pizza, I had to go right away (I guess Facebook is actually useful). And I'm glad I did.
My pepperoni and sausage pizza had a nice crispy crust and a good flavor. I will definitely be going back for more.

Joseph's has only been offering the gluten-free pizza for about a week. I asked about gluten-free beer to go with it and they don't have any, but they do have Woodchuck cider, which is gluten-free. The server told me he didn't know there were gluten-free beers, so I told him about Anheuser-Busch's Redbridge. He said he'd tell the owners, so hopefully we'll be able to get pizza and beer there soon.
Joseph's has two locations in Atlantic Beach (where I went) and on North Main Street.

One year later

Today marks one year that I've been gluten-free.
I was hoping to come up with something insightful to say about this anniversary, but I really don't have anything. I've learned a lot about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, but I still have a lot to learn.
At least I learned I'm not going to go hungry. When I got the diagnosis a year ago, with two days before Christmas, I went into a panic over what I could eat over Christmas weekend, when everything would be closed. This year, I'm well prepared.
I find it amusing that people who don't have celiac disease think they can use the gluten-free diet to lose weight. People ask me all the time if I've lost weight. No, I've gained weight because I've replaced a lot of healthy glutenous food with gluten-free snacks like potato chips and Fritos. Those aren't part of a weight loss program.
My biggest concern is that my previous Gluten-free Glutton blog ended in August, for reasons beyond my control. I got a lot of feedback saying the blog was making a difference because of the information I was able to provide to people about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet. I started that blog because I realized my position as a newspaper reporter would give me more access to information than a lot of other people could get.
Unfortunately, when I started this blog on my own, I found that without the backing of a newspaper, people are more reluctant to give me some of that information. So this blog hasn't been so successful. So for anyone who actually can find this blog (I can still find my old blog with a Google search but not this one), I apologize for that.
But anyway, I'll continue to pass on any new gluten-free information I can get.
Happy Holidays.

A gluten-free burger and onion rings! But not in Jacksonville, obviously

I finally made it to Yeah! Burger in Atlanta this week. I've been salivating over its menu for months, ever since Jennifer of glutenfreejacksonville.com first told me about it.
Not only can you get a hamburger on a gluten-free bun at Yeah! Burger, but you can also get gluten-free onion rings! This is the first place I've found that offers that.

So on a trip to Atlanta, I went out of my way to get to Yeah! Burger. And it was everything I hoped it would be. Good burger on a bun that held together fine. And the onion rings were quite tasty.
I liked the fact that when I ordered my burger on a gluten-free bun and gluten-free rings, the cashier asked me if I wanted a gluten-free beer with it (they have Bard's).
Yeah! Burger has two locations in Atlanta. I don't know if it's a chain that will expand.
Besides offering gluten-free options, Yeah! Burger also prides itself on its natural and organic ingredients and its eco-friendly environment. My friend who lives in Atlanta pointed out that those attributes are a big deal in Atlanta, but we agreed that it may not be important in a lot of other places, like Jacksonville.
One other note about my trip to Atlanta. We were looking for a place to have a beer so we stopped in a Mellow Mushroom, since the Jacksonville locations not only have gluten-free pizza but also gluten-free beer. But while the Atlanta Mellow Mushroom has gluten-free pizza, it did not offer gluten-free beer. That was disappointing.

How I finally got a Redbridge at EverBank Field

It wasn't easy, but I finally got to drink a gluten-free beer yesterday at a Jaguars game at EverBank Field. Just $11 for 12 ounces of Redbridge. But I wasn't going to be denied.
Here's a little background for those of you who haven't followed the story. It started during the summer when I convinced Bill Prescott, the Jaguars' senior vice president of stadium operations, that they should be able to offer gluten-free Redbridge beer at Jaguars games. Redbridge is made by Anheuser-Busch, so it is easily available from the distributors for any establishment that offers Anheuser-Busch products such as Budweiser.
In late August, Prescott told me that, yes, Redbridge would be available at four specialty beer stands and carts in the main seating area (it's also available in the club seat sections).
But when I went to my first Jaguars game this year, I couldn't find it. I visited several of the beer stands but nobody had it. And when I asked about it, I got that usual blank look from someone who didn't understand what I was talking about. With gametime approaching, I gave up and went to my seat, very unhappy.
So yesterday, I was determined to go early, before the crowds made the beer vendors frantic, to find my Redbridge. I got there an hour before the game and started my quest.
I circled the entire lower deck, visiting every beer stand. No Redbridge. And when I asked, of course, no one knew anything about it.
Not about to give up, and with plenty of time before the game started, I went to the upper deck. Still no luck.
Finally, I got to an actual bar tucked away in the northeast corner of upper deck that I didn't know existed. I asked a woman working there who said they didn't have Redbridge. But this time, I found someone who was very helpful. There were a couple of stadium operations people standing outside the bar and she said she would ask them where I could find Redbridge.
So we went to one of those guys who asked me what section I was sitting in. I told him Section 144 and he told me he would call the warehouse and get Redbridge delivered to the specialty beer cart in the tunnel behind Section 140.
I went back downstairs to that cart and, of course, they didn't know what I was talking about when I asked about Redbridge. But I figured I would give them a few minutes to get the beer delivered.
Ten minutes later, I returned and, sure enough, there were six Redbridges sitting there with the other specialty beers. The woman smiled and told me they just got them.
So I paid my $11 and they opened a bottle and poured the 12-ounce beer into a 32-ounce plastic cup, which looked quite comical (see the photo). But I had my gluten-free beer, 19 minutes before gametime.
I wish I had gotten the names of the woman at the bar and the stadium operations guy who made it happen. It didn't take much, but they made the extra effort to accommodate a fan, and they should be commended.
I was so happy that I spent another $11 to have a second beer in the second quarter (full disclosure: I got my ticket for free from a friend, so I could justify overspending for beer).
So yes, you can get gluten-free beer at a Jaguars game. But really Jags: does it have to be so hard?

NY Times magazine looks at celiac disease and gluten-free diet

The New York Times magazine this week has a lengthy story on celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, which you can read here.
Hopefully, more people are finding out that the gluten-free diet is a medical necessity to treat celiac disease and not a fad.

Another gluten-free pizza place, but not in Jacksonville yet

I got to try another pizza chain with gluten-free pies on a visit to Charleston last week. It's a build-your-own pizza place called Your Pie and the appealing thing about it is that there are so many options, with only a couple of ingredients listed as off limits for gluten-free customers. And when I walked up to the counter and said I wanted a gluten-free pizza, I was asked if I have an allergy and the pizzamaker immediately washed up and changed gloves. That's the kind of service I like to see.
I ordered a Thai chicken pizza, a variety that is typically listed as off limits at other places that serve gluten-free pizza because the Thai sauce has gluten. The flavor was a bit of a disappointment because the pizzamaker put the sauce on the crust first and then put the ingredients on top of that. So even though the chicken chunks on the pizza were plentiful, they didn't have much sauce on them.
I would still go there again because there were so many options available. I would probably try a conventional pizza (like pepperoni) next time.
According to the Your Pie web site, the company has recently opened its first Florida restaurants in Tampa and Tallahassee, so maybe it will make it to Jacksonville soon.