dang that beer has wheat...

Almost two months ago I cut wheat out of my diet. No I do not have Celiac nor am I gluten free. I cut out wheat for other reasons and since the result has been positive and I am sticking with it. Now don't get me wrong, I miss certain foods a lot! Like a real pizza. Substitutes come no where close to a great pizza crust. 

Not being fully gluten free means I am not prevented from enjoying my favorite beverage-a really good beer. I do have to be more aware of what malts and grains are used in the brewing process. I am not a fan of "wheat" beers so those are easy to avoid. It's the beers that use a small amount of wheat along with other malts to create a certain body style or flavor profile that I have to be more cognizant of. 

One could think it wouldn't be that difficult to determine if there was wheat in a brew. Well, breweries don't have to put all of the ingredients on labels such as ones that are on all food products. It's just not a regulation and for the most part not that big of a deal and not something I am out advocating to change. I am bringing up that me in a beer aisle or store has to be either entertaining or irritating depending on who's watching me. I read all the labels and the packs or cases for ingredients. If not listed I then check out a variety of places on line: brewery website, Untappd, Beer Advocate, alignment of the stars, random search, etc.

On some occasions I can't find anything on a brews ingredients and I have to decide if I am going to risk it or find another beer. Since I don't get sick from eating wheat or gluten, I can usually just risk it if I am like "OMG I SO HAVE TO TRY THIS BEER RIGHT NOW!!" or if I am at a festival and too happy *wink wink* to care. Not saying I don't have side effects...the next day is usually not much fun on the digestive end of things. But depending which beer I was drinking it's worth the mild suffering.

What can really suck is when you realize one of your go to beers has wheat in it. Not sure if you want to cry or throw things in anger, neither of which will make that brew wheat free. Guess that just means trying more beers to find a new wheat free go to brew...such a hardship.