The Denver brewery is featured in a Samuel Adams collaboration 12-pack.
“We got our gluten-removed beer in a regular 12-pack with regular beers,” Rick Abitol, brewmaster, says. “We are trying to use that to break down the walls and the perception that (gluten-removed beer) must be different or not as good because you’re saying the g-word.”
Most people who try the rich-in-flavor stout, he says, won’t even realize it’s different. The Oats McGoats is medium-bodied with chocolate and roast flavors complemented by a thread of sweetness from the oats. But there’s a stereotype that Abitbol’s battled since opening five years ago.
“The minute you say the ‘gluten’ word … people automatically assume that the taste must be substandard,” he says. “So I have to brew beers twice as good as the next guy to be considered half as good.”