Gluten-free beer

I had heard that there were several types of GF beer on the market shortly after my diagnosis. I'm not a big beer drinker, so it was extremely low on the priority list to check out, but just yesterday, someone told me our local combo beer pub/wine-and-beer store sold a GF beer. So I figured, if for no other reason than to encourage them to continue to do so for sometime in the future when I might be there again, I should go try it out. Turns out they only had one variety -- one called Redbridge that is an Anheuser-Busch product. I had heard from some (one in person and several online) that it wasn't great, but I had also heard that it had recently been reformulated to be better.

Well, turns out that those who think it isn't great have MUCH higher standards for beer than I do. When I do drink beer, though I'm generally not inclined toward a basic American beer (like Bud, Miller, or basic light beers), about the strongest flavor I can handle is a Fireman's Four or a Harp. Redbridge ran somewhere between the home-brew Mike used to make and a Sam Adams -- totally drinkable and flavorful. It's actually slightly more hoppy than I'm accustomed to, but it's tasty and I liked it. Turns out, though, that this one was one of the old formula ones -- the bottle labels have changed with the new formula. So I am now curious to know whether I will like it more or less when I stumble across the new one.

Either way, as I said, it's not a huge priority, but it is a nice-to-know.

Update: Anheuser Busch screwed it up! I got the new Redbridge this weekend and it's not as good at the old! Ugh! But the good news is that I also tried a different kind called Bard's that is better than the new Redbridge. I think I liked the old Redbridge better than Bard's, but Bard's is totally drinkable. I emailed A-B to let them know the old Redbridge was better, so maybe they'll get that feedback from lots of people and eventually change it back...