I remember the first time I drank beer. It was the motivating factor to hike up to this little hill in the woods, so our young-selves would not get caught. I preferred the cheap cans of beer to be warm, rather than cold like my other high school friends. The taste was not anything I was excited about, and I felt like crap the next day.  So, when celiac became a reality a couple of years ago, and beer was off the list, it was ok with me. I can still have many other beverages with or without alcohol.  When I’m in the mood for a drink, there’s always wine and quite a few distilled alcohol choices to choose from, including Spokane’s own spectacular Dry Fly gin. .

Over the past couple of GF years, though, I started adding gluten free beer back to my list of treats, and with the warmer weather last week,  cold sorghum and hops beer sounded perfect after work.

Tonight, though, I made a mistake. Not looking, I grabbed the other bottle of heavily glutened beer and took a big drink, swallowed and took another drink. My beer was on the other counter. I might not have even noticed, except Derrick stood there with his mouth open in shock. His first comment was that I should try to expel the contents back out by sticking my finger down my throat. Ok, that isn’t an option.  I am totally down with abstinence of gluten free foods, but a morning after pill would be really handy right now.

Part of the reason I didn’t notice was that my gluten free Bard’s beer, made in Minneapolis, and found at Brooklyn Nights, Huckleberries Grocery, Sante Restaurant, and Main Market Co-op,  tasted a lot like the barley filled amber from which  I’d just poached a sip. Bard’s had a nice hoppy flavor and was nothing like the cheap, warm canned beer from high school. While I will pay for my couple slugs of gluten beer over the next couple of days, if my nose had caught it before my mouth, I wouldn’t  have this blog entry to share.