Newsletter: BBB in pursuit of “The Cup”

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We are proud to announce that Burning Brothers has made it into the semifinal round of the 2015 Minnesota Cup. The MN Cup is the largest statewide new venture competition in the country, and we are 1 of the 70 companies selected to compete in this years contest.

In other news, Pyro was reviewed by the fine folks at Trek Tech Blog which includes a core group of regular contributors and a team of testers from around the country who show and tell all about the best and the brightest toys, tech, and trends in the outdoor industry. Beer and the great outdoors go together almost as well as peanut butter and chocolate.

In other other news (yeah, I went there), Burning Brothers will be one of the new Sunday stops for Hoppy Trolley. Based out of NE Minneapolis, Hoppy Trolley travels throughout the Twin Cities, providing a fun, safe and affordable way for craft-beer lovers to get their brew on!

Ask the Brewer

What is the difference between gluten-free and gluten-reduced beer?

Well, that is sort of a loaded question, and for a Celiac, potentially a very important one.

One of the first differences is that “gluten-free” beers are made from exclusively from gluten-free ingredients (i.e., sorghum, millet, rice, buckwheat and so on). “Gluten-reduced” beers are made with traditional ingredients such as barley or wheat (which contain gluten) and are then treated with an enzyme to break down the gluten into smaller proteins. The end goal of using these enzymes is to have the beers test below the 20 parts per million (PPM) threshold for gluten, which is a commonly accepted standard for gluten-free products.

This brings us to the second difference between gluten-free and gluten-reduced beers, the labeling.  While gluten-reduced beers do fall under the 20 PPM threshold for gluten, the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) have ruled that alcoholic beverages made from gluten containing ingredients cannot claim to be gluten-free. They can, however, market themselves as gluten-reduced. Check out this article for more details.

The third, and potentially biggest differentiation between the way the two beers are crafted comes into play for Celiacs who have a very high sensitivity to gluten. For them, gluten-reduced beers can still cause a reaction. There is currently some pretty hefty debate in the scientific community over how much gluten is removed by the enzyme process. The crux of the issue revolves around the fact that the most commonly used test for detecting gluten may not work properly in fermented beverages. This makes it hard to “prove” how much gluten has been removed/reduced.

Taproom Tidings

First off, remember that starting July 5th, you will be able to buy beer to-go from St. Paul taprooms on Sundays.

Secondly, your taproom highlights include:

  • Thirsty Thursdays – $1 off pints and $2 off growler fills
  • Food on Fridays (FoF) brings us Rusty Taco! Our brewers have found that nothing compliments the heat of Mexican food quite like a delicious IPA (and low and behold, we happen to have an IPA… go figure)!
  • Our featured cupcake from Groundswell is their Lavender Black Bottom Cheesecake and is available all weekend (while supplies last)
  • Tap selection for the weekend includes Pyro APA, Orange Blossom Honey Infused Pyro, Lime Shandy and our Blackstrap IPA. Growler and grumbler fills on everything.

What we’ve realized from living in Minnesota during road construction is that really, you can’t get there, from here.  Doesn’t matter where there is, or here is, you just can’t get there. With that being said, note that the Snelling Ave. bridge crossing Interstate 94 is closed. This means that access to the brewery from the I94/Snelling ramps is difficult to non-existent, depending on which direction you are coming from. We recommend using the Cretin/Vandalia exit for the interim.

Questions? Drop us a note via Email, Facebook, Dowsing RodTwitter or Google+.

Cheers!