• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Environment/Sustainability
  • Events
  • About us
  • Subscribe
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Letters to the Editor
  • 2021 Town Election
  • Bulletin Board
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley

Wellesley homebrewer: Don’t fear this gluten-free beer

October 23, 2020 by Bob Brown 5 Comments

As Chris Mirick’s father put it, people would always drink someone’s home brew once to be polite. But you knew your beer was good if they’d voluntarily have a second one.

Mirick, a 19-year Wellesley resident who is in between jobs as a general counsel, has found that people are happy to have more than one of his homebrews. He started making beer after college in the mid-199os with his uncle, a chemist by training, and they even brewed all the beer for Mirick’s brother’s wedding.

Now this home brewer is trying his hand at commercializing his creations.

Chris Mirick
Cheers: Brewer Chris Mirick

 

Taking a break from beer

Mirick and his uncle at one point were doing all-grain brewing, and Mirick says he almost always had two or three styles of beer on tap at home.

But he was having health issues and was eventually diagnosed as a celiac. So Mirick put the beer aside—at his “peak brewing skill”—and went gluten-free the day after his brother’s wedding.

“Beer is from barley, and barley contains gluten, which is the protein that celiacs cannot tolerate,” Mirick says.

Once Mirick started avoiding gluten, he felt “incredibly better” within six months. Now 18 years later he’s still feeling great.

In the years since his diagnosis, Mirick did get back into brewing, initially making cider with family and friends. “It was drinkable, but there wasn’t much craft to it,” he says. Though Mirick does consider it a great Thanksgiving tradition in that it involves mostly using apples from his family’s place in Princeton, Mass.

Roughly 10 to 12 years ago, Mirick started working on the idea of brewing gluten-free beer. He consulted with the owner of Natick’s do-it-yourself Barleycorn’s brewery (now the home of Kells Beer Co.), and experimented with various gluten-free grains. Mirick came up with a base recipe involving sorghum, gluten-free oats, and quinoa that resulted in a pale gold beer, “hoppy and bright,” with about 7% ABV.

Mirick’s wife Catherine, a Wellesley School Committee member, further supported his efforts a couple Christmases ago by giving him a batch of custom-printed bottle caps that read “Wellesley Ale House,” for bottling his home-brewed beer. Last fall he actually snapped up that name in creating an LLC for his beer making venture.

Going commercial

Most Octobers, Mirick heads to Dallas to join friends who live there in a chili cooking competition. One who owns a restaurant with an extensive gluten-free menu tried Mirick’s beer and suggested it should be brought to market.

“We’ve been looking into it for a year or so,” Mirick says. “When my job ended in April, a friend here who I train in jiu jitsu with introduced me to Geoff Pedder of Zelus Beer Co., and we started working together on how to scale up my three gallon recipe to a commercial product.”

Mirick now has three recipes he likes, and one of those is being used for “Ankleknocker,” his first commercial batch (the name comes from a stretch of trail in Baxter State Park in Maine, where his family has gone hiking and backpacking for years). Zelus has been holding beer gardens in Medfield and Norfolk, and selling Ankleknocker on tap along with other beers.

The IPA-style Ankleknocker boasts a color and flavor Mirick’s happy with, though he’d like to knock the 8.7% ABV down a notch. There are three different hops in the brew, and then it’s dry hopped with a fourth variety after initial fermentation.

Mirick’s gluten-free beer is by far not the only choice in this growing market, which includes products from small breweries as well as behemoths like Anheuser-Busch. Mirick says gluten-free beers are regionally strong, with numerous options in large local liquor stores. Though down in Texas, he says, gluten-free beer is hard to find.

“The CDC estimates that about 1% of Americans are celiacs, and another 1% have non-celiac gluten sensitivity.  So that’s 2% of Americans who can’t drink beer.  If you could add 2% to the American beer market, that’s huge!” he says.  “And, there are many people who like to minimize their gluten, which means you’ll have people who might drink a good gluten-free beer even if they could drink something with gluten.”

But do people, beyond those diagnosed as celiacs or that suffer some gluten intolerance, really want to drink beer minus the barley or wheat base?

Mirick’s convinced the answer is “Yes.”

“I’ve served my beers to lots of non-celiacs, including friends in the restaurant industry, who say that it is a good beer, period,” he says. “Not ‘a good gluten-free beer,’ but something that even a non-celiac would gladly drink.”


  • Subscribe to Swellesley’s daily email
  • Please consider contributing to Swellesley to sustain our independent journalism venture
print
Share

Filed Under: Business, Food

Comments

  1. Dru says

    November 13, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    Any chance you can take pity on us GF folks in Texas? You know, the ones you referred to as having a difficult time finding GF beer? Whole Foods Market or Natural Grocers would carry your beer. Or maybe you could get a dedicated tap at The Draught House in Austin. I’d rather not drink beer than drink Redbridge, which sucks, but that’s the only GF beer that’s easily available here.

    Reply
    • Chris Mirick says

      November 14, 2020 at 5:42 pm

      Texas is definitely in the plans! Likely in Dallas first (check out Company Cafe in Dallas — great GF menu) but eventually we’ll be more wide-spread. I’d love to be carried by Whole Foods or Natural Grocers. –Chris

      Reply
  2. Michael says

    October 25, 2020 at 3:24 am

    Anyplace we can buy a 6 pack locally?

    Reply
    • Chris Mirick says

      November 1, 2020 at 6:38 pm

      Hopefully the beer will be in stores in MA this spring! Zelus Beer Company can also fill growlers by arrangement now, as well as serving at the outdoor beer gardens (weather permitting) this fall. You can find Zelus’s info on FB (search for Zelus Beer Company, they’re in Medfield).

      Reply
  3. Todd Crowley says

    October 24, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    I’ve had the honor of trying two of Chris’ gluten free beers and they’re better than most “regular “ AND gluten free beers out there!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Wellesley Youth Lacrosse

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to [email protected]
Wellesley Square ad
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Admit Fit, Wellesley
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click here to read our Natick Report

Natick Report

Events Calendar

« March 2021 » loading...
S M T W T F S
28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
Fri 05

Wellesley Select Board online office hours

March 5 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Fri 05

Open House at Boston Outdoor Preschool Network

March 5 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Sun 07

World of Wellesley community book read

March 7 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Wed 10

Open House at Boston Outdoor Preschool Network

March 10 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Wed 17

Wellesley Police Department & Red Cross blood drive

March 17 @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Most Read Posts

  • Wellesley summer camp listings 2021 — find the experience of a lifetime
  • World of Wellesley community book read, Mar. 7th
  • Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic Walk-In—no appointment needed
  • Wellesley Business Buzz: Free meters ending; Restaurant could fill Gap spot; Semester Off has offer for school & healthcare workers
  • Wellesley man dies while mountain biking in Ipswich

Pages

  • Guidelines for Letters to the Editor
  • How to submit your flyer for the Community Bulletin Board page
  • Wellesley Community Bulletin Board
  • Wellesley coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads
  • Wellesley, Mass., fishing spots
  • Wellesley Choral Society
  • Wellesley College Notable Alumnae
  • Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
  • Wellesley outdoor art gallery
  • Wellesley restaurants offering take-out and delivery
  • Wellesley, Massachusetts restaurant — Amarin of Thailand

Recent Comments

  • Gail Marshall on Wellesley’s scenic roads
  • Bob Brown on Wellesley Business Buzz: Wellesley Tavern to open; More small business grants; virtual networking coffee
  • Patrick Rafter on Wellesley Business Buzz: Wellesley Tavern to open; More small business grants; virtual networking coffee
  • EM on Wellesley Police log: Road rage leads to coffee toss; overdose on fentanyl patches attempted; window broken, no rock found
  • Lew on Wellesley Police log: Road rage leads to coffee toss; overdose on fentanyl patches attempted; window broken, no rock found

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (19)
  • Animals (381)
  • Antiques (48)
  • Art (540)
  • Beyond Wellesley (28)
  • Books (344)
  • Business (1,371)
  • Camp (1)
  • Careers/jobs (44)
  • Churches (72)
  • Clubs (209)
  • Construction (280)
  • Dump (113)
  • Education (2,896)
    • Babson College (240)
    • Bates Elementary School (14)
    • Dana Hall School (29)
    • Fiske Elementary School (6)
    • Hardy Elementary School (33)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (34)
    • MassBay (47)
    • Schofield Elementary School (20)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (1)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (9)
    • Upham Elementary School (30)
    • Wellesley College (598)
    • Wellesley High School (890)
    • Wellesley Middle School (195)
  • Embracing diversity (44)
  • Entertainment (724)
  • Environment (674)
  • Fashion (134)
  • Finance (13)
  • Fire (142)
  • Food (328)
  • Fundraising (561)
  • Gardens (137)
  • Government (410)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
  • Health (746)
    • COVID-19 (141)
  • History (359)
  • Holidays (365)
  • Houses (120)
  • Humor (45)
  • Kids (816)
  • Law (3)
  • Letters to the Editor (13)
  • Media (63)
  • METCO (5)
  • Military (3)
  • Morses Pond (97)
  • Music (544)
  • Natick Report (28)
  • Neighbors (249)
  • Obituaries (60)
  • Outdoors (585)
  • Parenting (60)
  • Police (696)
    • Crime (351)
  • Politics (545)
  • Real estate (290)
  • Religion (127)
  • Restaurants (303)
  • Safety (142)
  • Scouts (1)
  • Senior citizens (110)
  • Shopping (123)
  • Sports (901)
  • STEM (104)
  • Technology (154)
  • Theatre (383)
  • Town Meeting (22)
  • Transportation (210)
  • Travel (11)
  • Uncategorized (1,207)
  • Volunteering (319)
  • Weather (167)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (259)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (5)
RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to RSS Feed

© 2021 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login