What’s Sorghum?

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New Planet Intern gives us the inside scoop on his internship and sorghum.

New Planet Beer intern, Ryan Gaterman enlightens us on what he’s learned so far during his summer internship.

Before working with New Planet Beer, I was a bit unaware of gluten-free diets and the processes behind gluten-free products. After working for a few weeks and attending the Rocky Mountain Brewfest in Fort Collins, CO, I have learned much more about the beer industry than I thought and what it takes to brew certified gluten-free beer.

I’ve found that in the wonderful world of beer, unless you’re gluten-free, many people don’t know what separates New Planet’s Beer from other beer brands. New Planet Beer’s selection is strictly gluten-free and the ingredients and recipes for Tread Lightly Ale and 3R Raspberry Ale are like no other. I explain to consumers, aside from an outstanding taste, that New Planet Beer uses sorghum instead of wheat, thus making New Planet Beer gluten-free. For those who don’t follow a gluten-free diet or don’t know their crops well, they may ask, “What’s sorghum?”.

In order to answer this question, I did some research and found some interesting facts about the grain sorghum:

  • There are roughly 30 different species of sorghum
  • Sorghum can be used for alcohol, syrup, biofuel, and fodder
  • Sorghum is extremely drought intolerant
  • Sorghum is one of the top cereal crops in the world along with wheats, oats, barley and corn
  • The sorghum plant can grow over 6 feet tall
  • Sorghum is very high in fiber, iron and fairly high in protein
  • Sorghum originated in Africa and is grown most commonly in Africa
  • It makes good beer

If you have yet to try a beer brewed with sorghum, now is the time to start! Whether it be gluten sensitivity or a diet choice, have a taste of New Planet Beer and you’ll be satisfied.

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Gluten-Free Fish & Chips with 3/4 cup of Tread Lightly Ale

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What goes well with World Cup Soccer? Gluten-Free Fish & Chips and of course New Planet Beer’s Tread Lightly Ale. I’ve been wanting to experiment with making gluten-free beer battered fish ever since learning that Udi’s Café in Grandview serves a Fish & Chips made with Tread Lightly Ale (as well as fantastic gluten-free pizza, and sandwiches).

So after searching around a bit I decided to use this adapted recipe from COOKS.COM.

GLUTEN–FREE BEER BATTER FISH

Adapted From COOKS.COM

  • 2 lbs fish fillet (any white fish, but cod is more authentic)
  • 1 cup rice flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp paprika
  • ¼ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp dill weed
  • ¾ cup New Planet’s Tread Lightly Ale
  • 2 eggs


  1. Preheat oven to 250°F. Gently wash the fish in cold water, make sure to pat the fillets dry with plenty of paper towels. For large fillets, you may want to cut the fish into smaller pieces.
  2. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix beer and eggs separately then stir into dry ingredients, mix until smooth. Place fish fillets in batter mixture; coat well, and let stand for 10-15 minutes.
  3. Heat oil to 350°F; gently place small batches of fish in oil to avoid dropping the oil temperature. Fry until golden brown, about 5 to 8 minutes, turning the fillets regularly to prevent scorching the batter. Remove fish to paper towels to drain excess oil. Keep warm in oven until all the fish are cooked.
  4. For a more authentic fish, use cod and skip all the seasoning except the salt. However, spices give the batter a little more flavor than the beer alone would. This batter works well with all kinds of fish and shrimp. If you want to eliminate the beer, try using milk.

It took a while to fry each of the pieces individually so it helps to have a low heat oven to keep the fish warm. We used Grapeseed Oil as it has a high flash point and good fats. We served it with red potato “chips” and some over cooked broccoli (appropriately British). The taste was subtle but enjoyable. Pedro commented he hadn’t had breaded fish in probably 10 years. We did use Atlantic Cod which turned out to be quite expensive (over $14.00/lb) but amazingly light and flaky. Most interesting was the fish tasted even better the next day cold!

Which brought up a question of why use beer in batter in the first place? We guessed that it might have to do with the British traveling to their colonies and using beer for cooking because it was safer than water. A search on Wikipedia instructs:

UK chippies traditionally use a simple water and flour batter, adding a little bicarb soda (baking soda) and a little vinegar to create lightness as they create bubbles in the batter. Other recipes may use beer or milk batter, where these liquids substitute for water. The carbon dioxide in the beer lends a lighter texture to the batter, and also an orange color. A simple beer batter might consist of a 2:3 ratio of flour to beer by volume. The type of beer makes the batter taste different: some prefer lager whereas others use stout and bitter. In all cases, the alcohol itself is cooked off, so little or none remains in the finished product.

Given that  Tread Lightly Ale is a light tasting beer, that is probably the reason for our subtle tasting beer batter. Next time we hopefully will have our hoppier beer available and I will give it a try. Have you tried a gluten-free beer batter recipe?  What is your favorite recipe to cook with using beer?

By Seneca Murley, co-founder of New Planet Gluten-free Beer Company


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Rocky Mountain Brewfest 2010

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New Planet Beer was thrilled to be at Estes Park Brewery last Saturday for the Rocky Mountain Brewfest! Despite the chilly and wet weather, the event had a great turnout. The Rocky Mountain Brewfest featured beers from several Colorado breweries, live music, and great food. We were grateful for the opportunity to dispense samples of Tread Lightly Ale to festival attendees, which made many new fans of New Planet Beer.

Both gluten-free beer drinkers and regular beer drinkers alike showed up to sample New Planet Beer. Many people said that they were pleasantly surprised with the way that Tread Lightly Ale tastes so much like regular beer, despite the use of sorghum and corn instead of wheat. We are glad that our efforts to provide a delicious gluten-free beer are bringing enjoyment to beer drinkers in Colorado.

If you’re sad you missed us at the Rocky Mountain Brewfest, never fear. We will be at the Colorado Brewer’s Festival in Fort Collins on the 26th and 27th of June, sampling our Tread Lightly Ale and debuting our 3R Raspberry Ale. Please come and find us, say hello, and enjoy a cold one, compliments of New Planet Beer!

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Become a Beer Festival Expert

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We are excited to be participating in many beer festivals and other events this summer, including the Rocky Mountain Brewfest, Colorado Brewer’s Festival, and Denver Summer Brewfest. With all of these fun opportunities to sample beers from New Planet Beer and other Colorado breweries, we thought we’d share some of our advice as tenured festival attendees and fellow beer-lovers. To get the most out of a beer festival, follow these simple tips to have an enjoyable beer fest experience:


  1. Eat before the event: satisfying your hunger before you get there will help to lessen the effects of the alcohol in the beers you will be sampling.
  2. Stay hydrated: staying hydrated will help to minimize the effects of the heat and sun. Plus, sipping water between tastings will help to cleanse your palate so you can savor the individual characteristics of each brew.
  3. Use sunscreen: in the spirit of outdoor events, remember to apply sunscreen before arriving. If you plan on staying more than four hours, you should reapply throughout the day.
  4. Visit your top brewery selections first: research the breweries attending and sample your top selections first. The more samples you taste, the more fatigued your palate will become and the less likely you’ll taste all of the complexities and differences that make each brew great.
  5. Learn about the beers and breweries: to get the most out of your attendance, make your tastings educational experiences. Ask the staff questions, learn how they brew their beer and what makes them different from everyone else.
  6. Don’t be afraid to try new things: Beer festivals will often give you the opportunity to try beers you’ve never sampled before. So don’t be afraid to enjoy that smoked porter, farmhouse ale, hoppy IPA or our specialty– gluten-free beer. You never know when you’ll find a new favorite.

Check out our events section for the most up-to-date listing of fun festivals and events that New Planet Beer will be participating in. Come see us, say hello and try our gluten-free beer – Tread Lightly Ale and 3R Raspberry Ale.

Remember to be responsible and have fun!

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9NEWS: Gadget for Dear Old Dad

Gadgets for Dear Old Dad On June 2nd, New Planet Beer made it’s first TV appearance on the morning coverage of Channel 9News. If you were busy sleeping, you can still read and watch what they had to say on 9NEWS.com. 9NEWS thought Tread Lightly Ale would be a great “gadget for dear old dad,” for this Father’s Day and so do we! Share your comments and reviews of Tread Lightly Ale so more dads can appreciate its great, fresh (and healthy) taste.

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Meet the Gluten-Free Brewers

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New Planet Beer works with the Fort Collins Brewery to brew their certified gluten-free beer recipe. With Fort Collins Brewery’s dedication to detail, they are able to properly prepare every batch that meets our 100% gluten-free guarantee. To learn more about the certification process, visit Gluten-Free Beer.

Who is the Fort Collins Brewery and what do they do? Simply put (but most importantly) they’re a family owned business that has more than seven years of hands-on craft brewing experience. The hopes and aspirations of the Fort Collins Brewery is to move closer to the heart of Old Town Fort Collins, create a spot for their own complete with restaurant and tasting room. But, for now they’re satisfied with seven full time brews and an award winning portfolio of seasonal and special release beers (just some of their awards are medals at the Great American Beer Festival, U.S. Open Beer Championship, Craft Lager Festival and the U.S. Beer Tasting Championship and more to come in the future…) When the guys at Fort Collins Brewery aren’t brewing they’re busy reaping the fruits of their labor at beer festivals like the Boulder Beer & Music Festival.


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Boulder County Celiacs Meeting

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Logo of Boulder County CeliacsIn support of our friends with Celiac Disease, New Planet Beer conducted a tasting at the Boulder County Celiac Chapter’s monthly meeting on April 21st at the Left Hand Grange Hall. The agenda included a great discussion on travelling gluten-free and sampling the delicious gluten-free pizza and pretzels from Its All Good- Gluten Free Patisserie, an up-and-coming gluten-free bakery in Boulder, CO. And what is a perfect beverage for pizza? We know,  New Planet’s Tread Lightly Ale. The members of the Boulder County Celiacs Chapter seemed to agree with us as complements on Tread Lightly’s taste and drinkability flowed freely. Drew Carrol even pronounced, “Out of all of the gluten-free beers, New Planet Beer is my favorite!” We’d like to send a big “thank you: to the members and organizers of the Boulder County Celiac Chapter for hosting us.

Watch what Tiffany Jackobowski, President of the Boulder County Celiacs, has to say about Tread Lightly Ale.

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