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.
If you’re as fortunate as us to be living in Colorado, it’s a weekend pastime to visit local breweries (we have 92+ statewide). For those of you who don’t have that kind of brewery access, we documented the brewing and bottling of New Planet Beer at our contract brewer, Fort Collins Brewery. 
During the process, New Planet Beer is mixed, brewed and stored in 60 barrel tanks. The brewers go through extra steps and procedures to ensure our gluten-free certification standard, and we can safely say they have the cleanest equipment around! The whole bottling process operates as an assembly line, making sure no step is missed. We observed the clean bottles pushed into single file formation on the conveyor belt, filled with New Planet Beer, capped, labeled, put into the six pack carriers and then boxed to be shipped out to all of our accounts.
Fort Collins Brewery is in the process of building a brand new brewing facility. This new facility will be able to hold 100 barrel tanks, which means even more New Planet Beer in stores and restaurants near you. We’ll be sure to share a deeper look into the new brewery later this summer.
New Planet Beer is proud to be on the list of the available beers at Old Chicago Pasta & Pizza locations in Colorado. Unfortunately we only offer New Planet Beer in Colorado, but in the future we hope to bring New Planet Beer to a location near you. In the meantime, take a road-trip to Colorado and drink a cold one, courtesy of Old Chicago’s gluten-free-sympathetic-hospitality. Additionally, New Planet would like to thank Old Chicago for making Tread Lightly Ale the only gluten-free beer available at their Colorado locations. One small step for Old Chicago, one big step for gluten-free beer. To see where there is an Old Chicago near you, visit our 
