My Gluten Free and Gluten-Reduced Beer Picks!

On my blog I usually write about voting and elections issues, but today I offer something a little more personal and out of the ordinary.

Almost four years ago I went gluten-free after seeing a health care practitioner who suggested I try it to see if it would benefit my health. It did, and I have become an enthusiastic advocate of the gluten-free diet. 

Giving up French bread and pasta were not so difficult, but giving up beer was a big challenge. As a longtime Northern California resident I have grown very fond of all the delicious microbrews produced in and around our region, especially on tap! Sure, there are gluten-free alternative drinks such as cider, wine and anything made with vodka. But there is nothing like a rich, foamy draft beer!

I set out with a goal to try as many gluten-free and gluten-reduced beers as I could. Unfortunately, the ones most widely available at that time (2009) were not at all to my liking. A six pack of Redbridge ended up getting poured down the sink, as did New Grist and Bard's. Clearly my assignment was going to take some extra work.

The first delicious gluten-free beer I ever tasted is Estrella Damm Daura, from Spain. A special brewing process is used to process out the gluten, resulting in a fresh, delicious tasting lager perfect for a Summer day. It's sold in a four-pack for around $8 at Total Wine, Bevmo and Whole Foods.

While I think Daura is delicious, I prefer strong ales. My next favorite GF beer is Green's, a Belgian beer that comes in a variety of flavors. These beers are strong in flavor as well as alcohol content, and though a little pricey (usually about $5 for a 17 ounce bottle), you may not want to drink more than one. But while Green's looked and behaved the way I think beer should, the flavor is a little peculiar, and some describe as syrupy, as it is made from sorghum. My quest continued.

Next came along New Planet, a GF beer company operating in Colorado. The first flavor I tried was their Raspberry Ale. This is one of two GF beers I have tried that are made with fruit (the other is Dogfish Head's Tweasonale, made from strawberries). Not being a fan of sweet beer, I was not initially excited by New Planet. But I went ahead and gave their other flavors a try. I particularly liked their Off Grid Pale Ale. They have created new flavors and packaging and are sold in moderately priced four-packs usually available at Total Wine, Bevmo and Whole Foods. 

After some further digging online, I came across Soba Ale, a beer made from buckwheat that was created by Iron Chef Masaharo Morimoto and produced by Rogue in two 22 ounce bottle flavors - Soba Ale and the darker, Black Obi Soba Ale. Although not gluten free (it still has malt in it), since it is made from buckwheat it is gluten-light. And both flavors are absolutely delicious! 

On a tip from a staffer at Total Wine, I gave Midas Touch, from Dogfish Head a try. This was the first of their "Ancient Ales" series and the ingredients are "based on molecular evidence found in a Turkish tomb believed to have belonged to King Midas. It's a sweet yet dry beer made with honey, white muscat grapes and saffron," according to the DH web site. I don't know exactly is in it, and it's a little sweet and very strong (9%!) but it works for me. It's expensive - a four pack is usually around $10-12 - but it is not hard to find in most specialty beer markets and supermarkets that carry a good selection of beer.

Now a few years into my quest, the beer buyer at my neighborhood market, Taylor's, was keeping an eye out for me. One day he said he said he had something new for me to try - Omission. Brewed by

Widmer Brothers Brewing in Portland, OR, Omission is a wonderful, West Coast microbrew that is produced the way any other beer is, with malted barley, but then an additional step is taken to process the gluten, resulting in a gluten-reduced (though not gluten-free) beer. Omission comes in two great flavors, Pale Ale and Lager, and is fairly widely available in many beer shops and high end grocery stores. We now purchase this beer by the case for our household and bring it to parties where it is enjoyed by everyone!

Finally I had a good, bottled ale to turn to, but still I was pining for the real thing - beer on tap! One evening at Dad's Kitchen, my neighborhood restaurant/taproom, I met the beer makers from Six Rivers and told them about my quest for a gluten-free beer on tap. To my surprise and delight they informed me that Berryessa Brewing Co., located in Winters (a mere 40 minutes from my house!) is producing a gluten-reduced House IPA. I could not wait to try it!

The Six Rivers guys also clued me into a new Belgian ale, called Brunehaut (pronounced "Bruno"), produced by St. Martin. It comes in two flavors - Amber and Blonde Ale - and both are strong and delicious. This is a very pricey, imported beer, usually running around $14 for a four pack, but if you want to splurge it is worth it! Like Omission, this beer is produced like a regular ale then processed to break down the gluten, making it gluten-reduced, not gluten-free. It's pretty hard to find too - so far I've only found it locally at Pangaea Cafe and the Davis Beer Shoppe (though it shows up in Total Wine's inventory no one was able to locate it in my local store on a recent visit). 

Our field trip out to Berryessa Brewing one weekend afternoon was a day I will never forget. Berryessa Brewing is out in the middle of an orchard field, a very simple place that every weekend is packed with happy patrons, musicians, food trucks, dogs, kids, potlucks - it is everything you want in a microbrewery! 

Beermaker Chris Miller is producing the House IPA and other drinks, and adding a special enzyme to break down the gluten and make it easier to digest. (This may be what the other gluten-reduced manufacturers are doing too but just being more secretive about it). Berryessa Brewing's House IPA is available on tap at many establishments in Sacramento, Davis, Winters and a few in San Francisco as well (check their Facebook page for locations). The brewery also sells and fills growlers that are pressurized and capped tight, and will stay fresh in your fridge until you open them for a good week or two. 

It took almost four years for my gluten-reduced beer quest to be achieved, but with Berryessa Brewing's House IPA I can finally enjoy a pint on tap with my friends at many of my favorite places in town. Adding this extra processing step does nothing to take away from the flavor. My only hope is that more beermakers will realize that they too can offer a delicious, gluten-reduced beer and give their patrons more options!

Bottom line:  If you have Celiac, the best beer to try are those from New Planet. If you are gluten-intolerant, or just want to cut back on your gluten intake, there are now a wide variety of choices for you, Omission being the tastiest and easiest to find at this time. Bottoms up!

A well-stocked beer shop in Cole Valley, SF offers Omission & Midas Touch

2013-14 Calif. Election Bills to Watch

With spring well underway, the California Legislature is also in full swing, with policy committees now hearing newly introduced bills for the 2013-2014 session. Many bills have been introduced that, if enacted, could significantly impact California voting and elections. 

Below is a rundown of those that have come to our attention, organized by the following topics:  Voting Technology; Voter Registration; Disclosure; Vote by Mail; Disaster Preparedness; Youth Voting; Initiative Process; and Civic Education. Please note that many of these bills are in the process of being amended and the descriptions provided are subject to change. 

Today the Assembly Elections Committee will take up several of these bills at their 1:30 p.m. hearing at the State Capitol, Room 444. The full hearing agenda is available online, along with links where the public can listen to or watch the hearing online. The Assembly committee has additional hearings scheduled on April 23 and May 7; the Senate Elections Committee meets on April 30.

More information about the bills, including texts, co-authors, committee staff analyses, amendments and when and whether they get scheduled for hearing, is from the official California legislative information site, now featuring a new, HTML-friendly display format that makes legislation much easier to read online.

Voting Technology

• SB 360/Alex Padilla (D) - allows a county to develop or contract for voting system before it has received federal qualification.

• AB 19/Phil Ting (D) - directs the Secretary of State to implement a pilot program for online voting.

• AB 813/Melissa Melendez (R) - requires election results to be published online in a format that can be downloaded.

• AB 829/Paul Fong (D) - requires election management systems software to be escrowed in a manner similar to existing voting system software escrow requirements.

Voter Registration

• SB 361/Padilla - requires the Secretary of State to provide voters with statewide access to online lookup tools that help voters locate their polling places and verify registration, vote by mail ballot and provisional ballot status, and also allows the Secretary of State to enter into data sharing agreements with other states to maintain accurate registration data.

• SB 44/Leland Yee (D) - requires state web sites to link to the Secretary of State's online voter registration site.

• AB 1122/Mark Levine (D) - requires the Secretary of State and Department of Motor Vehicles to fully comply with the National Voter Registration Act (also known as "Motor-Voter").

• AB 843/Dan Logue (R) - requires proof of residency requirements for a conditional registration application to be deemed effective.

• SB 111/Jim Beall (D) - allows a signature stamp to be used by certain voters to register to vote online.

• SB 756/Cathleen Galgiani (D) - allows Election Day registration to begin in 2014 instead of waiting until VoteCal, the state's new online voter registration system, is deployed.

• AB 1170/Tim Donnelly (R) - changes current law to require rather than permit counties to remove inactive voters from registration roles.

• AB 938 and AB 149/Shirley Weber (D) - these bills address voting rights for those convicted of felonies.

Disclosure

• SB 27/Lou Correa (D) - enhances disclosure of proposition campaign donors.

• SB 3/Yee - makes numerous changes to state disclosure rules and, among other provisions, directs Secretary of State to work toward a state and local unified campaign finance disclosure system.

• AB 400/Fong - requires initiative, referendum and recall petitions to name top donors to the committee paying to circulate petitions.

• AB 800/Richard Gordon (D) - strengthens FPPC's pre-election auditing and enforcement authority (bill responds to $11 million anonymous donation in Nov. 2012 initiative campaigns).

• SB 52/Mark Leno (D) - proposes extensive revisions to the Political Reform Act in order to implement the new "California Disclose Act".

Vote by Mail

• SB 29/Lou Correa (D) - allows ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within three days of the election to be counted.

• AB 1135/Kevin Mullin (D) - lets county registrars use other registration documents in addition to registration application to verify voters' signatures.

• AB 269/Shannon Grove (R) and Jim Patterson (R) - Vote-by-Mail ballots for military and overseas voters would be accepted if postmarked by Election Day and received within ten days.

• AB 530/Sharon Quirk-Silva (D) - allows counties to accept Vote-by-Mail ballot applications over the phone.

• SB 589/Jerry Hill (D) - allows counties to use additional election materials besides registration affidavit to very vote-by-mail signatures and also requires counties to provide a free access system for at least 30 days after an election is certified so voters can find out if their Vote-by-Mail ballot was counted and if not, why not. 

Disaster Preparedness

• SB 362/Padilla - requires Governor and Secretary of State to establish procedures for voting during disasters.

• AB 214/Nancy Skinner (D) - directs Secretary of State to develop regulations for voting in a disaster (online voting provision has been amended out of bill).

Youth Voting

• SB 240/Yee - requires polling places on UC and CSU campuses for statewide general elections.

• SB 267/Fran Pavley (D) - requires polling places on community college, UC and CSU campuses under certain circumstances.

• ACA 7/Mullin - allows 17 year olds who will be 18 by the General election to vote in the Primary election.

• SB 113/Hannah-Beth Jackson (D) - lowers the age when Californians can pre-register to vote from 17 to 15 and allows pre-registration to begin immediately instead of waiting for VoteCal to be deployed. 

Initiative Process

• ACA 6/Mike Gatto (D) - requires initiative constitutional amendments to get 55% of vote to pass.

• SCA 6/Mark DeSaulnier (D) - requires initiative measures (other than bonds) to identify a funding source.

• SB 477/Darryl Steinberg (D) - intent is to require initiative campaign committees to receive a certain number of small contributions to demonstrate grassroots support for the proposed initiative before collecting large donations. 

Civic Education

• SB 619/Yee - requires civics education for state employees. 

• AB 700/Jimmy Gomez (D) - requires social science instruction in grades 8-12 to include a voter education component. 

The power of networks

I'm getting ready to go to Atlanta, GA for the Election Verification Network's conference later this week. It's the ten year anniversary of this conference and network, which has grown into a wonderful community of people over the years. Activists, academics, administrators, elections officials - everyone involved is working toward a common goal of more secure and verifiable elections. We've made a lot of progress over the years simply by talking and listening to one another.

Over the past year and half, I've also had the opportunity to engage in another new network, the Future of California Elections. FOCE is a collective of county election officers, and civil and voting rights advocates working toward a common goal of improving and expanding voter participation in our state. It's exciting to think about the opportunities ahead that I feel confident will emerge when thoughtful people put their heads together and walk in the same direction.

Margaret Mead said to never doubt a small group of thoughtful, committed people could change the world, because really it is the only thing that ever does. I have found this to be quite true. EVN and FOCE are both manifestations of this idea. CVF itself is led by a small, wonderful group of board members who guide our programs and partnerships.

The fact is, we change the world every day simply by connecting people and information to each other.

Please give to CVF and help us make elections better!

At this time of holiday giving, please consider supporting the California Voter Foundation! Your tax-deductible contribution will help us work to improve the voting process in California and beyond. Please see our year-end appeal for more details about what we accomplished in 2012 and the year that lies ahead, and make a donation by check or online (you can use PayPal to make an online credit card donation even if you do not have an account. I hope we can count on your support!

Election verification letter to President Obama

On November 20, the California Voter Foundation sent a letter to President Barack Obama on behalf of 29 signatories, in response to his Election Night comment that we need to fix our voting process, which resulted in long lines at polling places for many voters around the country.

Our letter was featured this week in an Electionline story, including comments from several signatories. A second letter was also sent this week by even more election technology experts. Doug Chapin's blog post today provides a good summary and concludes that:

"The two letters in combination suggest the following agenda for election policymakers:

1. an emphasis on verifiable voting systems, namely paper-based optical scan ballots;
2. a focus on auditability of voting systems; and
3. a deep-seated opposition to Internet voting.

"I'd expect these talking points to feature prominently in the upcoming reform debate. It will be interesting to see if this community is as successful in affecting policy as it was during the voting technology debates of 2004-2006. If so, you can expect the end result of the process to strongly resemble the content of these two letters."

A few excerpts from the Electionline story are also below:

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On Election Day, at one precinct in Washington, D.C. the line to check-in snaked around the block in the early morning chill. Once voters made it inside to the check-in table, poll workers struggled through the paper poll books to find names. 

After voters checked in, those wishing to use the one DRE machine queued up in another line that circled around itself while those wishing to cast paper ballots were only held up when the poll worker overseeing the optical scan machine was called away to help a voter using the DRE.

The average wait time for those trying to cast a ballot before lunchtime was about two hours. 

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Following the election, on behalf of 29 experts in the field of technology and voting, the California Voter Foundation sent President Barack Obama a letter asking him to follow up on his promise to “do something about that” and to pay special attention to the technology aspects of elections.

“I hope our letter is read by the president and helps him develop a thoughtful and well-informed position about election reform,” Alexander said. “I hope it motivates him to invest his resources and attention into this issue area, which is so neglected and underfunded at all levels of government.”

Alexander hopes the president appoints a panel to explore the problems witnessed on Election Day and then recommend changes that would minimize the problems in the future.

One major issue is the role DRE’s played in slowing up the process. David Dill, professor of computer Science at Stanford and also on the board of Verified Voting said DRE’s lead to a host of problems on Election Day. He noted that DRE’s are harder to set up, thus making elections start late; they malfunction; and they are expensive and therefore there are never usually enough to accommodate voters.

“Optical scan ballots, scanned either in the precincts or centrally, are the most widely used voting systems in the U.S,” Dill said. “We should replace DREs with optical scan systems and it will reduce lines.”

Thousands of Calif. ballots are "too late to count"

ABC News' Nannette Miranda recently reported on the thousands of California vote-by-mail ballots that will not be counted this election because they were not received by Election Day.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/state&id=8884468

I visited the Sacramento County Elections Office last week to personally inspect some of these ballots - I saw one that arrived from Los Angeles that was postmarked October 20 but still did not arrive by the Nov. 6 Election Day, and I saw another that was sent from New York via Express Mail, costing nearly $20, that also arrived too late and could not be counted. I saw ballots from Australia, China, ballots coming from far away that, though they had been postmarked well before Election Day still arrived too late.

Hopefully the California Legislature will address this issue in its next session. With half of California voters now voting by mail, the burden should not be upon them to ensure the Post Office delivers mail on schedule.

Election Day in California

Election Day is now over in California, and fortunately it does not seem there have been any major meltdowns. But there were, as always, lots of bumps and irregularities. Lots of voters who didn't get their vote-by-mail ballots wanting to vote, lots of voters who didn't reregister at a new address who wanted to vote - that sort of thing.

One thing is clear - the rules are complicated and how they are implemented varies from county to county and even from one polling place to another. There are so many confusing procedures that are supposed to be followed, and it's difficult for voters to know exactly what their rights are.

I heard a story of voters in one polling place being told they had to show ID to vote. I heard another from a voter who said she was forced to vote a provisional ballot even though she had her spoiled vote-by-mail ballot with her and had surrendered it to pollworkers. I heard many complaints from voters today who said they thought they had registered through the DMV and only now discovered they weren't actually on the rolls.

For more examples of the variety of problems California voters experienced, take a look at the collection of reports filed by the Election Protection Coalition through the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.

Hats off to all the pollworkers who have worked hard all day, to the voters who have cast their ballots, and the election officials who now must turn to the thankless task of counting all those ballots - I wish you accurate vote counts and wide margins.

Top 10 Online Resources for California Voters

Voters looking for last-minute information will find a bounty of great resources online. Here is a rundown of some of the best for the upcoming November 6 election:

1. California Online Voter Guide – now in its 22^st edition, the California Voter Foundation’s nonpartisan guide lists all state and federal candidates on California’s ballot, along with their web site addresses and contact information. Propositions, a “Voting FAQ”, and CVF's "Proposition Song" are also featured.

2. SmartVoter – produced by the League of Women Voters of California, this online guide provides comprehensive ballot information for all elections in most California counties, from President down to school board. Simply type in your address and a personalized list of the candidates and contests on your ballot is displayed. Biographical highlights, priorities and endorsements are featured for candidates who supply them.

3. Maplight – The "Voter's Edge" guide is a fantastic resource providing up-to-date and easy-to-read lists of donors for and against each proposition. News articles, editorials, endorsements and campaign ads are also featured.

4. Official California Voter Information Guide – produced by the Secretary of State, this guide is mailed out to every registered voter’s household. It provides nonpartisan information on the ballot propositions, such as an independent analysis by the state Legislative Analyst, pro/con arguments from proponents and opponents and texts of the propositions. Can’t locate your printed guide? No worries. An online, expanded version is available.

5. Easy Voter Guide – produced by the League of Women Voters of California, this is a great resource for those who are looking for a short and sweet overview of the propositions. It’s available both in print and online, in multiple languages, and designed to be read at the 8^th grade level.

6. County Election Offices Roster – this is the page CVF refers voters to most often. That’s because most of the questions voters have, such as questions about registration, polling place location, ballot information and vote by mail status, can only be answered by their county election office. Fortunately many counties provide online tools that help voters find answers to the most simple questions, such as registration status and polling place location, online 24 hours a day, and CVF's roster links directly to each of those tools where available.

7. California Choices – a fantastic, comprehensive and easy-to-use resource to help familiarize voters with the statewide propositions, this site is produced by Next 10 and academic departments at Stanford, UC Berkeley, CSU Sacramento and UC San Diego.  It features a user-friendly table of endorsements and a way for voters to share their opinions on the propositions with their friends through the site.

8. Ballotpedia - this site covers initiatives across the nation, including those on the California ballot. One of the best features of this site is the historical polling data that tracks initiative support and opposition in public opinion polls over time.

9. Living Voters' Guide - this new project grew out of a similar effort in Washington State, and allows voters to share their opinions on propositions with others via the Web. You can use it to find out what other voters think about the propositions and add your own opinions as well.

10. Voter guides with a slant - some voters want their election information with an opinion attached to it. Even if you don't agree with the editors' opinions, these guides can be really helpful if you understand their point of view. Two great examples from this election are the Courage Campaign's Progressive Voter Guide and the "small L" libertarian-leaning Reason Foundation's California Voters Guide, which followed an earlier, hysterical write-up of the California ballot propositions published on its site over the summer.

Kim Alexander is president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to improve the voting process to better serve voters. This essay is available for republication upon request.