PORT REXTON, N.L. — Imagine being a chef who cannot taste their food.
Or a craftsperson who can’t touch their materials.
For Alicia MacDonald of Port Rexton Brewing Co. her recent diagnosis of Celiac Disease puts her in a similar frustrating place.
She owns and operates a craft beer brewery with her partner Sonja Mills, but she can’t even drink or taste her own product.
Celiac Disease is a sensitivity to gluten, a protein found in grains like wheat, barley and rye. The adverse health effects are many. With malt being a primary ingredient in the beer-making process someone with Celiac Disease cannot drink the beverage.
MacDonald was diagnosed with Celiac in May 2018.
As a nurse practitioner, she and Mills recognized her health symptoms and made an appointment with her physician.
“Owning the brewery, I didn’t want to believe it,” she told The Packet.
After bloodwork and a biopsy, she discovered what she had feared.
She immediately thought about her daily routine of testing beer, the process of developing new beer and her personal enjoyment of beer.
Luckily, with co-head brewmasters Les and Chris, along with Mills, the brewing process is already established with the standards and core brands for each of the company’s beers.
They can continue to guide the process for the brewery despite MacDonald not being able to even taste the beer and spit it out due to the cross-contamination that presents.
“But it’s tough sitting around the managers’ table and not really having an opinion,” says MacDonald. “So it’s kind of challenging.”
However, she says she still is able to use aromas of the beer to stay involved as much as she can in the creation of new beers.
More selection
Adjusting her diet hasn’t been a problem for MacDonald. While it can be inconvenient when she comes across a restaurant that doesn’t offer gluten-free options, the biggest hurdle has been her passion for beer.
“That’s been tough because part of my lifestyle has been eating and drinking out.”
As far as gluten-free beer, MacDonald was not overly familiar with the product, despite having carried it at their bar, along with alcoholic ciders.
“The variety and what you can get here in Newfoundland is always different than what you can get on the mainland.”
It is that lack of selection which inspired her and Mills to start to develop their own gluten-free beers.
“I had no idea where to start,” said MacDonald. “There is so much research and development on the current brewing world, which is barley, wheat and rye — which is exactly what we can’t have in (gluten-free) beer.”
She’s been in contact with grain distributors in the United States. She says the idea is to get the sugar content for beer that doesn’t come from the traditional source of malt.
“The malt provides the sugar that the yeast eats. Trying to find the right grains and the right amount of grains, they’re prepared differently and roasted differently and kilned differently. So it’s a completely different world that there’s not a lot of research on.”
Another challenge is getting the materials shipped to Port Rexton from the U.S.
She's also reached out to others for resources and some recipes, and she’s glad to be able to try and provide some options for people like her.
“Being diagnosed and owning a brewery, that’s been the tough part … I kind of have to learn it all over again.”
However, despite being nervous to go public about having Celiac disease, MacDonald says she’s had overwhelming support from people.
And if any avid beer drinkers are hoping to get access to some different kinds of beer, like they once did, she's hoping to be able to help them quench their thirst.
Twitter: @jejparsons
