Want a beer with reduced gluten? These Sacramento-area breweries tap into your health concerns

My friend and I have an ongoing debate about whose stomach issue is worse: His difficulty digesting gluten, or my problems with lactose. We normally decide that he has it worse, especially when we’re drinking beer and he’s stuck with cider.

A growing trend in the Sacramento brewing scene is closing the gap, though. Gluten-reduced beers are becoming increasingly popular in craft breweries throughout the region, reopening the world of beer for people who swore it off.

Moksa Brewing in Rocklin, Flatland Brewing in Elk Grove, Blue Note Brewing in Woodland and Berryessa Brewing in Winters brew all their beer for people with mild-to-medium gluten allergies. Jackrabbit Brewing in West Sacramento brews dozens of gluten-reduced options as well, and Touchstone Brewing Company that shares a lot with Sacramento Pipeworks rock climbing gym in the River District has a handful.

Why? Because making it is easy, Moksa head brewer Cory Meyer said.

Adding a liquid called Clarex during beer’s fermentation stage craters its gluten content. An enzyme in Clarex degrades proline amino acids, thus severing the bonds that create gluten proteins in malt.

The resulting beer is clearer and much lower in gluten with no difference in flavor, Meyer said. All Moksa beers have included Clarex since the brewery opened in 2018, including the imperial stout that earned bronze at the 2020 Great American Beer Festival.

“It seems like a no-brainer to us. It adds a fraction of the cost to your batch, and it’s provided this benefit that could potentially open us up to new customers,” Meyer said.

True gluten-free beer uses nontraditional grains such as millet or quinoa instead of barley or wheat, and requires specialized equipment and no cross-contamination. But beer with gluten levels of less than 20 parts per million is often considered safe for people with allergies.

Problem is, testing gluten levels is cost-prohibitive for most craft breweries, which frequently introduce new beers and sunset others. And most brewers aren’t confident enough in Clarex to say their beer is fine for people with extreme gluten intolerance such as celiac disease.

Still, it’s good enough for most of the 20 million or so gluten-intolerant Americans (per the Cleveland Clinic). Maybe my friend has it better after all.

“People either express gratitude that we do this or find it interesting, or we hear stories of ‘so-and-so can’t normally drink beer, but our beer doesn’t give them any issues.’ So that’s pretty cool to hear,” Meyer said.

What I’m Eating

You smell the essence of Poke Fix the moment you walk in. It’s warm, relaxed, in tune with the mellow hip-hop playing from the speakers. It’s the scent of workers on their lunch breaks, and platters of fish baking in the oven.

The poke shop across from Natomas Marketplace shopping center opened in 2017 with bright lights, packaged Hawaiian snacks and intriguing build-your-own-bowl options. Proteins include spicy garlic tuna, albacore, Japanese scallops, and while brown rice and sushi rice are my go-to bases, zoodles are an option as well.

An Oahu-raised friend once complained to me that most Sacramento poke places just throw fish onto a rice bowl and cover it with sauces, rather than marinating it for hours beforehand. Well, Poke Fix passed that test with its Hawaiian bowl ($14), a tropical mix of salty ahi, pineapple chunks, cucumber slices and sesame shoyu.

The nori-wrapped flamin’ tuna burrito ($16) was essentially split into two halves. One had the fire of raw jalapeños, sriracha and tuna covered in spicy mayo; on the other side, fried onions, cucumber, imitation crab mix and (strangely) lettuce did their best to cool the mouth.

There are basic sushi rolls and cooked items, too, including miso-glazed salmon ($14). While the 5-ounce piece of fish had a crispy exterior and a creamy drizzle that formed a pretty cross-hatch pattern, I found it a little overcooked and less enticing than the fatty raw salmon available in poke bowls.

Poke Fix

Address: 3880 Truxel Road, Suite 200, Sacramento.

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone number: (916) 333-4366.

Website: http://www.thepokefix.com/

Drinks: Beer, a soda fountain and various canned teas and juices.

Animal-free options: Only one, a vegetarian bowl with tofu, avocado, wakame, edamame, seasonal fruit and more. Build-your-own bowls can be made vegan as well.

Noise level: Low.

Openings & Closings

• Chaat Bistro just opened in south Sacramento’s Delta Shores shopping center. Hardeep Singh’s North Indian restaurant relies on family recipes for dishes such as chana masala (chickpea curry) or kati rolls (chicken or paneer tikka masala wrapped in bhatura).
• Casa Jalisco is the latest addition to Woodland’s excellent Mexican food scene, expanding last Tuesday to 39492 Kentucky Ave. after three years in West Sacramento.
• Dumpling Yo has replaced Tamasii Ramen at 1032 Florin Road in Greenhaven. Xiaolongbao, or soup dumplings, are a main attraction, though there are heartier clay pot and noodle dishes as well.