From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/04099/297652.stm

Celebrants don't have to pass over beer for holiday
Thursday, April 08, 2004

By Steve Levin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

What's the toughest aspect of observing the eight-day Jewish festival of
Passover?

Is it the cleaning of the house in preparation of the holiday? Digesting the
inordinate amounts of matzo during the Seder meals? How about the fact that
the Pirates' home opener cut into the first day's observance?

No. The most difficult thing for some to grapple with is the lack of
kosher-for-Passover beer. With the entire holiday predicated on the biblical
admonition to avoid edible fermented grain products or leavening (Exodus
12:19), that leaves the beer lover with no choice at all.

Until now.

The good folks at Ramapo Valley Brewery in Suffren, N.Y., have developed
Gluten-Free Honey Lager beer without the usual main ingredients of wheat or
barley. The 3-year-old brewery claims that the kosher-for-Passover beer is
the first such concoction in more than 2,000 years. It does have a bright
golden color and an alcoholic content of 5.5 percent. Molasses is used for
flavor, along with "noble," or top hops for aroma and additional flavor.
It's brewed in dedicated fermenters using kosher yeast under rabbinic
supervision. "You can taste the difference between a regular beer and this,"
brewery co-owner Egon Linzenberg said candidly. "But it's the only game in
town." As Pirates fans already know, you have to make do with you've got.

Gluten-Free Honey Lager is sold only by the case, and it's not cheap: $50
for kosher-for-Passover beer. Linzenberg said the beer will be sold year
round and hopes to make it available in Pittsburgh within the next year. He
said the new beer already is popular with people who are gluten intolerant,
a condition known as celiac disease. Linzenberg understands that Gluten-Free
Honey Lager has a long way to go before entering into the pantheon of
favorite Passover foods such as matzo, wine and haroset, the combination of
apples, nuts, wine and honey that forms a mortar-like paste.

He knows it has time to gain popularity. "It's a kosher-for-Passover beer,"
he said. "There's nothing else." Gluten-Free Beer is made with fermentable
amber honey with molasses for flavor, nutrients and color. hops add a touch
of bitterness to balance the honey sweetness. It's recommended with all
kinds of food.

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 19:25:52 GMT, "Tom Wolper" >
wrote:

>The good folks at Ramapo Valley Brewery in Suffren, N.Y., have developed
>Gluten-Free Honey Lager beer without the usual main ingredients of wheat or
>barley. The 3-year-old brewery claims that the kosher-for-Passover beer is
>the first such concoction in more than 2,000 years. It does have a bright
>golden color and an alcoholic content of 5.5 percent. Molasses is used for
>flavor, along with "noble," or top hops for aroma and additional flavor.
>It's brewed in dedicated fermenters using kosher yeast under rabbinic
>supervision. "You can taste the difference between a regular beer and this,"
>brewery co-owner Egon Linzenberg said candidly.

No offence to my Jewish friends, but fermented sugar is *not* beer,
it's hooch. It's the sort of stuff inmates make in prison. You can
flavour it with as many hops as you like.

I'd be interested to know where the 'golden color' comes from, since
it won't be from malted barley.

Best regards, Paul
--
Paul Sherwin Consulting http://paulsherwin.co.uk

1) I wonder how much credence I'm to give a reporter that misspells the
name of the town the place is in (Suffern, not "Suffren").........

2) As I read this, what these chaps are producing is some kind of sparkling
mead made with lager yeast. This might get VERY interesting come tax
time--the authorities *might* hit them up for making wine instead of
beer..........

I just want to know why I didn't know about this at the BEGINNING of the
holiday, instead of the end!

:-)
Jon

(p.s.- I discovered 2 very pleasing wines I hadn't had before. I guess its
OK to take a break from beer once a year.)

"Alexander D. Mitchell IV" > wrote in message
...
> 1) I wonder how much credence I'm to give a reporter that misspells the
> name of the town the place is in (Suffern, not "Suffren").........
>
> 2) As I read this, what these chaps are producing is some kind of
sparkling
> mead made with lager yeast. This might get VERY interesting come tax
> time--the authorities *might* hit them up for making wine instead of
> beer..........
>
>