Making a nut brown ale w/nuts: allergen alert?

atomeyes · Post by **atomeyes** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:45 am

I just read about Indie ale house making a nut brown ale using chestnuts, hazelnuts and walnuts.

just wondering how it affects them from an alleren point of view. would Indie now have to label all of their beer as saying "may contain nuts" because of possible contact/contamination?

if someone with a (general) nut allergy wants to speak up about their comfort level, it would be great to hear.

beerme · Post by **beerme** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 1:03 pm

If they repitch the yeast in a subsequent brew then potential allergens could be passed on. (not sure of the concentration necessary to get a reaction?)

Would they have to post a warning:
Allergy alert, Cockpuncher may have come into contact with nuts?

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 2:28 pm

Beer gets a number of exemptions from allergen labelling. The conspiracy theorist in me says this is lobbying by the big guys so they don't have to put an ingredient list for mass produced beers.

A · Post by A » Tue Mar 05, 2013 11:43 am

beerme wrote:Would they have to post a warning:
Allergy alert, Cockpuncher may have come into contact with nuts?

HAHAHAHA!

Thanks for that!

chris_schryer · Post by **chris_schryer** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 2:54 pm

Cass, I don't think you need to be a conspiracy theorist to think that is *exactly* why beer is exempt from those labeling conventions.

Rob Creighton · Post by **Rob Creighton** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 4:29 pm

Cass wrote:Beer gets a number of exemptions from allergen labelling. The conspiracy theorist in me says this is lobbying by the big guys so they don't have to put an ingredient list for mass produced beers.

There are ingredients listed on all GRB beers now and I think the big guys are within a year or two of having to follow suit. Hopefully we won't be forced to put on meaningless, moronic warnings about operating machinery and being pregnant at the same time as our southern neighbours do.

ErkLR · Post by **ErkLR** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:06 pm

I thought the proposed allergen alert for gluten was silly, because really, beer like bread and pasta is assumed to contain gluten as a default. However, I have no problem with requiring an ingredient list (since they're not all just barley hops and water) and actually I quite like the idea. As I was opening my bottle of Canny Man tonight, I noticed it had an ingredient list and I appreciated that.