Gluten-Free Vegan Beers from Moonshrimp Brewing of Portland, OR

Dan McIntosh-Tolle of Moonshrimp Brewing

Moonshrimp Brewing of Portland, OR launched a Kickstarter project one week ago with the goal of raising $24,000 to fund the equipment needed to begin brewing gluten-free, vegan beers. Moonshrimp has signed a lease and put money down on a facility, now they need funds for license fees, plumbing, brewing vats, and brewing supplies. A week in, they've got thirty-four backers with a total commitment of just over $4,000.

Daniel McIntosh-Tolle, the founder and brewmaster of Moonshrimp, is a trained biochemist and craft-brewer who was diagnosed with Celiac disease six years ago. Celiac disease is an immune reaction to gluten... unfortunately for those with suffer from Celiac disease and are also beer lovers, gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye.

Dan started brewing his own gluten-free beers at home three years ago. Now with a facility leased and licenses applied for, and a battery of three year-round brew recipes and a couple of seasonals to work with, he hopes to get Moonshrimp up and running to bring gluten-free beers to the (apparently) growing numbers of people who can't stomach gluten. Dan promises also that the brew environment will be carefully controlled to keep other allergens from contaminating the beer.

Moonshrimp plans to bottle its beers in 22oz. bottles for distribution to local markets. Currently there is no plan to open a brewpub or tasting room.

We will keep an eye on Moonshrimp's progress here over the coming weeks. The closing date for this project is June 20th.

UPDATE: Moonshrimp met its funding goal... it was close... 135 backers pledged $24,165 to push it just a bit past the $24,000 goal.

On a sidenote, CNN recently cited Portland as the number one beer town in the US. There are currently fifty-two breweries in the city, and a total of sixty-nine in the greater Portland Metro area... being residents there, we've had the opportunity to patronize more than a few ourselves! The Portland craft-brew community has a track record of cooperation and mutual assistance, so we are sure the Moonshrimp crew will find encouragement for their efforts here.