At the World Beer Cup in San Diego in April 2012, out of fifteen total entries, Glutenberg Blonde, Pale Ale, and Rousse swept the gluten-free beer category, taking bronze, silver, and gold, respectively. Now with a new brewery, greater capacity, and distribution, Montreal’s Brasseurs Sans Gluten is determined to produce the best gluten-free beer in North America and beyond. I spoke to David Cayer, who co-founded Brasseurs sans Gluten with Julien Niquet, about their approach to gluten-free beer and what the medals meant to them—and I’ll be watching to see if they can sweep again at the upcoming World Beer Cup in Denver this April.
How did the brewery come together?
"We launched the brewery in 2011, almost a year after we had the idea. Julien is gluten-sensitive, which is one of the reasons why we had this idea. We studied business; we’re not homebrewers, but we have good business skills. We had to find a brewer because without Gabriel [Charbonneau], our brewer, the company wouldn’t exist today. We started to do R&D in 2010, and a little bit more than a year after we launched a blonde in Quebec, and five or six months after we launched a pale ale and a red because the market was asking for more products.