Once my son was diagnosed 18 months ago, we immediately had to learn the world of gluten free food. Shortly thereafter, I founded the Gluten Free Father blog where I started sharing our thoughts about gluten free products and how they tasted.

Just a short time ago, I decided to move away from a separate gluten free review blog as the readership here at EOT is large enough and diverse enough I now feel this is the right spot to share those reviews. Many of our readers have children with food allergies, Autism or other health issues that require a special diet. I hope they will find these reviews helpful and accretive to the great content here on the blog.

Although our family hasn’t gone completely gluten free along with my son, most of our family meals are GF and as such we really began to search for the best products available. Reviewing these products for manufacturers has been a great joy to my family and I. So this 4th of July we decided to wrap several products into a family barbecue and share with our readers here our reviews of those products.

For our barbecue, we settled on good, old fashioned American hamburgers and grilled chicken. We did so primarily because the folks at both Canyon Bakehouse and Five Star Meat Marinade sent us products to try and then share our thoughts with my readers.

First, Canyon Bakehouse is a artisan bakery in Loveland, Colorado, and has quickly garnered a strong following in the gluten free and Celiac community. In fact, Christi Skow, one of the owners of Canyon Bakehouse was herself diagnosed with Celiac Disease back in 2007 so the business is personal. And her story is a great example of how entrepreneurs are remaking the gluten free food industry for the better.

Canyon sent us some very tasty hamburger buns. Since my son is young, he sometimes will eat the hamburger without the bun. Especially since many gluten free hamburger bun options just don’t taste that great – even for a toddler with simple palate. Despite this, my son at the entire bun and really liked it. The rest of us also had our burgers on this delightful bun and were amazed at how much like “real” bread it tasted. There was no after taste and the light and air texture had the entire family ready to buy our next batch.

The buns were simply great and we highly recommend them to anyone looking for a gluten free hamburger bun that won’t have them missing regular bread.

Family Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars.

In addition to our hamburgers, we also grilled some fresh organic chicken breasts. Thanks to the folks at Five Star Meat Marinade, we were able to marinate the chicken in this flavorful marinade overnight and tossed it on the grill right next to the burgers.

The marinade is full of great flavors from what appears to be paprika to even citrus overtones. It’s also not only gluten free, but also low in sodium and sugar free. That means its great for just about everyone on a restricted diet of some sort.

We found it to be amazingly flavorful with just a hint of spice. The tastes were a bit strong for our young ones but my older kids and my wife both loved the flavor it brought to the chicken. You can also use the marinade on seafood, pork and beef, which is something we plan to do when we buy our next bottle. We’re grilling fanatics during the summer and the tasty flavor of this all-purpose marinade has earned its way into our permanent collection.

One note: despite Five Star Marinade being gluten free, you have to look hard to find that fact on their website and its nowhere on the bottle. Our friendly advice to the nice folks at Five Star is to add it to the label so folks know for sure. Other than that, this is a product we too can recommend to our readers and friends.

Family Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Lastly, although I was the only one who could enjoy our final gluten free barbecue review item, I did so with great pleasure. New Planet Gluten Free Beer is a fast rising star in the gluten free world with their tasty craft beers made with sorghum. The family owned business is producing what I believe to be the best gluten free beer in America. Dubbed “Old Style Beer for New Style Beer Drinkers,” New Planet not only produces great beer, but also is a good environmental citizen supporting renewable causes as well as running what would be considered a very green business.

New Planet sent a bottle of all three of their brews – Tread Lightly Ale, 3R Raspbery Ale, and Off Grid Pale Ale – for your brave correspondent to try. Not only could my kids not drink, by my wife, who is 7 months pregnant, could not enjoy these tasty beers. But I could and it was a great joy.

Starting first with the Tread Lightly Ale, I found its citrus tones highly enjoyable and even tastier than a Blue Moon standard Belgian White beer. In fact, I preferred the taste of the Tread Lightly Ale over most beers I drink on a regular basis. The taste was full and the boquet quite aromatic. If you like those beers and now find yourself on a gluten free diet, you’ll be amazed by its taste. Even if you aren’t gluten free and are a beer coniseur, I highly recommend that you try it.

Next I tried the 3R Raspberry Ale. Although I love citrus undertones in a beer, I am not a fan of stronger fruit tastes like raspberry or even apple. Yet despite that fact, the 3R Raspberry surprised me in a good way. Instead of strong fruity flavors, the special puree used by New Planet creates a beautiful body color with a natural raspberry flavor that isn’t too strong nor too sweet. They won be over and I’d definately try it again.

Last, I sampled New Planet’s full-bodied ale, Off Grid Ale. This is the closest beer I have ever tasted to a traditional craft pale ale. I happen to be a big pale ale drinker so I was especially patient and focused on drinking this one. It did not disappoint. It was hard to tell the difference between it and other craft pale ales (like Boulevard) I usually drink. The brown rice extract, molasses, tapioca, and spiciness are mixed to perfection. New Planet should be extremely proud of all their beers yet to me this takes the crown as their best.

Again, New Planet is hands down the best gluten free beer available today. It puts others like Redbridge, Bards Tale, New Grist, and Green’s to shame. If you’re GF and you’re looking for the best beer available in America, look no further than New Planet Beer.

Family Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars.

So that’s it. A great gluten free holidays spent with my family and some great gluten free food products. Just because you have to be gluten free doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy great times, great food, and great beer.

Next time I’ll review some tasty gluten free desserts from Ethel’s Edibles. Be sure to read if it will satisfy your gluten free sweet tooth.

Until next time remember: gluten free doesn’t mean taste free.