New Craft Brewery Aims High on Taste, Low on Gluten

This weekend, Duck Foot Brewing Company joined Miramar's brewery row with the launch of a new 5,000-square-foot tasting room and production facility at 8920 Kenamar Drive. Founded by local homebrewers Matt DelVecchio and Brett Goldstock, along with head brewer Derek Wasak (Stone Brewing Co., Smuttynose Brewing Co.), Duck Foot is aiming to make beer for the gluten-intolerant that has enough flavor and body to satisfy all beer lovers, inspired by DelVecchio's own Celiac disease diagnosis and his quest to find gluten-reduced beers worth drinking.

Duck Foot employs natural enzyme products at the end of the brewing process that break down gluten molecules in its finished beers; the year round beer list includes a Blonde Ale, Red Ale, IPA, White Double IPA and a Chocolate Hazelnut Porter, with the other taps filled by seasonal and special releases that range from a Golden Ale made with California Orange Blossom Honey to an Imperial Stout. The tasting room is open from Wednesday to Sunday and will host rotating food trucks; expect to see the beers at bars and restaurants around town, plus bottles on shelves soon.