Texas, how could you?

So, last week, an old roommate e-mailed me about a new gluten-free beer a Catalonian friend had made him try, and it actually wasn't half-bad. Well, when I asked him the name of the beer, I got increasingly excited. You see, Estrella Damm Daura is a special kind of beer. They actually make their beer with barley, but they use a special procedure to remove the gluten before the brewing process. The result is a product with less than 6 PPM (parts per million) gluten with the official label of "best gluten-free beer in the world".

So, naturally, I started a frantic search for the beer after my roommate e-mailed me. If they had it in Boston, they had to have the beer in Austin. Right? Austinities love beer, and they love their gluten-free diets. Well, I scrambled around, hitting up two different Whole Foods, two Specs, and a variety of other locales to no success. Finally, I decided to e-mail Daura itself to ask about the availability of Estrella in Texas. Unfortunately, this is what I got back:

Hi John,

Thanks for your interest in DAURA. Unfortunately, due to labeling laws DAURA in not available in Texas. Bummer, we know. Should that change, I will reach out and let you know ASAP.

Many thanks,

Stacie

In conclusion, Texas just became a lot more lame. Fortunately for me, I will be hitting up Boulder, Colorado soon where I know they have Daura. And it will be a joyous day. A joyous day indeed.

Update: Daura is available in Virginia as well! I now have new inspiration to visit my fiancée in Williamsburg!

Second Update: Apparently, the specific law prohibiting the sale of Daura in the state of Texas is the following: any beer with more than 4% alcohol per weight (about 5.1% alcohol per volume) must be labeled as an ale, not as a beer. This is one of the more severely stupid laws I have heard of. Apparently, there has been some talk in the legislature regarding overturning this law, but no luck yet. For more on this, check out this blog entry.