Tom Ruff With His Wife and Daughter at Yesterday’s Grand Opening of Gluten-Free Orange Bike Brewing Company, 31 Diamond Street, Suite D.

Ruff’s Orange Bike for Whom the Company is Named Was Out Front of the Tasting Room.

“I think you are on to something,”  Alan Pugsley, the international guru of beer brewing, told Tom Ruff, founder and CEO of Orange Bike Brewing Co., a few years ago.  The two were meeting at the nearby Coffee by Design to talk about Ruff’s idea to brew a gluten-free beer.  Sean Sullivan, former executive director of Maine Brewers’ Guild echoed Pugsley’s endorsement::  You are on to something!  These were ringing endorsements from experts in the business of beer in Maine..

Ruff, who hails from Indiana and most recently from New York City, wanted to brew a beer that was gluten-free he told the crowd at the SRO grand opening at the new tasting room in East Bayside yesterday afternoon. That was because previously Ruff had been very sick with apparently a celiac related disease.    Ruff was unable to find a gluten-free beer that he could drink.  His entrepreneural spirit kicked into high gear.

Ruff introduced his team who has gotten him to this place on Diamond Street in East Bayside.  When he came to Alan Pugsley he said of him:  “We would not be here today if it were not for Alan.”  Ruff said that Alan is a serious guy with a “heart of gold.  He knows more about beer than anyone.”   Ruff added that his newest creation is “built on heart. No BS.”  Unfortunately, the one member of his team that Ruff did not credit is his orange bike for whom the beer is named!  It did have a prominent ring-side view of the grand opening in its outside bike rack, however.

Millet is one of the grains used in this production according to Pugsley.  Ruff said that he’s in the process of exploring other grains from overseas to use in his gluten-free beer as well.  One guest at the grand opening from Deering said he had come to see if gluten-free beer tastes as good as non-gluten-free.  “It does,”  was his enthusiastic endorsement. “He’s on to something here.”

Orange Bike Brewing Co. is the 20th gluten-free brewing company in the United States.  It is the first gluten-free brewing company in Portland according to Jeremy Smith, an investor and imbiber of gluten-free beer.  “There is another gluten-free brewing company in Biddeford.”

“You’re On To Something, Tom!”