Somewhat exciting accidental discovery!

Allergies, allegeries, oh how I hate allergies. I used to have none, and now I have tons, and I think I've managed to isolate what one of them is, and I have Sam Adams and my sinus infection to thank for it.

What with the antibiotics I've been taking, my sinuses have been all snotted out, and they're pretty much clear, but every time I have a beer, my sinuses have been getting tingly and the snots build up again. What's the deal? Am I allergic to barley? That didn't make sense because I'm fine with scotch.

So the other night I'm at my friend's place, and her husband has a selection of Sam Adams beers. I'm thinking that it'll just mess up my sinuses again, but, whatever, I choose the Sam Adams Lambic. And it's good, and my sinuses are not tingly. Hooray, I'm not allergic to beer.

But then I had a Sam Winter, and what do you know! I feel the tingle, and I'm thinking, why am I fine with the lambic, but not with the winter ale? I'm no beer expert, so this morning I do some google searching and...

The most probable explanation is that I'm allergic to hops! Lambic does contain hops, but apparently they're old and stale and so ineffectual that they won't trigger an allergic reaction. I'm so happy to have figured this out. It's a banner day for my sinuses!

So I do have some beer or beer-like options...
lambic
gruit ales
perhaps Hefeweizen (low hops)
hard cider, etc.? Are there any hops in the "hard" fruit brews?

But I guess I'm done with hoppy brews. It's kind of sad, but I think I'd be sadder with perpetually irritated sinuses.

UPDATE! I had some lambic and hard cider last night, and my sinuses still got irritated (and the drinks weren't that satisfying, either). Even the wine I had the other day messed up my sinuses some. Is there something in all fermented drinks that affects my sinuses? Not that I'm going to try and figure that out, but if it's true, it's really, really annoying.