Gluten-Free Beer: A Reality?

Celiac.com 03/04/2023 - Being diagnosed as a celiac is always a bittersweet moment. On one hand, we are relieved to finally be able to point to the cause of our long-winded illness. On the other hand, we are inundated (or not) with information about the foods that we can no longer eat. For many of us finding out that we can no longer drink beer is quite a shock. Granted, good gluten-free bread seems to top the list of the most requested gluten-free products, and there are now satisfactory substitutes. When it comes to beer, however, there are no substitutes. Yes, we can drink wine and some other alcoholic beverages, but beer has always had a place in the hearts of the millions. Can you really drink a glass of wine while watching a ballgame or eating a pizza? We think not.

The key to brewing gluten-free beer is to understand why barley is deemed to be the perfect brewing grain and used as a base ingredient in almost every commercial beer on the world market. Since brewing beer is heavily based upon the principles of chemistry, determining alternative techniques and ingredients is very difficult, though not impossible. As diagnosed celiacs, we felt that by studying the chemical principles of malting and brewing, we could find a suitable gluten-free ingredient mix and brewing process that would result in high quality gluten-free beers. We also feel that using natural ingredients is critical to the beer’s quality, and we would not want to use any processed ingredients even if it meant lower costs. After several years of testing alternative grains and recipes, we were finally able to prove our hypothesis correct—high quality gluten free beer is not only a possibility—but is now a reality!

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As part of our venture, we feel that it is also important to educate celiacs and non-celiacs about the issues of gluten and alcohol, obviously concentrating on beer. There have been claims by several companies that their beer is safe for celiacs. We have been unable to confirm or refute these claims— but we do know is this: lagers are deemed to have less gluten than ales, with the lighter lagers (such as pilsners) containing the least amount of gluten. Unfortunately, the global medical and scientific communities do not agree on a safe lower limit of gluten that people with celiac disease can ingest on a regular basis. Another area of controversy is based upon the lack of published research on the gluten sub-components known as peptides and their involvement in celiac disease. While most, though not all, gluten proteins are broken into the smaller peptides during the brewing process, it is unclear whether the remaining peptides are problematic for celiacs. More research is needed in this area before being able to recommend barley-based beers to celiacs.

After strong showings at The Gluten Free Living Conference of our Pale Ale and at the Celiac Sprue Association Conference of our Blonde Ale, we are extremely confident that commercial production will begin early in 2003. We have received a lot of e-mail inquiring about our beer and expressing the desire to get some as soon as possible. We are working as hard and fast as possible to make this a reality for all beer-drinking celiacs.