Last night I went to a new cafe with a friend of mine who recently went on a gluten free diet as prescribed by his doctor. I was pretty excited when we walked in and saw a fairly good sized craft beer selection (probably over 40 different beers). While I was looking over the list deciding what I was going to drink, he was telling me about eating gluten free.
As I sat looking over the list of beers, he was excited that they carried 1 gluten free beer (Redbridge). Basically if he wanted to drink beer, he had 1 choice. That sucks. Apparently finding gluten free beers at most restaurants is pretty difficult.
To make it worse, I tried the Redbridge he had (which is brewed by Anheuser-Busch), and it wasn’t very good. At that point I was pretty thankful I can have gluten, but felt for those out there that are bound by very few beverage choices.
I did a little research and found a few interesting things about gluten free beer. It seemed that the UK had a lot bigger selection of gluten free beers. However their laws are a bit different as beers can be labeled gluten free as long as the beer has less than 20 parts per million gluten.
Most gluten free beers are brewed with sorghum or rice instead of grains which gives gluten free beer a fairly sweet taste.
Promote Gluten Free Beer
There are a few things you can do to promote gluten free beers and to make them more accessible. The main way is to request it at your local restaurants. Talk to owners and write letters asking them to carry a variety of gluten free beers. Also speak with your wallet. Most bottle shops have a few gluten free beers so go try them. The higher the demand, the more that will be produced.
Gluten Free Beer List
Here are a few gluten free beers to check out. I haven’t tried any of them other than Redbridge, so let me know what you think.
- Redbridge
Produced by Anheuser-Busch. A lager made for sorghum. - Bard’s
An American lager that contains no wheat, oats, rye, or barley made with sorghum. - Messagère Red Ale and Messagère
Two gluten free beers from Les bières de la Nouvelle-France out of Quebec. - New Grist
Brewed by Lakefront Brewery in Wisconsin with sorghum and rice. - Ramapo Valley Brewery Honey Beer
A gluten free beer made with honey. - O’Brien Natural Light
A light lager from Australia. 2.7% ABV . - Green”s Gluten Free Beers
Brewed in Belgium, they offer a lineup of gluten free beers. - Hambleton Ales
They brew 2 gluten free beers in the UK. - St. Peter’s G-Free
Brewed since 2007 in the UK.
What’s your favorite gluten free beer?