Gluten Free Beer

Gluten free beer is an important consideration if youprobably mean that the intake of alcohol itself will be
have a gluten allergy or celiac.even more problematic.
Most beer is made with gluten-containing wheat, orSince even tiny amounts of gluten can have serious
more often barley. This has made drinking regularlong-term consequences for celiacs, all gluten is best
beer pretty much out of the question for manyavoided.
people.If you have a gluten allergy, then the amount of
As the number of people avoiding gluten rises rapidly,gluten you can tolerate is more at your discretion - if
a relatively new market for gluten-free beer hasyou don't notice any symptoms, then you are
been filled by a number of companies.probably fine.
There are a number of types of gluten-free beer,Gluten free beer is usually made with pseudograins -
and in some cases, the beer is not actually 100%grain-like crops such as sorghum, and buckwheat, as
gluten-free. This is disturbing, as some companieswell as true cereals, such as rice and corn.
prefer to argue that their low-gluten beer is safe toAccording to Wikipedia, some beers from England
grab market share, rather than either properly labeland Finland may be safe to drink even though they
their beer, or reformulate it to be truly gluten-free.are not specifically labeled gluten-free. Some
Some countries, Australia for example, have a veryexamples follow. Make your own decision according
strict definition of what can be called "gluten-free": noto your own standards:ppm Beer
detectable gluten in the food. This sounds good, but13 Against the Grain
as gluten tests become more sensitive, some foods,20 Koff
previously labeled gluten-free, will not longer meet the4 Laitilan
requirements. Never the less, this is a good standardYou may prefer to avoid all beers that are not
to aim for.specifically gluten-free by way of their ingredients,
Other countries, such as UK, have a specific levelnot their processing.
below which the food can be labeled "gluten-free": 20Some brands of beer use rice and barley. They state
ppm (parts per million). Whether this is is a truly safethat no gluten from the barley ends up in the beer,
level or not can not be stated with 100% confidence.but there is no certainty that the resulting beer is
Another consideration is that drinking enough beertruly safe for celiacs. Instead, they explain that the
that such low levels of gluten become a big problembarley is converted into amino acids.