For beer drinkers, there’s no worse news than finding out you’re allergic to gluten. Scientifically speaking, gluten is a protein composite found in edibles and drinkables processed with wheat and barley. In simpler terms, for those suffering gluten intolerance, wheat and barley put the “ew” in “brew.”
But fear not, you wheat-challenged hops heads! If you can’t stomach traditional brews, these days there are many domestic, imported, and craft options on the market.
As recently as five years ago, Anheuser-Busch’s Redbridge was the most well known gluten-free beer on the market. It’s a sorghum-based red lager with a moderately hopped flavor. Although it won’t keep its head, the taste is light and fruity, mostly apple-flavored, with notes of caramel and molasses giving it a cider-like finish.
In addition to beers fermented from traditionally gluten-free sugars such as millet, rice, corn, honey, soba, and buckwheat, the one beer that seems to satisfy the wheat-free contingent the most is Widmer’s Omission series which is made from barley with the gluten removed from the final product through a proprietary enzymatic process. In other words, the barley is barely there. Omission Pale Ale pours a coppery pint and is malty, with a caramel and toffee base, but bitter enough for beer lovers. The Omission Lager is a pale flax pint spiced with hops and lacks the tartness from which other fruit-based gluten-free beers suffer.
Submitted by Levi Castello, Store #60 in Austin, Texas
