Jen’s Top 5 Gluten-Free Beer Picks
You’re living gluten-free and loving it but you still can’t get over the fact that your favorite beer is now considered (gasp) dangerous drink! What’s a gal (or guy) to do?
While most traditional beers are made up of water, barley, yeast and hops, thus supremely off limits to anyone with celiac disease, the gluten-free community has created enough momentum in the last few years to gain the attention of brewers across the globe. Initally brewers began experimenting by formulating gluten-free beers that were greeted (with some singularity) to a lukewarm reception. Recently however, there has been a huge explosion of superior gluten-free beers on the market with great qualities (color, head, aroma and bouquet) that have gained the attention of gluten-free and non gluten-free consumers alike. Below is a list of my favorite gluten-free beer labels. Cheers!
Bards Beer : “The Original Sorghum Malt Beer”. A gluten-free classic.
Green’s Beer: Strong European taste. A good fit for a vegan or vegetarian diet
New Grist Beer: Handmade beers in the tradition of early Milwaukee brewers
Red Bridge Beer: Sorghum based. A specialty beer with full body flavor
Ramapo Valley Honey Beer: Called the Passover Honey Lager because it’s Kosher for Passover and is uniquely honey based
22 Responsesto “Jen’s Top 5 Gluten-Free Beer Picks”
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Jen,
Of your list, the only one that I can drink, due to the yuk factor, is Redbridge. New Grist is particularly horrible. Thank you Anheuser-Busch for a very good beer.
Hey Jen,
Well Done, but still loving the italian handmade one, called ‘Bella Elena’.
From a small brewer, a great beer.
Cheers!
Alberto
Thanks so much for sharing these beers! I’d recently bought a case of Red Bridge (because what else does a gluten free-er do when they see a beer they can drink – they buy a lot!). I really liked Red Bridge, but I’m excited to see that there are some others that look good. I used to drink Guinness, so it’ll be hard finding a perfect fit for my beer preference of the past, but now I have a few more to try. Thanks for posting!!!
Jen -
You didn’t mention and distinguish that there are two, very different versions of Bard’s Beer: (1) the original, “Bard’s Gold” (blue label), and (2) “Bard’s Tale Beer Dragon’s Gold” (brown label).
** For my money, the “Dragon’s Gold” is far the better of the two Bard’s and the best of all the one’s you mentioned, which I have tried.
** However, my wife and several other’s seem to prefer the “New Grist”, which it should be mentioned is made from both sorghum and rice, not just sorghum.
I like the stronger dark Bard’s Drago’s Gold, which is somewhat like a dark Mexican beer like “Dos Equis”, while the New Grist is lighter, like American ales.
I’ve tried both Bards and Red Bridge. I think they are both very good.
Not a comment about beer, but about your easy brownie recipe I found on Recipezaar. Thanks! I do not follow a gluten-free diet, but have several friends who do. I was looking for a recipe that didn’t require me to buy ingredients that I would not use every day (xanthan gum, for instance). This brownie recipe with 5 ingredients, is great. Now I have something I can serve my friends! And I will be trying it for Passover, since I happen to have a lot of potato starch, but very little matzo cake meal.
So far our samplings of GF beers hasn’t been very successful – we’ve actually enjoyed various hard ciders much better than GF beers – they are also a good option when one has to be GF!
Jen, bless your heart for posting this because I was just about to do some research on GF beers. Now, I need to write these names down and hit every store in town like a woman on a mission.
Jen, Thanks for the list. There is another that is at least available in the Washington, DC area called Toleration, made from sugar and is trying to emulate Guinness. It has a heavier taste and less carbonated like Guinness but is much sweeter. I’ve had Red Bridge, New Grist and Bard’s Tale and and all are good and listed from lightest to heaviest.
My son researched GF beers when I was complaining about not finding one I liked. He found New Planet Brewing in Boulder, CO, and bought me some to try. It is by far the best GF beer I’ve had and I’ve tried all of the ones mentioned in the other emails. If you can find it, it is worth a try!!
Hi Jen, thanks for the list. Although I’m not sure I’ll be able to try these beers as I’m from Australia and I don’t think we get any of those down here
but if I see any, I’ll definitely check them out.
If you guys ever see a beer called O’briens GF beer, you should definitely give that a go, it’s an awesome Aussie GF lager, which is very refreshing, smooth and not to heavy on the stomach
Cheers, Nath.
I heard there was an Aztec Gold beer that was gluten free but discontinued down under. We’ll be on the look out for you. And be sure to grab a gluten free beer when you visit the states!
Grilled Duck with Blackberry-Hoisin Glaze…
I found your entry interesting thus I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog
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S’Peters gluten free is the best beer by far. We can find it here in Delaware. I have tried every gluten-free beer available here and this one is tops!!
As someone who has only been diagnosed for 7 years, I was used to 20 years of drinking real beer. And not just pilsners, but Guinness, Porters, nice Ambers & Ales.
RedBridge is good, and easiest to find.
NewGrist does not taste like good beer, it tastes flat and stale.
Bards Tale is ok. RedBridge is better. Haven’t tried the Bards Gold yet.
Rampo Valley is not beer-like, it is mead-like.
Greens is excellent, 3 main varieties from Ale to Dark. But it is more expensive and harder to find.
BTW, if Anheuser Busch is willing to invest in a Gluten Free product, then we know that the Celiac consumer market must be big. Hoping other companies follow their lead.
I partiularly like New Grist, but its nothing like the old German beers. Perhaps Other Jen got some old or had been temperature cycled. Red Bridge tastes too much like Budweiser.
Bards Tale pretty good. Some these others sound good.
Excellent info, Gary, thanks~ J.