There are links to further gluten-free resources at the bottom of this page.
The UK has, until recently, been devoid of beer for coeliacs and gluten intolerants. Gluten is a protein that is present in many cereals, including barley and wheat; sufferers of coeliac disease have a genetic disorder of the intestinal wall which means that they react badly to gluten. While there are certainly a growing number of gluten free beers around the world, they are generally produced in small batches by specialist brewers, and are difficult to get hold of.
Derek Green is a coeliac who saw the gap in the UK market and decided to set up and brew gluten free beer. His beers, produced in Belgium to a secret recipe, include a lager, an ale and a stout, the latter of which is apparently based on a dark trappist ale. Currently, his are (to our knowledge) the only gluten free beers available in the UK. But he's about to get some competition from a new brew: BC's Gluten Free Pilsner, which is to be produced in Macedonia by Ben Cowell. Ben has been on a gluten free diet for a couple of years, and his wife is a coeliac.
We tried both Derek's and Ben's gluten-free beers in a recent blind tasting. To make it more interesting, we also had a bottle of 'North America's first gluten-free beer' - La Messegère, which is brewed in a microbrewery in Quebec from rice and buckwheat. As well as these three (we didn't include Green's ale and stout in the blind tasting) we tried some mass market lagers, of varying quality.
The first thing we noticed was that the gluten free beers had a very particular taste signature, and were therefore easy to pick out. The wort is full of fermentables such as buckwheat, sorghum, rice syrup and corn syrup. Fermentable, but seemingly not as fermentable as conventional brewing malts, so that the finished products are invariably sweet.
From left to right: BC's Gluten Free Pilsner, Green's
Pioneer, Budweiser Budvar,
Carling Black Label, Grolsch, New France La Messègere and Heineken
Some very brief tasting notes follow - each begins with the sample number and ends with the actual name of the beer.
1. Appearance - v. pale, yeast in suspension, head vanished. Aroma - appley, slightly homebrewy, acetone, bit of grassy/hay hop. Mouth - sweetish, fairly smooth, low condition, not much hop or malt, quite thin, appley. Aftertaste - honey, sweetish (sugary), bit cloying. Definitely gluten-free. [La Messagère - gluten-free]
2. Appearance - fine-bubbled head, lasts well. Aroma - typical commercial lager, not much to it. Mouth - v. bland, smooth, not much bitterness or malt body. Aftertaste - vanishes quickly, slight chemical note. Mainstream lager. [Heineken]
3. Appearance - middle of colour range, a little head left. Aroma - lager malt, some good hop (Saaz - new-mown hay), very slight roast note. Mouth - dry but balanced - decent malt body, pleasant hop character. Aftertaste - bitter hop, malty, smooth, v. nice. Good-quality lager, probably Budvar. [Budvar]
4. Appearance - darkest in group, slightly cloudy, some head remains. Aroma - burnt, carbonised - coal/anthracite, or a bit like a rauchbier. Dry, a little powdery. Smoky, slight taste of grain husks, some hop bitterness. Definitely gluten-free. [BC's Gluten Free Pilsner]
5. Appearance - pale, clear, fizzy. Aroma - a little rubbery, slightly smoky. Mouth - thin, smooth, some malt, bit of bitterness, but chemically - too warm, perhaps. Aftertaste - bitter, not too cloying. Probably a mainstream lager. [Carling]
6. Appearance - about middle of colour range, clear, no head left. Aroma - light, some straw and honey. Mouth - reasonable malt notes, fairly smooth, quite dry, but bland. Aftertaste - dry, with some cloy, fairly clean, not bitter. Mainstream lager. [Grolsch]
7. Appearance - fairly pale, clear, no head left. Aroma - light, touch of apple and acetone. Mouth - smooth, a little sweet, appley, some cloves. Aftertaste - quite clean, bit of fruit, bit of sweetness. Definitely gluten-free. [Green's Lager - gluten-free]
As you can see, telling the gluten-free beers from the others was no contest, but nonetheless this was a worthwhile exercise; one suspects that non-coeliacs won't go out of their way to find bottles of any of these beers because they don't conform to what we think of as 'beer'. However, with something approaching half a million sufferers in the UK alone, perhaps gluten-free brewing is a movement that the big brewers can't afford to ignore.
We have discovered a handful of other gluten-free beers that are available
elsewhere, though we have so far been unable to get hold of any for tasting.
There are two from the USA - Ramapo Valley Passover Honey
Beer comes from Suffern,
NY, and Bard's Tale Dragon's Gold from Buffalo, NY. There is also an Italian
gluten-free lager, called Bi-Agglut Birra. Finally, an Australian gluten-free
beer, O'Brien Premium Lager, is also available - what's more, the brewery says
that it will be launching a low-alcohol lager and a brown ale in 2005, and
a pale ale in 2006, all gluten free.
http://www.glutenfreebeers.co.uk
Green's gluten-free beers.
http://www.baluchon.com/microbrewery
La Nouvelle France's website, including information on their gluten-free beer,
La Messagère.
http://www.ramapovalleybrewery.com
Suffern, NY-based US brewpub producing a gluten-free honey beer.
http://www.bardsbeer.com
Buffalo, NY-based US brewery producing a gluten-free beer. Also some useful
information on gluten in beer.
http://www.biaglut.com/prodotti/Birra
An Italian gluten-free beer.
http://www.obrienbrewing.com.au
An Australian brewery producing gluten-free beer.
http://www.mrgoodbeer.com/gf
General information about gluten-free beer.
http://www.fortunecity.com/boozers/brewerytap/555/gfbeer/gfbeer.htm
General information about gluten-free beer.
http://www.livingwithout.com/Feature_Beer.htm
An article on gluten-free beer in Living Without, a magazine
aimed at people with allergies or intolerances.
Site
design and content © 1992-2004 Sparks
Computer Solutions Ltd.
Comments/errors should be addressed to: feedback@bottledbeer.co.uk.
Please read our disclaimer.