Gluten-free beer & breweries
"Gluten-free beer" hides three very different things. Knowing which one is in your glass, and what the label is allowed to say where you are, is the whole game.
Three routes, three confidence levels
A beer brewed from naturally gluten-free grains starts with no gluten at all. A "gluten-removed" beer starts as ordinary barley beer and has an enzyme added to break the gluten down. They are not the same decision, and the second one is a personal-tolerance call, not a safety verdict.
1. Dedicated gluten-free breweries, the clearest choice
These breweries never use wheat, barley or rye at all. Everything is brewed from naturally gluten-free grains (sorghum, millet, rice, buckwheat, maize), so there is no gluten to remove and no shared-line cross-contact question. Their beers carry the regulated gluten-free claim in markets that allow it.
2. Naturally gluten-free beers
Brewed from gluten-free grains, sometimes by a brewery that also makes normal beer. The recipe contains no gluten; where a shared brewery is involved, the regulated gluten-free claim on the pack is your signal that it's been made and tested to the threshold. Buckwheat and millet craft beers sit here.
3. "Gluten-removed" / "gluten-reduced" beers, read carefully
These start as ordinary barley beer, then an enzyme (prolyl endopeptidase, sold as Brewers Clarex) fragments the gluten so a test reads below 20 ppm. The catch: the standard ELISA test can under-read hydrolysed (broken-up) gluten, so a "below 20 ppm" result doesn't prove the gluten is gone, and a number of coeliacs report reactions to these beers. Whether to drink them is a personal decision to make with your own medical team, not a blanket recommendation. If in doubt, choose route 1 or 2.
What the label may legally say, by country
- EU & UK: a beer testing β€20 ppm may be labelled "gluten-free", including enzyme-treated barley beer. So "gluten-free" on a UK/EU beer can still mean route 3. Coeliac UK: both kinds may be labelled gluten-free when tested at 20 ppm or less, and a gluten-removed barley beer must still say "contains barley" on the label.
- USA: the TTB does not allow "gluten-free" on any barley/wheat/rye beer. Gluten-removed beers must say "processed / treated / crafted to remove gluten" plus a disclaimer, a useful honesty the EU label doesn't force. Only naturally-GF beers get "gluten-free".
- Australia & New Zealand: "gluten-free" means no detectable gluten. Gluten-removed beers cannot be sold as gluten-free at all: only naturally-GF beers qualify.
- Italy / Codex frame: the β€20 ppm Codex/AOECS threshold applies; the Spiga Sbarrata (crossed grain) on a beer is the certified signal.
Finding one on the road
Dedicated and naturally-GF beers travel better than you'd think: many bottle shops and an increasing number of bars stock at least one. The HTGF Atlas flags venues with gluten-free beer, and its beer-locator is growing. When you're handed a bottle, the fastest check is still the label: the regulated claim plus, where it exists, the country's honest wording for gluten-removed.
Gluten-free beers we checked
We read every brewer below on its own website on 28 September 2026: what the beer is made from, what the brewer says about gluten and, where the brewer tells us, where it is sold. It is a starting list, not every gluten-free beer in the world, and not a taste test. Recipes and ranges change, so the label in your hand has the last word.
Brewed from gluten-free grains (route 1 and 2)
| Beer | Where it's from | What the brewer says | Where to find it (brewer's own site) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALT Brew | Madison, Wisconsin, USA | Dedicated gluten-free brewery and taproom; raw ingredients are tested for gluten. | Taproom in Madison |
| Bierly Brewing | McMinnville, Oregon, USA | Dedicated gluten-free brewery. | Oregon and Washington |
| Ghostfish Brewing | Seattle, USA | Dedicated gluten-free brewery: every ingredient in every beer is naturally gluten-free. | 25 US states and Alberta |
| Green's | brewed in Belgium | Brewed from naturally gluten-free grains such as sorghum and millet; no gluten to remove. | β |
| Ground Breaker Brewing | Portland, Oregon, USA | Every beer is naturally gluten-free; nothing containing gluten comes through the door. | OR, WA, CA, ID, MI, IL, CO, MA, ME, VT, RI, New York City, NJ, British Columbia, Alberta |
| Holidaily Brewing | Golden, Colorado, USA | Certified, dedicated gluten-free brewery. | AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MN, MO, MT, OR, TX, UT, WA, WY |
Made from barley or wheat, with the gluten reduced (route 3)
Read the route 3 section above first. In the EU and the UK these beers may say gluten-free when tested at 20 mg/kg or less; in the US and in Australia and New Zealand they may not. Whether they suit you is your call with your own medical team.
| Beer | Where it's from | What the brewer says | Where to find it (brewer's own site) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adnams Ease Up IPA | England | An enzyme reduces the gluten to below 20 ppm. | β |
| Bellfield Brewery | Edinburgh, Scotland | Brews only gluten-free beer; routinely tests below 10 ppm. | Taproom in Edinburgh and online |
| Brass Castle | Malton, England | All beers certified gluten-free; every batch tested by an independent lab, below 20 ppm. | Taproom in Malton and online |
| BrewDog Cold Beer (and Gluten Free Punk) | Scotland | Brewed with malted barley, sold as a gluten-free lager. | Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Co-op, SPAR, Costco |
| Brunehaut organic gluten-free range | Belgium | Organic beers with natural gluten removal. | β |
| Celia | Ε½atec, Czech Republic | Brewed with a patented de-glutenisation process. | β |
| The Crafty Brewing Co. Gluten Free Irish Lager | Rye River Brewing, Ireland | A gluten-free lager brewed for Lidl. | Lidl |
| Crafty Brewing: Loxhill Biscuit and Arctic Fox | Surrey, England | Listed as gluten-free in bottle. | β |
| Durham Brewery: Magus | Durham, England | Enzyme-treated to below 10 ppm; other Durham beers are not gluten-free. | β |
| Estrella Damm Daura | Barcelona, Spain | Crossed-grain licence (FACE in Spain, Coeliac UK abroad); every batch tested below 3 ppm. | β |
| Evan Evans Brewery | Wales | All beers are now brewed gluten-free. | β |
| Hambleton Brewery (GFA, GFL and the packaged range) | England | All bottled, canned and kegged beers gluten-free, made with an enzyme that breaks down the gluten. | β |
| Joseph Holt Diamond Lager Gluten Free | England | Sold as gluten-free in 330 ml bottles only. | β |
| Kormoran Jasny Bezglutenowy | Olsztyn, Poland | Brewed from gluten-containing grain; the gluten is broken down during fermentation. | β |
| Mack IsbjΓΈrn Lite | TromsΓΈ, Norway | Below 20 ppm, approved by the Norwegian coeliac association. | β |
| Mahou Cinco Estrellas Sin Gluten | Madrid, Spain | Same ingredients as Mahou 5 Estrellas, with a process that breaks down the gluten proteins. | β |
| Mongozo Buckwheat White and Premium Pilsner | brewed in Belgium | Gluten removed at two stages, each batch lab-checked, below 3 ppm. The buckwheat beer also contains barley malt. | β |
| Neumarkter LammsbrΓ€u Bio Glutenfrei | Bavaria, Germany | Brewed with barley malt, below 20 mg/kg, with a process developed together with the German coeliac society (DZG). | β |
| Omission | USA | Every batch tested below 20 ppm; in the US it is labelled "crafted to remove gluten", not gluten-free. | β |
| Peroni Senza Glutine (Nastro Azzurro Gluten Free abroad) | Rome, Italy | Gluten content below 10 ppm. | β |
| Purple Moose Brewery | Wales | All cask and keg beers have the gluten removed; bottles and cans only where marked. | β |
| Stone Delicious IPA | California, USA | Stone itself says traces of gluten remain in this beer. | β |
| Teme Valley Brewery | England | All beers now gluten-free, cask and bottle. | The Talbot, Knightwick |
| Wold Top (gluten-free range) | England | Tested with the Codex R5 ELISA method, well below 20 ppm. | β |
No longer found on 28 September 2026 (site gone or brewery closed): Glutenberg, New Planet, Burning Brothers, Aurochs.
Source for every row: the brewer's own website, read 28.09.2026. Tell us when something has changed.
How to read the bottle where you are
A brand list only tells you what a brewer said on the day we read it. The label in your hand is what you can always check, so here is the four-step check that works on any beer, in any country.
- Find the grain. Ingredients that read sorghum, millet, rice, buckwheat, maize and nothing else put the beer on route 1 or 2: there was never any gluten to remove.
- Look for the enzyme clue. Barley or malt in the ingredients together with a gluten-free claim means route 3. In the USA the label is forced to say so ("crafted to remove gluten"); in the EU and UK it is not, so the ingredient line is your only tell.
- Check what the claim is allowed to mean here. Use the jurisdiction table above: the same words mean different things in Madrid, Manchester, Miami and Melbourne.
- Decide on your own terms. Routes 1 and 2 are the confident choice. Route 3 is a personal-tolerance decision to make with your own medical team, not something a brand name, or this page, can make for you.
When a bar hands you a bottle you cannot read, the Translator card for "does this contain barley, wheat or rye?" does the job in the local language, and the HTGF Atlas flags venues that stock gluten-free beer.
This is a reference, not medical advice, and not a safety guarantee: gluten-removed beer in particular is a decision for you and your dietitian. Always read the current label; recipes and processes change.
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