I’ve had the opportunity to taste a lot of gluten-free beers across the USA. When I was the editor for the largest gluten-free magazine in the country, I found myself on the road a lot. I was always speaking at conventions or on a trade show floor looking for what’s next in gluten free. Thankfully, I found some incredible gluten-free beer along the way. And yes, I have carried an entire suitcase full of gluten-free beer home with me on a plane.
While there are several gluten-free beer brands out there, I’ve put together a list of my absolute favorites for you here at Celiac and the Beast. If you get a chance to buy these – you won’t regret it!
Best Gluten-Free Beer by Brand
Ghostfish Brewing Company
Ghostfish Brewing Company out of Seattle brews some of the best gluten-free beers, period. And it’s not surprising that they’re award-winning too! They took home a Gold Medal for their Watchstander Stout in 2021, and a Bronze Medal for their Dark Ale in 2018 at the annual Great American Beer Festival!
Ghostfish Brewing Company beers are produced in a dedicated brewery, made from gluten-free grains and are celiac safe.
You can purchase Ghostfish in stores in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast. Outside of that, you can purchase Ghostfish online at Marina Market and other specialty retailers, if your state permits direct-to-consumer beer shipments.
If you find yourself in Seattle, stop by the Ghostfish taproom for delicious gluten-free food and beer. You’ll have the best gluten-free fish and chips around!
Ghostfish Brewing Company offers the following beers:
- Grapefruit IPA
- Vanishing Point Pale Ale
- Shrouded Summit Belgian White Ale
- Kick Step IPA
- Meteor Shower Blonde Ale
- Peak Buster Double IPA
- Watchstander Stout
- And many seasonal and taproom only beers. My favorite has been their Lunar Harvest Pumpkin Ale!
Glutenberg
This company out of Quebec, Canada offers high-quality gluten-free beer They’re made in a dedicated brewery, made from gluten-free grains and are celiac-safe based on ELISA testing. I really like their white, blonde, and red ale.
They currently offer:
- IPA
- Double IPA
- Session IPA
- Pale Ale
- Red
- Blonde
- White
- Stout
- Gose (sour beer)
Looking for Glutenberg beer in the USA? Find their point of sale/distributor finder and see if there’s a distributor near you. They are not available in UT, MT, SD, NE, OK, IA, MS, AK or HI.
Ground Breaker Brewing
We’re not sure what we fell in love with first — Portland or this gastropub and its gluten-free beer. It’s not to be missed on your next trip to the pacific northwest! Ground Breaker Brewing gluten-free beer will transport you to your happy place.
The beers are produced in a dedicated brewery, made from gluten-free grains, are certified gluten free by GFCO and are celiac safe. We love this company’s constant innovation with seasonal experimental flavors. Their award-winning beers are always tops on our list.
Ground Breaker Brewing currently offers:
- Inclusion Dry Hopped Pale Ale
- Dark Ale
- IPA No. 5
- Olallie Blackberry and Rosehip Ale
- And many seasonal ales and beers on tap at the brewery that aren’t available anywhere else. You seriously need to visit the taproom to see all the creativity they have!
You can find Ground Breaker Brewing locally in OR, WA, CA, ID, MI, UT, CO, MA, ME, VT, RI, BC and AB Canada, and Japan. Use the store locator to find somewhere near you to buy Ground Breaker Brewing beer, or online through select retailers.
Holidaily Brewing Company
The advent of gluten-free beer means that every day can be a holiday. Holidaily Brewing Company takes this to heart, producing great-tasting will transport you to your own gluten-free holiday. The beers are produced in a dedicated brewery, made from gluten-free grains, are certified gluten free by GFCO and are celiac safe.
This female-owned brewery is full of awards too! Their Big Henry IPA won a Bronze medal for Best Gluten-Free Beer in the 2021 Great American Beer Festival, and one of their seasonal IPAs took home Gold in 2019.
You can find Holidaily beer throughout Colorado, as well as Arizona, and the Kansas City metro and Houston metro areas. Thankfully in Arizona, I can find Holidaily in my Whole Foods Market, Sprouts, and other store locations. If you find yourself in Colorado, be sure to visit their two taprooms – one in Golden and one in Greenwood Village. Their taproom beer menus are extensive, and always changing!
Holidaily Brewing Company offers:
- Favorite Blonde Ale
- Fat Randy’s IPA
- Big Henry Hazy IPA
- Riva Stout
- Patchy Waters Pumpkin Ale (seasonal)
- Beulah Red Ale (seasonal)
- Buckwit Belgian (seasonal)
- and many small batch experimental beers under their Adventure Series line-up including the Vienna Lager shown above.
A List of Gluten-Free Beer Brands in the USA 2021
We’re very lucky to have so many celiac-safe gluten-free beer brands available here in the US. You used to have to visit a taproom to find these gems, but now they’re available on store shelves at liquor stores and grocery stores across the country. While distribution still isn’t nationwide for many of these gluten-free beers, it’s worth searching for them when you can! These are the dedicated gluten-free beer brands that I have tried myself during my travels and can vouch for. If you would like to know more beer brands, or want to know brands outside of the USA, visit Best Gluten Free Beers.
- Alt Brew (WI)
- Aurochs (PA)
- Bierly (OR)
- Burning Brothers (MN)
- Evasion (OR)
- Ghostfish
- Green’s
- Ground Breaker Brewing
- Holidaily
- Moonshrimp (OR)
Is Gluten Reduced Beer Safe For Celiac Disease?
If you’re looking for celiac-safe beer, do not be fooled into drinking gluten reduced beer.
Most beer is made from malted barley, which contains gluten. But gluten-free beer is brewed using other grains, including sorghum, buckwheat, millet and brown rice. These naturally gluten-free grains make gluten-free beer naturally gluten-free. Many companies make gluten-free beer from these grains. Some of these companies take the extra step to make sure their beer is certified gluten-free too.
Gluten removed beer – also called “gluten reduced” or “crafted to reduce gluten” – muddies the water for those who have celiac disease. In these beers, brewers add an enzyme (Clarex) to break down the gluten molecule into smaller pieces that are too small to be detected in lab tests and supposedly too small for your body to detect as gluten. Even if these “gluten reduced” beers contain less than 20 ppm of gluten, they may not be safe for those with celiac disease.
A 2017 Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) study looked at whether gluten-free or gluten-reduced beer induced an immune response in blood samples from individuals with celiac disease. None of the blood samples indicated a reaction to the gluten-free beer. However, the gluten-reduced beer elicited an immune response in almost 10 percent of the celiac blood samples. As comparison, none of the non-celiac control group showed a reaction to the gluten-reduced beer. This may indicate that there are residual gluten peptides that may be specifically recognized by people with celiac disease. Until more studies are conducted, gluten-reduced beer is not recommended for people with celiac disease.
Best Gluten-Free Beer
Make sure you support these incredible gluten-free beer brands! The more money they make, the more beer they can make for the celiac community! Encourage retailers to stock dedicated gluten-free beer in a liquor store or grocery store near you – don’t keep this gluten-free beer a secret!
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