If you love your beer but don't love what it does to your gut, a gluten-free bottle could be the solution to your bloating problems. As more and more beer drinkers are choosing to avoid gluten, some of the biggest booze brands in the world like Stella Artois, Peroni and San Miguel have decided to put a new, coeliac-friendly spin on their classic recipes.
Craft companies such as BrewDog, Magic Rock and Big Drop are also creating delicious gluten-free pale ales, stouts, pilsners and of course lagers. Whether you're shopping for yourself or looking for a gift, we've compiled the 10 best gluten-free beers available to buy online from Amazon and eBay as well as UK supermarkets like Tesco and ASDA. All of our picks can be delivered straight to your door for your drinking pleasure!
Quick List - Top Gluten-Free Beers
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For a product to be labelled "gluten-free" in the UK, it needs to contain less than 20ppm (20 parts of gluten per one million parts of food). There are two recognised ways of doing this and neither is better than the other — it just depends on the brewer and the kind of flavour they're trying to achieve for their beer.
The first method involves replacing the standard glutenous grains used to make malt (barley and wheat) with a naturally gluten-free grain like millet, buckwheat, sorghum or rice. This simple swap is a great way of making a beer gluten-free, plus it means new and exciting flavours will come to the fore, which is exactly what craft beer brewers are looking for.
Alternatively, beer can be made with standard malt grains and then put through a process that breaks down the gluten proteins. By introducing an enzyme at the fermentation stage, brewers can reduce the gluten content of beer down to or below 20ppm. This is a popular route for well-established brands who want their gluten-free booze to taste just like their regular beer range.
Drinking gluten-free beer doesn't mean you're destined to a life of tasteless booze. On the contrary, you'll have plenty of bottles to choose from since there are so many gluten-free options around. Our simple buying guide is here to help you pick a winner!
You may assume that drinking gluten-free booze means giving up on your favourite style of beer, but we're here to tell you that you're wrong! Unfortunately, the dark, heavy and rich flavours of stout aren't common in the gluten-free market, but you can easily find some seriously tasty IPAs, APAs, session and pale ales alongside the classic ale.
If you're still coming round to the idea of craft beer or consider it nonsense, there are still plenty of crisp gluten-free lagers and pilsners to enjoy too. All this choice ensures that whichever style of beer you prefer, you'll be able to find a gluten-free version on the supermarket shelves!
Any drink that contains alcohol will have an ABV (alcohol by volume) percentage on the label, to help you understand what you're consuming. Big-league beer companies tend to make their gluten-free booze with a similar ABV to their standard lager, sitting in the tried and tested middle ground of 4.8-5.5%.
Craft beer companies, on the other hand, can be a lot more sporadic with the alcohol content of their beers. They look to provide light and easy-drinking session ales around the 3.4-4.6% mark as well as some heavier IPAs at 6.8% and above. If all this talk of alcohol is already making your head spin though and you prefer to stay alert, opt for a zero alcohol beer of 0.5% or less.
With the influx of craft beers onto the beer scene, the scope for tasting notes has become somewhat endless. Somehow, beer brands are still managing to break down new flavour territories and refine them, which is good news for booze enthusiasts!
Beer-brewing scientists can do this by incorporating real fruit puree, zest and peel into their beers in the fermentation process. Zingy fruits like lemon, lime, passionfruit, orange and mango are regularly featured in the citrus-flavoured craft ales of today.
Another way for brewers to create a taste explosion is by mixing up the hop varieties and quantities. After all, hops is not only an essential ingredient in beer but it has a unique flavour profile too that many people love. If you're someone who struggles to decide on a beer as they all sound so damn delicious, we recommend picking up a variety pack so you can try a bit of everything!
Products | Image | Click to purchase | Key features | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Magic Rock Fantasma Gluten Free IPA | ![]() | Powerful Citra IPA Packing a Mango Punch | |
2 | Stella Artois Premium Gluten-Free Lager | ![]() | Iconic and Deliciously Crisp Belgian Lager | |
3 | BrewDog Vagabond Pale Ale | ![]() | A Pioneering Pale Ale With Bold Flavour Notes | |
4 | San Miguel Gluten Free Lager | ![]() | Legendary, Full-Flavoured Lager With a Bitter Finish | |
5 | Peroni Nastro Azzurro Gluten-Free Lager | ![]() | Italy’s Crisp, Fruity Gift to the World | |
6 | The Free From Beer Co. Session IPA | ![]() | Citrus-Style IPA to See You Through the Session | |
7 | Bellfield Brewery Mixed Gluten-Free Case | ![]() | A Mixed Case of Gluten-Free Craft Beer | |
8 | Beer Hunter World Craft Beer Case | ![]() | The Perfect Gluten-Free Gift for Yourself or a Loved One | |
9 | Big Drop Pine Trail Pale Ale | ![]() | 0.5% Pale Ale That’s Low in Alcohol but Tastes Amazing | |
10 | Old Speckled Hen Gluten-Free Ale | ![]() | Classic English Ale Made Gluten-Free |
Exploding onto the British craft beer scene with the opening of their West Yorkshire brewery in Huddersfield, Magic Rock have paved a clear path for themselves as the future of beer and they're now well established as one of the UK's best brewers.
The Fantasma is a dank and juicy contemporary IPA for beer drinkers who like their booze to bite back a little. High in alcohol at 6.5% ABV, the Fantasma should be enjoyed responsibly and thoroughly down to the last drop. It's a true feather in the gluten-free beer market's cap that we feel definitely deserves the number one spot!
Stella Artois has made a huge effort in recent years to improve their recipes and appeal to more customers. Creating a gluten-free beer, therefore, seemed only natural and if you ask us, they've done a brilliant job!
This beer, simply put, is as close to their new and improved lager recipe as you can get without the gluten. It's been so well received that we couldn't really put together a ranking of gluten-free booze without it! The hoppy bitterness, the crisp bite and the clean, refreshing finish mean you just can't go wrong with a bottle of Stella!
BrewDog have made a name for themselves by brewing beer in their own unique way, and what they've done with the Vagabond is no exception! It's a big-impact pale ale that has a complex flavour profile of floral notes and caramel, as well as hints of orange and grapefruit.
The explosion of taste doesn't stop there though, as the recipe seeks to finish you off with a resinous pine bitterness that'll leave you in a state of beer-induced bliss. BrewDog manages to provide all of that goodness for a surprisingly low price which is exactly why this bottle is so high on our list!
San Miguel's 4-pack is priced astonishingly well for a gluten-free beer. This is a classic Spanish beverage that's full of flavour, full of alcohol (for a lager!) and comes with rave reviews from customers of Tesco and ASDA.
We can't believe how similar this beer tastes to a regular San Miguel — which tells you everything you need to know! With flavours of white bread, fruit and honey, this is a balanced beverage that has a wickedly intense body then finishes you off with a strong whack of bitter at the end.
Peroni's gluten-free lager has retained all the lovely bitterness and the sweet floral aromas of their iconic lager. By adding an enzyme at the very late stages of the brewing process, they've created a thing of gluten-free beauty!
This beer comes endorsed by the Italian Coeliac Association to give anyone who's worried about the effectiveness of their process some drinking reassurance. A delicious beverage for lager lovers who prefer their beer crisp and fruity.
At 4.8% ABV, this is a strong session IPA that may challenge your perception of what a session ale is supposed to be. Obviously, it's still lower in percentage than a standard IPA but it's considered very high for a session beer.
That aside, it's still a very solid beer that has loads of the good stuff — plenty of citrus and hops, as well as notes of mango, lime and passionfruit. It's a contemporary beer that skips on the gluten but certainly not the taste!
If you love both ale and lager, then let Bellfield's mixed case cut straight to the boozy times! This is a terrific 12-pack of session ales and craft lagers that'll rock the socks right off any beer lover on a Friday night.
The session ale sits at a nice and light 3.8% ABV, while the lager isn't overly heavy either with a respectable 5.2% ABV. While we understand this mixed case will be a big no-no for strict lager or ale drinkers, it's ideal for beer fans who are nonconformists and enjoy a bit of variety.
Containing a decent selection of beer styles, this craft beer pack would make a great present for a loved one — or for yourself! The only downside is that some customers have noticed that Beer Hunter occasionally double up on a couple of the brands so you may only get 8 different varieties rather than the 12 that are advertised.
Take your tastebuds on a beer masterclass as you start with the easy-drinking lagers and round off the session with the floral, hoppy aromas of the pale ales, IPAs and APAs. Maybe don't finish them all off at once though if you want your money's worth!
"Pine Trail" pale ale is a delicious, refreshing gluten-free beer that also does away with the alcohol. Rather than adding an artificial alcohol remover to the brewing process, Big Drop has opted to naturally brew their beer to have an ABV of less than 0.5%.
The result is a very clean and crisp pale ale with hints of rosy floral aromas, a light citrus bite and bitterness to finish. A high-quality modern ale for anyone who enjoys having a beer with their mates and driving home with a clear head after. The lack of alcohol is the only reason it's at number 9, as it won't appeal to everyone.
Old Speckled Hen offers a reliable, heartwarming ale from a time before ales became hip. It seems like a far cry from the pale ales we've all become accustomed to but don't count it out just yet!
With a warming flavour combo of toffee and malt that slides down the throat surprisingly easily, this is a delicious drop indeed. Sure, it won't suit the palate of those who prefer modern beer but for those who enjoy a more traditional-tasing booze, this gluten-free recipe will hit the spot.
With so many brands exploding onto the scene, shopping for gluten-free goodies has never been easier than it is today! We've compiled a selection of the best of the bunch for your perusal, so you can munch on something delicious safe in the knowledge that it's suitable for coeliacs too.
Cracking the cap off a frothy bottle of beer is one of life's great pleasures and it's something that everyone deserves to enjoy! We hope this article has helped you on your quest to find the perfect gluten-free booze to pop in the fridge.
Author: Connor Macanally
No. 1: Magic Rock|Fantasma Gluten Free IPA
No. 2: Stella Artois|Premium Gluten-Free Lager
No. 3: BrewDog|Vagabond Pale Ale
No. 4: San Miguel|Gluten Free Lager
No. 5: Peroni Nastro Azzurro|Gluten-Free Lager
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