There is a segment of the population who have celiac disease and are basically allergic to gluten. The number is less than 2 million in the US so that translates to less than 0.7% of the population. Some say there are many in the US who have not been diagnosed so let’s be generous and round it up to 1% of the population. So for every 100 people you see, 1 may have celiac disease, or for every 150 people you see, 1 has been diagnosed with the disease. What does that mean exactly? Most people concerned about gluten have nothing to be concerned about, if you believe you are sensitive to gluten then go to a physician and get properly diagnosed. If you just want to remove gluten from your diet for the heck of it, then you probably have peanut and lactose allergies as well and should stay away from power lines as they will mess up your chakras so do the hokey pokey and turn yourself about cause that’s what it’s all about. As you can tell I’m not convinced by self-diagnosis or diagnosis by holistic healers, get your butt to a specialist and find out for sure.
So if you truly are suffering from celiac disease then gluten is the enemy. There are gluten free beers, but I’ve never had one which actually tasted good enough to have again so my suggestion is you skip beer consumption altogether. While you may have loved beer prior to your diagnosis, you have a disease and gluten is the enemy so don’t let the enemy get close to you. I know if I had a disease which could be managed by removing something from my diet I would do so immediately. So what does that leave for the beer lover. You could do hopped ciders or meads to get the beer bittering and floral characteristics. Most other alcoholic beverages are gluten free. I am told wine and most distilled liquors are fine, but one should be careful because some have reported reactions to certain liquors. I’d suggest you do some research and then decide if you should try a particular brand. Often you can purchase individual small bottles of popular brands if you want to sample something to determine if you like the taste.
So the bottom line is skip the beer, go for the wine, mead, and cider, and carefully choose your spirits. Of course first go to the doctor and get properly diagnosed, otherwise you are simply eliminating gluten without having all the facts.
