Alcoholic Drinks

[roxie]

Hey! I was just wondering about alcoholic drinks. How do we know if they are gluten free? I would assume that most of them are. Right??? I can't imagine not having my weekend martini. Does anyone know? Thanks!!

Oh, and what about prescription medicines??

[psawyer]

The safety of alcoholic beverages has been the subject of considerable discussion here.

Malt beverages, including most beers and many coolers, contain barley malt and are not suitable for our diet.

Wine is not made from grain--most are made from grapes. There is no gluten in any fruit, including grapes, so wine is safe, at least from a gluten perspective.

Distilled alcohol is the source of debate. In theory, the process of distillation should result in a gluten-free distillate even if the original mash was made from a gluten-containing grain. Nevertheless, some of us have an adverse reaction, similar to a gluten reaction, to alcohol distilled from grain. Whether these grain alcohols contain gluten is in dispute. Many of us are able to consume them without any problems. I personally believe that grain alcohol is gluten free, but that some celiacs are sensitive to some of the amino acid fragments that remain after distillation. This does not mean that those fragments are gluten; just that some of us are still sensitive to them.

You need to decide for yourself on that. There are plenty of alcoholic beverages which are made from base ingredients that have no gluten. Rum is made from non-grain sources. Smirnoff is made from corn.

As to your martini, I use Martinti & Rossi vermouth and Beefeater gin for mine. I have not have had any problems. Cheers.