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Alcohol And Celiac

echeney

By echeney
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

echeney Newbie
echeney
Posted

Not that I am a big lush, but what can we drink? I know beer is off limits, but can we drink anything else bottled. I found some hard ciders that seem to be ok. Can we have Smirnoff Ice or Mike's Hard Lemonade, or is that off limits too because it is a malt beverage???? Please help. I like to have a good time too.

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happygirl Collaborator
happygirl
Posted

There are some gluten free beers, including one by Anheiser Busch - Redbridge.

Malt beverages (like Smirnoff Ice, in the US) are not safe to be consumed by Celiacs.

Woodchuck Cider is gluten free - they even advertise it as such. Open Original Shared Link

Wines are almost always safe, and many hard liquors are safe. Be sure to check what they are mixing with the liquors, however.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/222/1/Glute...ages/Page1.html

ljb Newbie
ljb
Posted

I tried Redbridge over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised! I love it!

<drank a smidge too much... UGH!>

Thanks for the link to Woodchuck cider!

Most Rums are OK. Many vodkas.

Unfortunately, most often you have to check with the manufacturer, since the ingredients are not always on the labels.

zip2play Apprentice
zip2play
Posted

I drink Apple Martini's and have had no problems whether I make them at home or order them out!

Monica

Guest AutumnE
Guest AutumnE
Posted

Captain Morgan rum and coke is ok :)

sickchick Community Regular
sickchick
Posted

Vodka is made from Potato though so if you are nightshade intolerant, it's a no-no B)

Bacardi is fine, Cognac (made from grapes) and Grand Marnier is made with Cognac. Tequia is fine, make sure it's 100%% agave and nothing funky. Are worms gluten free? lol :huh::lol:

gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted
Vodka is made from Potato though so if you are nightshade intolerant, it's a no-no B)

Bacardi is fine, Cognac (made from grapes) and Grand Marnier is made with Cognac. Tequia is fine, make sure it's 100%% agave and nothing funky. Are worms gluten free? lol :huh::lol:

Some Vodka is made from potato however its a minority ...

Many Cognac's have coloring added, as do many other spirits. The more ingredients (like derived drinks) the greater the chance of one of them being a gluten source. To make it more complex the 'added' stuff can vary in a single drink depending on market price and availability. So one batch might be using one coloring and another batch a different one.

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Lockheed Apprentice
Lockheed
Posted

Okay most Vodkas are not made just from potatos. Most are distilled from grains and it will say so on the bottle. Kettle One says they are a potato vodka but it says on the back of the bottle "distilled from grains". Although in theory the distillation process should remove enough of the proteins to cause a celiac incident... I don't drink grain vodkas. Chopin is a really good true potato vodka and Ciroc is a grape vodka.

Not Okay Vodkas:

Skull

Kettle One

Grey Goose

Absolute

happygirl Collaborator
happygirl
Posted

The American Dietetic Association has stated that distilled alcohols are safe for Celiacs.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/184/1/Ameri...Diet/Page1.html

Lockheed Apprentice
Lockheed
Posted
The American Dietetic Association has stated that distilled alcohols are safe for Celiacs.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/184/1/Ameri...Diet/Page1.html

Sure. They also say that I shouldn't have an issue with cross contamination. Some people do and some people don't. The sensitivity level is probably the difference. The distillation process in hard liquors (with nothing added) should remove enough gluten proteins that it shouldn't trigger an incident, but if you're drinking 2 or 3 liters of alcohol in a week.. that might be enough to trigger an issue. No one should ever drink that much in a week as I discovered in my youth. So if you're going to binge drink, I recommend sticking with something like Chopin that doesn't have grain as a source to begin with but if you're just going to have an ounce of vodka and you're not super sensitive.. you probably could be okay with any vodka since the gluten rate should be really really really low if present at all. But why bother with that nonsense when there is always RUM! Rum is distilled from spices.

ericajones80 Newbie
ericajones80
Posted
There are some gluten free beers, including one by Anheiser Busch - Redbridge.

Malt beverages (like Smirnoff Ice, in the US) are not safe to be consumed by Celiacs.

Woodchuck Cider is gluten free - they even advertise it as such. Open Original Shared Link

Wines are almost always safe, and many hard liquors are safe. Be sure to check what they are mixing with the liquors, however.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/222/1/Glute...ages/Page1.html

Thanks for the info....Woodchuck is terrific, I'd suggest it to anyone looking for an alternative.

Lockheed Apprentice
Lockheed
Posted

I should clarify also that I'm not trying to undermine the ADA. They have a very difficult job trying to sort out what is safe and isn't safe for a celiac because it is probably difficult to find someone who is just a celiac and doesn't have other sensitivities also and not all celiacs are the same as we know from here. Props to them for even paying attention to us!

Jestgar Rising Star
Jestgar
Posted
Sure. They also say that I shouldn't have an issue with cross contamination. Some people do and some people don't. The sensitivity level is probably the difference. The distillation process in hard liquors (with nothing added) should remove enough gluten proteins that it shouldn't trigger an incident, but if you're drinking 2 or 3 liters of alcohol in a week.. that might be enough to trigger an issue. No one should ever drink that much in a week as I discovered in my youth. So if you're going to binge drink, I recommend sticking with something like Chopin that doesn't have grain as a source to begin with but if you're just going to have an ounce of vodka and you're not super sensitive.. you probably could be okay with any vodka since the gluten rate should be really really really low if present at all. But why bother with that nonsense when there is always RUM! Rum is distilled from spices.

WHAT!?!?!? Who told you that??

And may I suggest, that if you're drinking 2-3 liters of hard alcohol a week it's likely that you have bigger problems than gluten. (as a general statement, not directed at you specifically)

sickchick Community Regular
sickchick
Posted

thanks B)

Calicoe Rookie
Calicoe
Posted

I really like the New Grist Beer, which is advertised on this site. It is a real, quality beer, and has won some awards. I also have my favorite pils which I like, but won't recommend it because I don't know what's in it, and it is not advertised as a gluten free beer, but doesn't make me ill at all.

gpierre Newbie
gpierre
Posted

It is good that there are so many alcoholic drinks that we can actually drink.

Woodchuck Cider is one of my favourite drinks! :D

gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted
WHAT!?!?!? Who told you that??

And may I suggest, that if you're drinking 2-3 liters of hard alcohol a week it's likely that you have bigger problems than gluten. (as a general statement, not directed at you specifically)

2-3 Litres a week isn't SO much, probably more than is healthy but really not out of the way if that's ALL you drink alcohol wise. (At least not by European standards). It is however a personal health issue...

The bigger question is really what Lockheed brought up.

I rather feel the same.... its easy for the ACA to say but they also say CC doesn't exist... or really fail to make people aware. The UK organisation does the same... and actually supports the 200ppm limit as being defined gluten-free.

Apart from the obvious logic bomb (200ppm is gluten-free) this just makes life difficult for us.

I know I have on occasions reacted to all sorts of things like shampoo. I know I get neurological problems and i know i get depression. All of these are denied point blank by CUK (they even make fun of it saying "C(o)eliacs just get depressed because of the lack of choice in the supermarket" ...

It was the ACA who said McDo fries were safe.... (again when they categorically contained gluten traces)...

So going back.... I'm not suggestuing anyone drink 2-3 litres of hard liquor a week. If people do then that is up to them... but I'm NOT recommending it. The ACA and CUK are tactically saying its OK to eat "a little gluten"....

As lockheed say's, everyone is different... however the research simply hasn't been done on this, every published paper I've seen says (to paraphrase) ... Damage was not significantly worse in subjects eating 200ppm limit CODEX food than the gluten free control.

1/ No one checked the control were actually gluten-free... It is not mentioned in the papers

2/ If damage was not significantly worse then damage occurred.... see 1.... for why it was not significantly worse.

Recommending something is not the same as not recommending it. To say "We don't know" is one thing, to say "Its OK" is another.

On a final note: As someone who has worked on distillation and fractionation I would NEVER be able to guarantee that any distillate is completely free of a product. In the case of water and alcohol this is an extremely complex case...

Not everyone will have the Chemistry to understand, you are at least working with people who should be able to...

Water/alcohol is a multiphase azeotrope. That is the mutual attraction bewteen them prevents any pure end product and a eutectic point at a certain PVT is achieved instead.

Distillation of mash (the raw material for drinking alcohol) is many many times more complex as it contains numerous by products (aldehydes, ketones and even aromatics) that all mutually interfere.

Secondly it is itself based on an imprecise never the same mix because the process of fermentation is truly organic.

The exact byproducts the yeast make are never the same, tiny differences in raw product, temperature etc. see to this.

I would put a LOT of money in a 'bet' that using industrial chemistry noone could ever produce the same* distillate twice over the period of 1 lifetime starting from grain and ending with 'vodka'.

( *By same with sufficient instrumentation I could find different products each time. )

A Lot of money has been spent trying to do this, even within tolerances for jet fuel (which is reasonably pure paraffin)... it just doesn't happen because of the millions of codependent variables, a change in the weather (and pressure) can change it so much...

Laurad- Apprentice
Laurad-
Posted

Strongbow cider is my favorite! (but I agree that Woodchuck is good too.)

...and it comes in a bottle so you don't stand out when everyone else is drinking beer. :)

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