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Celiac.com 10/14/2016 - It's almost October, and that means beer, or, at least it means Oktoberfest is near. And in so many ways, gluten-free beer lovers have never had it better, with dozens of selections now available commercially, and more on the way every month, it seems. So grab a beer, and celebrate Oktoberfest. But before we get to the list of beer purveyors, let's quickly review some basics of gluten-free versus gluten removed. Naturally Gluten-free Beers—Naturally gluten-free beers are made with all gluten-free source ingredients, and use grains like sorghum instead of barley. This is important to many people, especially those with high sensitivity, or the belief that gluten-removed beers may trigger celiac-related problems. Pros: Guaranteed gluten-free from start to finish. As close to 100% gluten-free final product as it gets. Cons: Beers made without barley can taste tart, or have a shallow flavor profile. Aren't considered beer under German standards. Gluten-removed beers—Use traditional source ingredients like barley to brew beer traditionally, then use various enzyme processes to break down the gluten. Pros: Traditional source ingredients. Traditional beer flavor. Test under 20 ppm gluten. Can be labeled as beer according to German purity laws. Cons: While many people with celiac disease seem to be able to tolerate gluten-removed beers, many claim that these beers trigger adverse symptoms. The jury is still out on whether gluten-reduced beers are safe for people with celiac disease. From a purely technical standpoint, beers brewed from all gluten-free source ingredients cannot be called beer in Germany, due to strict labeling laws in effect since the 14th century. The standard set by the FDA for gluten-free labeling in the United States requires that products be made with gluten-free ingredients, and must contain less than 20ppm of gluten. The standard set in Europe allows manufacturers to use gluten, rye, or barley in the manufacturing process, so long as the final product tests below 20 ppm gluten. Many European beers follow that method, and use wheat and or barley to brew their gluten-free beers. The beers are then treated with enzymes to break down and filter out any gluten. The result is a beer that looks and tastes like a traditional beer, but which is also gluten-free, according to the European labeling standard. A List of Naturally Gluten-free Beers Anheuser-Busch Redbridge Bard's Gold Bard's Tale Beer Brasserie Dupont Forêt Libre Brasseurs Sans Gluten Glutenberg Blanche Brunehaut Bio Ambrée Brunehaut Blonde Bio Brunehaut Blanche Burning Brothers Brewing Coors Peak Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales: Tweason'ale Drummond Gluten Free Epic Brewing Company: Glutenator Ghostfish Brewery Glutenberg American Pale Ale Glutenberg Blonde Glutenberg Belgian Double Glutenberg India Pale Ale Glutenberg Rousse Green's Discovery Amber Ale Green's Endeavour Green's Enterprise Dry-Hopped Lager Green's India Pale Ale Green's Quest Tripel Blonde Ale Ground Breaker Corsa Rose Gold Ale Ground Breaker IPA No. 5 Ground Breaker Dark Ale Ipswich Ale Brewery: Celia Saison Joseph James Brewing Fox Tail Lakefront New Grist Ginger Style Ale Lakefront New Grist Pilsner Style Minhas Lazy Mutt Gluten Free Mongozo Premium Pilsener New Planet Belgian Style Ale New Planet Blonde Ale New Planet Pale Ale New Planet Raspberry Ale New Planet Seclusion IPA New Planet Tread Lightly Session Ale Nickel Brook Gluten Free Nouvelle France La Messagère Nouvelle-France Messagère Aux Fruits Nouvelle-France Messagère Red Ale Schnitzer Bräu Hirse Lemon Schnitzer Bräu Hirse Premium Sprecher Brewing Company's Shakparo Ale Steadfast Beer gluten-free Blonde and Pale Ales Steadfast Beer Company's Oatmeal Cream Stout To Øl Reparationsbajer Gluten Free Whistler Forager A List of Gluten-Removed Beers Alley Kat Scona Gold Kölsch Brunehaut Bio Tripel Estrella Damm Daura Estrella Damm Daura Marzen Lammsbräu Glutenfrei Lager Beer Mikkeller American Dream Gluten Free Mikkeller Green Gold Gluten Free Mikkeller I Wish Gluten Free IPA Mikkeller Peter, Pale And Mary Gluten Free New Belgium Glutiny brand Golden and Pale Ales Short's Brewing Space Rock Stone Delicious IPA Sufferfest Brewing Company Pale Ale and Lager Widmer Omission Lager Widmer Omission IPA Widmer Omission Pale Ale Wold Top Against The Grain Wold Top Marmalade Porter Wold Top Scarborough Fair IPA Resources: Germans Brewing Beer with New Gluten-free Barley Storied Czech Brewery Quietly Brews Great Gluten-free Dark Beer Ghostfish Brewing Wins Gluten-free Gold at Great American Beer Festival Gluten-free Beer Guide at The Beer Diaries 17 Gluten-Free Beers That Actually Taste Good [updated for 2016!]

Celiac.com 02/28/2017 - A number of commercial brewers are opting to use enzymatic digestion, or hydrolysis, for treating gluten-containing foods and beverages to make them safe for people with gluten sensitivity, including those with celiac disease. However, some have questioned whether the process is safe for all people with celiac disease, as some celiacs complain that they experience gluten sensitivity when they drink these beers. Currently, there are no validated testing methods for quantifying levels of hydrolyzed or fermented gluten peptides in foods and beverages that might be harmful to celiac patients. This makes it difficult to determine the safety of hydrolyzed products for people with celiac disease. Some researchers finally tested the clinical response by celiac patients to gluten-free beer, gluten-removed beer, and conventional beer. They also tested a non-celiac control group. Their main goal was to determine if sera from active celiac patients can serve as an effective detection tool for residual celiac-reactive proteins in gluten-removed beer. The research team included Laura K Allred; Katherine Lesko; Diane McKiernan; Cynthia Kupper; and Stefano Guandalini. Their study used an ELISA-based method to determine whether serum antibody binding of residual peptides in a fermented barley-based product is greater among active-celiac disease patients than a normal control group, using commercial beers as a test case. The team first gathered sera from 31 active-celiac disease patients and 29 non-celiac control subjects, then assessed the binding of proteins from barley, rice, traditional beer, gluten-free beer, and enzymatically treated (gluten-removed) traditional beer. None of the 29 non-celiac control subjects reacted to all three barley-based samples (barley extract, traditional beer, and gluten-removed beer), while 2 of 31 active-celiac disease patients (6.4%) responded to all three samples. In the ELISA, none of the subjects' sera bound to proteins in the naturally gluten-free beer. Eleven active celiac patients showed immunoglobulin A (IgA) or immunoglobulin G (IgG) binding to a barley extract, compared to only one non-celiac control subject. Of the seven active celiac patients who had an IgA binding response to barley, four also responded to traditional beer, while two of these also responded to the gluten-removed beer. None of the sera from non-celiac control subjects bound to all three beer samples. Breaking down the results, only 11 of the 31 active celiac disease patients even reacted to barley. Only 4 of those 11 reacted to traditional beer; a mere 12%. Of those, only two celiacs reacted to gluten-removed beer, or about 6% of the test group. So, interestingly, while this study indicates that the vast majority of people with celiac disease seem to tolerate both traditional and gluten-free beers, it also indicates that there are residual peptides in the gluten-removed beer that may trigger reactions in a minority of celiacs. This particular study was small and highly regional, so very little can be projected to the larger celiac population. Clearly more study is warranted to more accurately determine the exact nature of the risk for celiacs who drink gluten-removed beer. This isn't the last we'll hear about the safety of gluten-removed beer. Stay tuned for more on this and other gluten-free stories. Read more about gluten-free and gluten-removed beers. Source: Journal of AOAC International. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5740/jaoacint.16-0184

Celiac.com 12/30/2016 - The San Francisco Bay area is home to a rich heritage of running and athletics, including more than a few folks who like to do extreme things. Whether it’s a swim to Alcatraz and back, ultra-long distance running, zany single speed mountain biking, or a combination of all three, San Francisco has it all. And now it has a gluten-removed beer for those folks. For all the people who think a muddy six mile hike is best done twice, and at a jog, there is now a beer for you. For anyone who likes to push their body to the extreme and then sit down with friends and revel in the suffering, there is Sufferfest. Sufferfest beer was created by lifelong athlete, and gluten-intolerance sufferer Caitlin Landesberg to capture the feeling of accomplishment and comradery that followed the sufferfest that was her first endurance race, Marin’s notorious Double Dispea. Brewed with the same competitive approach Landesberg brought to trail running and endurance events, Sufferfest is a gluten-removed beer designed for athletes who love to bond over moments of post-race elation that come with surviving extreme exertion. Landesberg brews a traditional full barley, malt-based beer, and uses Brewers Clarex, an enzyme that promotes clarity and stabilization, and reduces gluten levels to below 10ppm. According to their website, "Sufferfest beer is fermented from grains containing gluten and crafted to remove gluten. Our finished beer is analyzed in a lab that uses best-in-industry R5- Gliadin ELISA assay and registers at the lowest detection limit possible, ensuring that only trace amounts of gluten are present." Women-owned Sufferfest currently makes an IPA called Taper, and a Pilsner called Epic. Learn more at Sufferfestbeer.com.