Gluten and wheat free beer in the UK: what to buy and what to avoid

“Gluten free” on a beer label does not mean wheat free, and it does not always mean what a strict coeliac thinks it means.

Most of the gluten free beer stocked in UK supermarkets is brewed with barley. The brewer adds an enzyme during fermentation that breaks gluten proteins down below the legal threshold of 20 parts per million. The finished beer is allowed to call itself gluten free. By law, it also has to declare “contains barley” on the back of the bottle.

If you searched for “gluten and wheat free beer,” you probably want the other category. Beer brewed without barley or wheat at all. Beer made from sorghum, millet, rice or buckwheat. Beer that does not need an enzyme to be safe.

This is a buyer’s guide to that category. What it is, how to spot it, and the small handful of breweries that actually make it.

What “gluten and wheat free” actually means

Two categories of gluten free beer exist in the UK. They sit under the same label and they are not the same thing.

The first is naturally gluten free. The beer is brewed from grains that have never contained gluten: sorghum, millet, buckwheat, brown rice, sometimes quinoa or corn. No barley, no wheat, no rye, ever. The finished beer reads zero or close to zero on a gluten test because no gluten was ever there.

The second is gluten reduced. The beer is brewed with barley, in the normal way, and an enzyme called Brewers Clarex (Clarity Ferm in the US) is added during fermentation. The enzyme breaks down the gluten proteins. The finished beer tests below 20 parts per million and earns the right to be labelled gluten free under UK law. Coeliac UK requires it to also state “contains barley” on the pack.

Both can be called gluten free. Only the first is genuinely wheat free in the sense that no gluten grain has ever touched it.

The freefrombeer directory tracks 254 gluten free beers across 61 breweries. Two of those breweries brew naturally gluten free. The rest use the gluten reduced approach.

That ratio is the starting point for everything else in this guide.

Gluten reduced beer vs naturally gluten free beer

The enzyme used to make gluten reduced beer is called Brewers Clarex. It is a fungal endopeptidase derived from Aspergillus niger, added to the fermenting beer to chop the proline residues in gluten proteins into fragments small enough to fall below the 20 parts per million test threshold.

That is the mechanism. The thing that matters is what the mechanism does not do.

It does not remove all the gluten protein. The fragments left behind are small enough to evade the standard R5 ELISA test used to certify the beer as gluten free, but research at the University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center has shown that some coeliacs still react to gluten reduced beer even when the test comes back clean. The Gluten Free Certification Organization in the US refuses to certify any gluten reduced product for that reason. Coeliac UK is more permissive: they list gluten reduced products in their Food and Drink Guide as long as the beer tests below 20 parts per million and the barley is declared on the label.

So the same beer can be:

• Legally gluten free in the UK
• Labelled “contains barley”
• Recommended by Coeliac UK
• Avoided by GFCO and several US coeliac bodies
• Tolerated by most coeliacs and intolerated by a minority

That is the reality you are buying into when you pick up a Peroni Gluten Free, a Daura Damm, a Stella Artois Gluten Free or a Bellfield. They are all gluten reduced. They all use barley. They all test under 20 parts per million. None of them are naturally gluten free.

For someone with a wheat allergy who is not coeliac, those beers are fine. Barley is not wheat. The grain in the recipe is irrelevant to a wheat allergy as long as no actual wheat is used, and these beers do not use wheat.

For a coeliac who has reacted to a gluten reduced beer before, or who prefers not to roll the dice on the protein fragments the enzyme leaves behind, the naturally gluten free category is where to shop.

How to check if a beer is genuinely wheat free

Three things to look at, in order.

Allergen line on the back of the bottle. UK law requires barley, wheat or rye to be declared in bold in the ingredient list if they have been used at any stage. If you see “contains barley” or “contains wheat,” the beer was brewed with that grain. It might still be gluten free by test, but it is not naturally gluten free.

The base grain in the ingredients. Sorghum, millet, buckwheat, brown rice or quinoa as the base grain points to a naturally gluten free beer. Malted barley or wheat malt points to a gluten reduced one.

The certification mark. The Coeliac UK crossed grain trademark confirms the beer tests below 20 parts per million. It does not confirm the brewing method, and it is awarded to both naturally and gluten reduced beers. If you want a mark that specifically excludes gluten reduced products, look for the GFCO mark instead, though it is harder to find on UK shelves.

There is no shortcut. A bold “gluten free” badge on the front of a Peroni bottle tells you the legal status, not the brewing method. The detail is on the back.

The best gluten and wheat free beers you can buy in the UK

Two of the breweries we track on freefrombeer brew naturally gluten free beer that you can buy in the UK today. Both are the rare ones that skip the enzyme step entirely.

Green’s

A Belgian range with UK distribution through specialist online retailers. Green’s brews from millet, sorghum, buckwheat and brown rice. No barley, no wheat, no enzyme step. Six beers in the directory: a 5.0% IPA, a 4.0% Dry Hopped Lager, a 5.0% Blond, a 4.5% Premium Pilsner, a 7.0% Dubbel and an 8.5% Tripel. The Dubbel and Tripel are the standouts if you want something with weight to it. The IPA does the heavy lifting for hop led drinking.

Browse Green’s on freefrombeer.

Altgrain Brewery

A small Essex brewery brewing naturally gluten free at 5.0%. Currently one beer in the directory, a Random Pale Ale in 330ml cans. The catalogue entry confirms the brewery’s naturally gluten free designation. If you want UK brewed without barley anywhere on the premises, this is the rarer pick.

Browse Altgrain on freefrombeer.

St. Peter’s Sorghum Beer (G-Free)

Outside the freefrombeer directory but worth flagging. Brewed in Suffolk from 100% sorghum at 4.2% in St. Peter’s signature oval 500ml bottle. Citrus and floral on Amarillo hops, pilsner clean on the finish, Coeliac UK certified. Sold via Beers of Europe and direct from St. Peter’s.

Hambleton Brewery (gluten reduced, included for context)

Hambleton is a dedicated gluten free brewery in North Yorkshire: all their finished beers carry a GF label and are tested below 20 parts per million. The two flagships are GFA, a 4.8% tawny ale, and GFL, a 5.2% lager. Hambleton’s own brewing FAQ confirms the use of an enzyme step, so these are gluten reduced beers, not naturally gluten free. They are wheat free in the sense that no wheat is used. The gluten you are drinking around has been broken down by an enzyme rather than omitted from the recipe.

For a wheat allergy without coeliac disease, fine. For a strict coeliac, less safe than Green’s or Altgrain.

To compare across the whole catalogue, browse all naturally gluten free beers in the freefrombeer directory.

What to avoid if you need truly wheat free beer

If naturally gluten free is the bar, the supermarket gluten free section is mostly not it.

These are the gluten reduced beers you are most likely to see in a UK supermarket or large pub:

• Peroni Nastro Azzurro Gluten Free. Barley, Clarex.
• Daura Damm. Barley, enzyme, “contains barley” on the label.
• Stella Artois Gluten Free. Barley, enzyme.
• Old Speckled Hen Gluten Free. Gluten reduced.
• BrewDog Punk IPA Gluten Free. Clarex enzyme.

All of them are technically wheat free in the sense that wheat is not in the recipe. None of them are naturally gluten free. All of them legally have to declare “contains barley” on the back of the bottle.

If you are coeliac and have reacted to a gluten reduced beer before, treat this list as a list to avoid. If you have a wheat allergy without coeliac disease, this list is fine and the supermarket aisle has just opened up considerably.

Bellfield Brewery in Edinburgh deserves a separate note. They are Coeliac UK certified, they test routinely below 10 parts per million, and they have a strong following among UK coeliac drinkers. They also use the enzyme step. They are not naturally gluten free. If you want a well tested gluten reduced beer from a dedicated GF brewery, Bellfield is one of the safer bets in that category. If you want naturally gluten free, Bellfield is not the right shop.

Where to buy gluten and wheat free beer in the UK

Direct from the breweries, or through a handful of specialist online retailers. UK supermarkets are not the place to go for naturally gluten free beer.

• Beers of Europe. Wide range including St. Peter’s Sorghum Beer.
• Beerhunter. UK distributor for the Green’s range.
• Hambleton Brewery direct. GFA and GFL in cases of 16.
• Wise Bartender. Strong on alcohol free gluten free beer.
• Altgrain direct. Small Essex brewer, limited release.
• St. Peter’s Brewery direct. Sorghum Beer in oval bottles.

For Peroni GF, Stella GF and the other gluten reduced supermarket options, every major supermarket carries at least one. Knowing the category you are buying into is the part that takes the work.

How this guide was put together

This guide draws on the freefrombeer directory of 254 gluten free beers across 61 UK and European breweries, cross-checked against each brewery’s published brewing notes and Coeliac UK’s guidance on labelling and certification. Where a brewery uses an enzyme step, we have said so. Where a beer is made from alternative grains, we have said so. Where the published information on a particular beer is unclear or stale, we have left it off this list rather than guess at the safety question. The directory is updated as breweries change their process; if a brewery moves between the naturally gluten free and gluten reduced categories, the entry moves with it.