The Best Gluten Free Stouts in the UK

Yes, gluten free stout exists in the UK. Here’s what’s worth drinking.

The freefrombeer directory currently lists four UK gluten free stouts: Birmingham Brewing Company’s Stout Brummie (oatmeal, 4.8%), Bristol Beer Factory’s Milk Stout (4.5%, awarded national champion stout), Little Ox Brewery’s Dark & Seedy (vanilla stout, 5.5%) and Little Ox Brewery’s Underworld (imperial stout, 8.0%). All four are produced by UK breweries that put their beer through a gluten reduction process to bring gluten below the 20ppm threshold.

The Coeliac UK subreddit thread sitting near the top of the search results literally asks “does it even exist?” The honest answer is yes, and the options are better than most people expect.

The best gluten free stouts in the UK

Birmingham Brewing Company Stout Brummie

4.8% ABV. Oatmeal stout. Brewed in Stirchley, Birmingham.

Stout Brummie is the one most people stumble into first. It uses deglutenised malted barley, malted wheat and oats, with noble hops on top. The nitrogen carbonation gives it a smooth, creamy mouthfeel closer to a draught pour than a typical bottled stout. Earthy and floral on the nose, chocolate and roasted coffee on the palate. The directory lists it as gluten free.

If you’ve been told a gluten free beer will taste compromised, this is the one to test that theory with.

Stout Brummie · Birmingham Brewing Company

Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout

4.5% ABV. Milk stout. Brewed in Bristol.

Bristol Beer Factory’s Milk Stout has the strongest competition credentials of the four. It has been recognised as a national champion stout, which is rare for a beer brewed gluten free. Challenger and Fuggles hops, classic English bittering, with lactose adding a gentle sweetness against the roasted malt. Chocolate, coffee and a hint of dark fruit in the glass. It is listed as certified gluten free.

A milk stout is a sensible place to start if rich isn’t your usual preference. The lactose softens the bitterness without flattening the character.

Milk Stout · Bristol Beer Factory

Little Ox Brewery Dark & Seedy

5.5% ABV. Vanilla stout. Brewed in Freeland, Oxfordshire.

Dark & Seedy is the most interesting drinking experience of the four. Vanilla on the finish lands closer to pudding than session beer, but the complex malt bill (Maris Otter, Dextrin, Caramalt, oats, Chocolate, Carafa 3) keeps it from tipping into sugary. Bramling Cross hops add a faint berry note that plays well with the vanilla. Unfiltered and unpasteurised, so the character carries through. The directory does not record a gluten free certification field for this one.

Best treated as a slow drink rather than a session beer.

Dark & Seedy · Little Ox Brewery

Little Ox Brewery Underworld

8.0% ABV. Imperial stout, barrel aged. Brewed in Freeland, Oxfordshire.

Underworld is the heavyweight in this list. Sumptuous roasted malt with coffee, chocolate and a dark molasses smokiness, then aged in rye whisky barrels for a layer of warmth and complexity. At 8.0%, it drinks like a nightcap. Unfiltered, unpasteurised, no compromises on body. As with Dark & Seedy, the directory does not record a gluten free certification field for Underworld, so check the brewery’s own product page if you’re sensitive.

If you’ve missed proper imperial stout since going gluten free, this fills the gap.

Underworld · Little Ox Brewery

Is Guinness gluten free?

No. Guinness is brewed with malted barley, which contains gluten. It tests above the 20ppm threshold the UK uses to label a beer gluten free, and Diageo do not produce a gluten free version. It is not safe for coeliacs.

People search for this constantly. The answer doesn’t change. The good news is the four UK stouts above exist, and none of them ask you to settle.

Gluten free, gluten reduced, and what coeliacs need to know

The labels matter more than they look.

A beer can carry a gluten free label in the UK if it contains 20 parts per million of gluten or less, regardless of how it got there. The freefrombeer directory tracks two routes to that result. Naturally gluten free breweries use grains that never contained gluten in the first place: millet, sorghum, rice, buckwheat. Gluten reduced breweries start with barley or wheat and use enzymes to break the gluten proteins down below the legal threshold.

Of the eleven breweries currently in the directory, two are naturally gluten free and nine are gluten reduced. The four UK gluten free stouts above all come from gluten reduced breweries. That is why they taste recognisably like stout. The malt bill is intact.

For coeliacs, the distinction is worth understanding. Some standard gluten tests were designed to detect intact gluten proteins, not the fragments enzyme treatment leaves behind. Coeliac UK’s own guidance is that both naturally gluten free and gluten reduced beers can carry a gluten free label below 20ppm, and they certify products from both categories. The practical rule: look for the Crossed Grain logo, or check Coeliac UK’s Food and Drink Information Guide before committing if you are symptomatic.

Where to buy gluten free stout in the UK

Supermarket coverage is thin. Tesco runs a small gluten free beer category online, but stout specifically is rare on the shelf. The reliable route is online.

Order direct from the breweries. Birmingham Brewing Company, Bristol Beer Factory and Little Ox Brewery all sell from their own sites. Specialist retailers including Beers of Europe, Best of British Beer and Taylor’s GF Beers carry rotating gluten free ranges with stout in the mix. Amazon UK lists individual SKUs but stock comes and goes. If you are hosting and want a guaranteed in-date case, the breweries themselves are the safer call.

Cooking with gluten free stout

This is the question the Coeliac UK Reddit thread was actually asking: can you make a chocolate Guinness cake with it?

Yes, and it works well. The richer the stout, the better the cake. Bristol Beer Factory Milk Stout gives a softer, sweeter crumb thanks to the lactose. Little Ox Dark & Seedy turns the vanilla up. For a beef stew or a slow cooker brisket, Stout Brummie’s lower ABV behaves more like a traditional cooking stout and won’t dominate the dish. Swap plain flour for cornflour to thicken and the rest of the recipe stays gluten free.

Recipes calling for Guinness work with any of the four above. The depth comes from the malt.

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Browse the rest of the directory by style for lagers, IPAs, pale ales and the other categories, or head to a brewery page above to buy direct.