Gluten-free beer has come a long way from the one thin, watery option every bar used to keep in the back of the fridge. There are now two real approaches: beers brewed from naturally gluten-free grains like sorghum, millet, rice or buckwheat, and gluten-removed beers, brewed normally with barley then treated with an enzyme to break the gluten down. Both can taste genuinely good. Only one of them is considered safe by most coeliac disease associations.
Best Gluten-Free Beers, Ranked
| Rank | Beer | Style | ABV | Calories | Our score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Green’s Discovery Amber Ale Review | Amber ale, gluten-free | 6.0% | N/A | 4.3/5 |
| 2 | Glutenberg IPA Review | American IPA, gluten-free | 6.0% | 320 | 4.2/5 |
| 3 | Omission Lager Review | Pale lager, gluten-removed | 4.6% | 134 | 3.8/5 |
| 4 | Glutenberg Blonde Ale Review | Blonde ale, gluten-free | 4.5% | 160 | 3.9/5 |
| 5 | Redbridge Review | Amber lager, gluten-free (sorghum) | 4.8% | N/A | 3.4/5 |
| 6 | New Planet Belgian-Style Ale Review | Belgian-style blonde ale, gluten-free | 6.8% | N/A | 3.3/5 |
Green’s Discovery Amber Ale Review
The beer that arguably started modern gluten-free craft brewing in 2003, and it still tastes like a proper medium-bodied amber ale rather than a specialty substitute. It pours a deep amber-copper with a decent tan head for a gluten-free beer.
Read the full Green’s Discovery Amber Ale review for tasting notes, specs and FAQs.
Glutenberg IPA Review
One of the best genuinely gluten-free IPAs on the market. Hop-forward, citrusy, and confidently built from millet, buckwheat, corn and black rice rather than treated barley. It pours a clear pale gold with a good rocky head for a gluten-free beer, most of which struggle to hold head retention.
Read the full Glutenberg IPA review for tasting notes, specs and FAQs.
Omission Lager Review
A genuinely crisp, easy-drinking lager that tastes like a normal beer because it is brewed like one, then treated to strip out the gluten. Great for gluten-sensitive drinkers; not a safe bet for coeliac disease. Omission Lager pours pale gold with a thin white head that settles fast.
Read the full Omission Lager review for tasting notes, specs and FAQs.
Glutenberg Blonde Ale Review
A light, clean, easy-drinking gluten-free blonde ale that works as a genuine everyday beer rather than a specialty pour. Pale straw gold in the glass with a light, quick-settling head.
Read the full Glutenberg Blonde Ale review for tasting notes, specs and FAQs.
Redbridge Review
Not a showcase beer, but a genuinely gluten-free amber lager that you can find almost anywhere in the US thanks to Anheuser-Busch’s distribution network. Redbridge pours a rich golden amber with a head that vanishes almost as soon as it forms, a known trait of sorghum-based beers.
Read the full Redbridge review for tasting notes, specs and FAQs.
New Planet Belgian-Style Ale Review
An ambitious gluten-free take on a spiced Belgian blonde that gets closer to the style than most sorghum-based beers, even if it does not fully land the classic Belgian character. It pours a hazy gold with a light head.
Read the full New Planet Belgian-Style Ale review for tasting notes, specs and FAQs.
Gluten-Free vs Gluten-Removed: What’s the Difference?
Gluten-free beers, like Green’s Discovery Amber, Glutenberg’s lineup, Redbridge and New Planet’s ales, are brewed from grains that never contained gluten in the first place: sorghum, millet, brown rice, buckwheat and corn. Gluten-removed beers, like Omission, are brewed the standard way with barley and wheat, then treated with an enzyme (commonly Brewers Clarex) that breaks down the gluten protein chains so the finished beer tests below 20 parts per million, the common threshold for a gluten-free label in the US and EU.
The distinction matters most for coeliac disease, an autoimmune condition where even trace gluten exposure causes harm. Coeliac UK, the Celiac Disease Foundation and most dietitians recommend coeliac drinkers stick to beers brewed without gluten grains at all, since enzyme treatment cannot always be verified to remove every gluten fragment. If you are simply gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant rather than coeliac, a gluten-removed beer is typically a safe, good-tasting option.
Gluten-Free Beer FAQs
What is the best-tasting gluten-free beer?
Green’s Discovery Amber Ale and Glutenberg IPA are the two most craft-beer-like options in this ranking, with real caramel, nut and hop character rather than a thin, watered-down flavor.
Is gluten-free beer safe for coeliac disease?
A beer brewed from naturally gluten-free grains like sorghum, millet, rice or buckwheat is the safer choice for coeliac disease. Gluten-removed beers such as Omission are brewed with barley and treated with an enzyme, and most coeliac associations recommend caution with that category.
What is the most widely available gluten-free beer in the US?
Redbridge, brewed by Anheuser-Busch, has by far the widest US distribution of any gluten-free beer thanks to the brewer’s existing retail and bar network.
Do gluten-free beers taste different from regular beer?
Beers brewed from sorghum, millet or rice often have a distinct grainy or tangy note that is different from a barley beer. Gluten-removed beers like Omission taste closest to a standard beer since they start with the same grains.
