Alcohol and gluten-free

Fidissimus · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 2132 Location: Portland, OR.

In the ten years I've been GF now I've gotten two or three really bad glutenings... one was from an innocent looking bottle of wine. You really do have to watch EVERYTHING you put in your mouth.

Wine Crimes Article

smalltownslackermom · Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2010 8:33 am Post subject:

Fidissimus · Joined: 17 Mar 2006 Posts: 2132 Location: Portland, OR.

There are a lot of wines that are just fine that aren't the bottom shelf either... you just need to call and find out. However it's not always easy getting in touch with anyone at the winery who knows. Confused

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Cheers!
Jenn

GF BD: Feb. 2001
Free of wheat, barley, rye, oats, dairy, eggs, almonds, pineapple and brewers yeast.
http://graindamaged.blogspot.com/

pkitty · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 396

I found that instead of wine or gf beer I am drinking JD and Woodchuck cider. They just came out with Woodchuck cider with harvest and omg is it good!
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nancw · Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 1478 Location: Denver, CO

I've learned from trial and error that some wines are ok and some are not. Some that bother me are imported, some are not. Since I react to yeasts, that is the most likely problem for me.

I am at the point where all alcohol has negative effects - beyond the normal hangover-y stuff, so I am hesitant to drink at all. Which really blows. Sad

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Nance

gluten, dairy, soy, rice, yeast and 99% grain-free

pkitty · Joined: 28 Jul 2010 Posts: 396

T.H. · Joined: 02 Dec 2010 Posts: 3

re: distilled liquor being GF

I know the distillation process prevents gluten from being passed to the distilled alcohol, but if it's distilled from wheat (rye, barley, etc...) then it still has a risk of CC b/c it falls into the category of a food 'processed in a facility that also processes wheat.' So for those of us who have a bad enough reaction that we stick to foods from gluten free lines or facilities, because one mistake is far too unpleasant, I would think we'd likely want to avoid liquor distilled from gluten grains, too.

bulrush · Joined: 22 Nov 2010 Posts: 54

I'm not a liquor expert but I did look into making my own wine, beer, and liquor. It is not legal to make your own liquor in the US.

- In the "old days" rum was made from mainly sugar cane. Sugar cane grew well in the tropics so that's where most of the rum was made. Who knows how they make it now.

- "Malt liquor" is made from a grain like barley, and so has gluten in it. I thought many whiskies were made from malt, but maybe I'm thinking of scotch whiskey.

- Other whiskeys are often made with corn, because corn has enough sugar in it to be fermented.

I thought vodka was made from potatoes. When you ferment the sugar in potatoes, you get vodka. When you ferment corn or malt, you get whiskey. When you ferment sugar cane you get rum. But maybe my info is more historical in nature.
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GF since 1996.

T.H. · Joined: 02 Dec 2010 Posts: 3

>>>I thought vodka was made from potatoes. When you ferment the sugar in potatoes, you get vodka. When you ferment corn or malt, you get whiskey.

Vodka can be made from wheat, rye, corn, or potatoes (sadly). I thought it was just potatoes, too, until I started looking. I found it harder than I would have thought to track down potato vodka, actually.

Whiskey can be made from wheat, too (I swear, sometimes it feels like next they'll make our toothbrushes and plates out of wheat. Seems like it's in everything else, eh? Wink

) . I believe malt whiskey is made from barley.