Celiac awareness week 2021: 13 best gluten free beers to cheers to

This beer has a good body and well-balanced flavour with bold, tropical notes. All Arbor’s beers come in tall 568ml cans – a full pint – which is a bonus because they are delicious. Motueka is a light, fresh and well-carbonated beer hopped with (you guessed it) Motueka hops. The brewery also produces a gluten-free mosaic pale and a gluten-free lager, and all the beers in the range give you exactly what they promise. After Arbor brews its beers they are de-glutened with an enzyme, and samples are then verified at an independent lab and confirmed to contain less than 20ppm gluten.

This is a bitter, hoppy American pale that packs a lot of flavour. Standard 330ml cans stand out on the shelf, with block colours and whimsical “fierce” animals. Fierce brew a wide range of beers from the brewery in Aberdeen, including three other gluten-free cans. There’s a hazy IPA, a pilsner and a well-balanced and not-too-sweet rhubarb pale. This brewery uses grain in its brew, but uses an enzyme to strip out all the gluten. Fierce IPA is certified and tested gluten-free, and an independent lab tests every batch before it goes on general sale, typically containing less than 10ppm gluten. Plus, these beers are also vegan.

A well-brewed, bang-on beer. This has been named exactly right, this IPA is very session-able. A continental beer with a great mix of bitter and sweet. Free-From Beer Co. is a gluten-free-first brewery, so this isn’t just a gluten-free alternative to a regular offering. There’s also a Pilsner lager, and an alcohol-free version available. Brewers add an enzyme to the beer to break down the gluten and all the beers are below 15ppm – and vegan too.

Known for its reduced-calorie alcohol, DrinkWell’s IPA is no exception. At just 99 calories (and 3g carbs) per bottle, it has 35 per cent fewer calories than other IPAs. On top of that, this is a delicious light beer, with a delicate flavour and good carbonation. They use an enzyme to remove the gluten, making their IPA certified gluten-free, as well as vegan.

Brewed in Salcombe, this is a delicious gluten-free ale. Dry-hopped with a blend of American hops, sundrop has a refreshing blonde taste with citrus on the backend. A bottle of this would go down very nicely in a sunny beer garden on the seafront, unsurprisingly. This beer is vegan-friendly and every batch of the beer is tested to confirm that it is gluten-free before release. The beer contains no allergens, and Salcombe Brewery also uses an enzyme to reduce the gluten level.

This is a refreshing beer with a characteristic lager flavour – a crisp, aromatic and slightly dry malty lager that pours very clear. Triple Point Helles is a great gluten-free option if you’re looking for a cold session beer. It’s vegan and certified gluten-free at less than 10ppm gluten. The brewery uses Brewers Clarex to remove the gluten.

This is another exclusively gluten-free brewery.  Based in Salford, First Chop Brewing Arm is "coeliac owned and run” and it has a huge gluten-free beer offering in a range of styles. All the beers from this brewery are unfiltered and unfined, so they may be hazy or contain sediment when first poured. The 330ml cans are instantly recognisable, with bright colours and three-letter names (think AVA, POD, YES and SUP), but our favourite is JAM. Infused with Mango, but definitely not a fruit beer, this is a very refreshing gluten-free pale. It’s not overly sweet, and dry-hopped with Citra. The brewery uses a traditional brewing process and an added enzyme to remove gluten from their beers, and each batch is tested twice and certified to contain less than 5ppm gluten.

A Czech lager, batch brewed in a castle cellar in the historical town of Žatec, this is a refreshing, slightly sweet and classically European lager with a light mouthfeel. This beer has a uniquely continental flavour profile compared to others we tested, thanks to 100 per cent Saaz hops and Moravian malt. Celia is available as an equally-refreshing dark beer, and as well as having gluten-free certification, it is organic and vegan-friendly. After a traditional brewing process, using local Czech ingredients, the brewers remove gluten through a “de-glutenisation” process to make a refreshing gluten-free lager.

This gluten-free pale tastes just like rolling through a field in a giant plastic ball... Zorbing is a fantastic pale ale with a light, floral taste and no bitterness. Electric Bear brew unfined, unfiltered, unpasteurised natural beer from their brewery in Bath. All the tall 440ml cans have a textured finish – perfect for keeping your grip on those beers in the cold. The brewery has two other beers for the gluten-free drinker: Captain Hindsight IPA and Mixtape Helles Lager. They are gluten-free certified and tested, brewed with gluten and then processed with Brewers Clarex, the enzyme that strips the gluten and also gives the beer a clear finish in the glass.

This is the first porter that made it on the list – but not the only Brass Castle beer of note. Bad Kitty is a robust Vanilla Porter with chocolate notes. It has a very smooth mouthfeel and is smoky without being bitter. This brewery brews only vegan and gluten-free craft beers from their site in Malton. Alongside the signature porter, there’s a core range including blondes, lagers and IPAs, as well as more unusual seasonal specials. Brass Castle brews all of its beers to a gluten-free recipe, and all their canned beers are individually batch-certified gluten-free less than 10ppm gluten. If you see beers from this brewery on cask or keg in your local, only Hoptical Illusion is certified and batch-tested. There can be a high degree of certainty though that any Brass Castle Beer will also contain less than 10ppm gluten.

This is a traditional premium bitter. Copper Top is best enjoyed at the fireside of a country pub after a long winter walk. It has rich, malty notes from Maris Otter, Crystal and Chocolate malts. This is a classic British bitter and the only gluten-free beer to come out of Old Dairy Brewery in Kent. The brewers remove gluten after fermentation, making this bottled beer a certified gluten-free ale.

An easy drinking, hoppy lager. Based in Sheffield, Abbeydale brews a range of beers, including a number of gluten-free options. Most follow the pale and hoppy style this brewery is known for, but they also have some interesting stouts and sours in the range. All of the gluten-free beers in the range are de-glutened after the brewing process with Brewers Clarex and independently tested at an off-site laboratory.

For gluten-free drinkers who have enjoyed a fruit beer in the past, this pilsner-style beer cut with peach is for you. Inspired by the French Alps and Apres-Ski, Jubel also has gluten-free beers cut with grapefruit and with elderflower, but peach is a cut above the others – sweet and refreshing, like a fruit cider after a long day on the slopes. The brewery has been audited to be fully compliant with Coeliac UK requirements – it brews with an enzyme to break down the gluten proteins, lab test each batch before and after bottling and only release beers containing less than 10ppm gluten.