Great post! Very good information. I was bummed when I was diagnosed because even wine coolers have gluten in them (as “malt flavoring”) so no more hard lemonade or cooler drinks. Now I stick with wine

Hey Lucy –

What is the European/British take on Bailey’s or O’Mara’s Irish Whiskey?

I was told a year ago that Bailey’s WAS gluten-free but is NOT any longer. I have never heard anything back from O’Mara’s.

I have found St. Bernandin’s Irish Whiskey – and they also declare their’s to be Gluten-free. However, O’Mara’s and Bailey’s are part of my family! LOL

Any idea?
-Kate

Hi. congratulation for all the information that you provide; I’d like to know how can I get an exact list of the alcoholic drink that contain gluten; my husband jaime had have four times really bad experiences reacting to foods and drink,that contain gluten, the last time after drinking bourbon and tequila, we finished at the hospital with my husband innable to breath, he was on oxigen all night, the doctor said that my husband had anaphylaxis and was given an EpiPen; If you have any information…please help me. thank you

Elsa Rojas.

Watch out for herbal teas. At least in the US, many contain barley or malt. I make it a point to read the ingredients carefully.

hi,thank you for your information .it was really nice to see the list below ,what i would like to know is that are uzo and saki gluten free? and also i would like to know the same about Jack Daniels .
thanks a lot
bye

Just wondering about coke and Pepsi?

i would like to know if hennessy cognac is gluten free

According to celiac.com, cognac is gluten free:

http://www.celiac.com/articles/222/1/Gluten-Free-Alcoholic-Beverages/Page1.html.

And from Coeliac UK (the UK charity):

“All spirit drinks, including those which have a gluten-containing cereal used as an ingredient, go through a process called distillation. Distillation removes any trace of gluten, so the end product is gluten-free.

“Therefore all spirit drinks (including malt whisky which is made from barley) are gluten-free and suitable for people with coeliac disease.”

If you’re still concerned, you could contact Hennessy direct.

Hi Mary.

Milk is gluten free, whether from a cow, sheep or goat, so if you’re just avoiding gluten, you should be fine.

Some coeliacs, at least in the early stages of recovery, struggle with lactose because of the damage done to their intestines. If you’re lactose intolerant, or avoiding dairy for other reasons, you could try soya milk or rice milk (almond milk is used in some recipes). Some people report that they can manage a small amount of goat’s milk in this circumstance, but I think it does contain lactose.

I always get sick after a bloody mary on the airplane. I believe they use Mr & Mrs T bloody mary mix or spicy bloody mary mix. Does this have gluten?

I was looking for info about Baileys, and found this page. I have a bottle sitting in front of me, and all it declares is that it contains milk products. Here in Oz, if it contains gluten-containing cereal products, it must be declared (including glucose syrup – go figure!), so Baileys is GF. Also very yummy – tho the alcohol content is a bit high for more than a sip when its 30+ deg Celsius and 80% humidity… Also, the Coeliac Society here in Oz have whisky listed as being gluten-free, though derived from gluten-containing cereals.

If I could point out another thing, not all people who have dairy problems react to the lactose. Cow’s and sheep’s milk contains alpha-1-beta-casein and alpha-2-beta-casein. The alpha-1 protein is not stable and can cause serious reactions because it breaks down differently each time you consume it, some of those byproducts can be toxic. Alpha-2 protein always breaks down safely. Goat’s milk has only the alpha-2 protein so should be gentler for people to try when going back on milk. Here in Oz, Freedom Foods also sell A2 cows milk which is cheaper than goats milk (I don’t work for Freedom Foods but I’m a big customer!).

I’ve read that vodkas are gluten-free, but when I drink some of them, I have a definite gluten reaction. I’ve lived for forty years without being diagnosed w/Celiac Disease (my intestines were so messed up I began developing allergies/reactions to two hundred different foods – what a mess), but it’s hard to ignore the migraines and throbbing cysts I get when I take in any form of gluten. Because many vodkas are distilled from grain, this makes sense to me, so why would all vodkas be labeled as gluten-free? I’ve since discovered one vodka, Chopin (potato vodka), which I seem to be able to handle.

Hi Stacey,

I’ve actually had an interesting conversation with some people from the Bundaberg rum distillery recently (my wife and I visited there just before Christmas).

They’ve said that the distillation process renders the rum gluten-free, but some people with Coeliac disease still get a reaction. This is not because there are traces of gluten at all, but because some of the other water-soluble proteins do get carried across – and some people who have very extreme reactions to large numbers of things react to these proteins as well. So, it’s not really a Coeliac reaction but another disease – but since they are both protein reactions the symptoms are likely to be very similar.

I have had some of their rum recently and didn’t have any reaction to it at all, so I suspect that you fall into the group of people who react to some of the soluble proteins.

Thank you so much for this!! I have always wondered about so many of these. This information is invaluable.