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.

Glad it was helpful – I hope your uncle begins to feel better very soon.

Thanks for the input Jen. Hasn’t labelling improved a lot in recent years?

Hi Lara – that’s very interesting; was it this link you were reading?

http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/topic/55600-wine-barrels-sealed-with-flour-paste/

or maybe this one?

http://www.stavin.com/barrelsystems/insert.htm

It does appear that this isn’t done at all vineyards or for all wines, and that it doesn’t affect everyone – but according to these links it does happen sometimes, and does affect some people. Hmm, more research needed here, I think, especially since Coeliac UK says that wine is gluten free. (I suppose the wine itself is – the problem may be contamination from old oak barrels). Very interesting indeed.

Do please let us know if you find out anything more about this.

Hi Maria

Thanks for your question. I think I’d need to know all the ingredients before being able to answer this one, though. Are you adding any stock or thickener to the casserole, other than the soup? Those would need to be checked, and I’d want to know if the meat you were adding had been processed with rusk or breadcrumb.

Onions and green beans, fruit cocktail and V8 juice should be fine – all pure fruit and vegetables are gluten free.

But I’d also want to check the soup for wheat flour – and, being a Brit, I’m not sure what you mean by pudding. To me, pudding means any sweet dessert eaten after a main meal, which would cover a lot of things, including lots that aren’t gluten free. But I think you might mean something else?

Sounds like an interesting project – I hope it goes well!

Well I am going to embark on a gluten free diet. After complaining to my doctor for years,she always says you have IBS. Well I am tired of eating and running to the bathroom all the time. Of feeling tired all the time. I never eat when I am out shopping or drink anything except water for fear that I will have to go to running to the bathroom or have cramps so bad I double over:( It has gotten worse over the last 2 years. So I need to try something anything to see if I can live a life without being chained to the bathroom or having terrible stomach cramps and bloating.

Day 3 with no gluten and I feel better than I have in a long time!!!! I haven’t had to run to the bathroom at all after eating or during a meal. Still get some stomach cramping but not as bad.I will continue eating GF and hopefully I will feel even better. I am not worried about going to the doctors to get a doctors diagnoses. Which would cost me a lot of money in medical bills.

Hi Jason,

Thank you for the advice:)
I am from the USA(Upstate New York) Well I am still paying thousands for a kidney stone diagnosis so I am going to hold off on anymore bills from the doctors.lol I am going to be having my 9yr old daughter tested though because for the last 6 months she has been suffering similar symptoms that I have suffered with for years and been told it was just IBS. I don’t want her to have go through that.Her insurance is fantastic compared to mine. It will pay for everything. I haven’t stopped her from eating gluten so if she is having a problem with it they can diagnose her. I am hoping to get her seen on Wednesday and get a blood test done.

After suffering for a couple of years, I discovered that gluten was the culprit. I went gluten-free and my life changed dramatically for the better, making me feel 10 years younger. This has been confirmed many times, for example when I have eaten gluten by accident. However, I still get an upsed stomach when I eat chilli or paprika and would like to know if someone knows why … I am sure that I hadn’t had gluten when this happens. Does this make sense?

Hi Humberto,

There’s another alternative cause of your problem with spices. If you get the reaction with what you know are pure spices, then you should go and get yourself tested for salicylate intolerance. I have a number of friends with this (including a niece diagnosed within the last week!) and it can be medically diagnosed.

If, OTOH, you only get the reaction some of the time, then something like JustWondering posted is the likely culprit.

It needs to be said, for the record, that the prevalence of multiple intolerances (in the medical world this is called “co-morbidity”) is higher than many think (including medical practitioners). So after a Coeliac diagnosis, it can be helpful to get tested for other intolerances, too, to rule them out – or to diagnose them and give your body the best chance of recovering (for example, if you are soy intolerant but keep eating soy after you go off gluten, you are still not going to recover properly since the soy will be making you sick).

I don’t know if this is the case in other places, but in Canada some soy and rice milk products contain barley malt. I keep finding gluten where I least expect it, but all this label reading has been very informative.

Hi I was wondering if carolans, kahalua or copa de ora contain gluten?

I am a newbie, just found out about my celiac disease after years of uncomfortable dining. I heard that I should avoid coke and pepsi due to carmel coloring and most of the people I have talked with regarding it say to avoid.

Just wanted to put my 2 cents in Good luck everyone…

Thanks so much this site has helped me so much.

just gone on line for the 1st time as an existing coeliac member.I wanted info.on whether I could drink bacardi,and whether I could put in cokeacola

is dry giner ale gluten free

Jane Longhurst,

You’ll need to check the ingredients list. I’ve come across some soft drinks here in Oz that have barley malt added as a flavour enhancer.

The usual case is that most soft drinks are carbonated water, sugar, colouring and flavouring, and it is only the last two that you need to check. IIRC, caramel colour is the only coolouring that I’ve found made from a gluten-containing source, but it is usually made as a post-production step of glucose syrup so is fine. Flavourings are a different matter.

HTH!