A list of New Zealand gluten-free, gluten-reduced and low gluten craft beers

One of my own home-brews - perhaps the cause of my gluten-intolerance?

[Updated January 2024] Developing a gluten intolerance in the midst of a flourishing craft brew world was bad timing to say the least. Headaches. Tiredness. Sore guts. General grumpiness. All because of gluten! Alas, it seemed my days of IPAs and stalking the aisles of New World had come to a sorry, sorghum-filled end. 

A bit of research and trial and error, however, has meant there are a few craft beers available in New Zealand that are still ok for me to drink. I say research, because it's actually quite hard to find out which craft beers are low gluten or gluten-reduced. Which is totally understandable. Part of the reason some beers are not labelled as gluten-reduced or gluten free, despite containing next-to-no gluten content, is because of the importance of proper testing and labelling for those that actually are coeliac. 

Here's a disclaimer: I'm not coeliac, and people experience discomfort from gluten differently and at different levels. As Coeliac New Zealand suggest, if you're not sure how how you'll go with one of these beers it's probably best to contact the brewer directly or avoid it.

As the team at BGFB write, "beer that is 100% gluten free is brewed with 100% gluten free ingredients." Beers that are 'gluten reduced' or 'crafted to remove gluten' have used a process to strip or reduce the gluten content out of gluten ingredients (using Brewers Clarex, for example). This process can land a beer's gluten content close to the gluten free mark of under 3ppm (parts per million). But they're not gluten free. Unless it has been brewed using gluten-free ingredients, a beer that has less than 3ppm or 20mg of gluten is technically 'gluten-reduced'.

With that in mind, here's my list of New Zealand gluten-reduced, low gluten and gluten free craft beers.

Gluten-reduced or low gluten

Eddyline Brewery (entire range!)

For a great-tasting range of gluten-reduced beers, you needn't go much further than Eddyline. Every single brew in their line-up has been brewed with DSM Brewer's Clarex that reduces gluten content to below 5ppm, and their beers are labelled as such. Plus they come in nice, tall 440ml cans. My favourtites include the go-to Trail Carver Pale Ale (5.1%) and CrankYanker IPA (6.3%), a "bold West-Coast style IPA featuring El Dorado and Mosaic hops with a complex malt profile. Emphasis is on aroma over bitterness. Tropical and pine flavours with a hint of citrus-pineapple aroma." Yum.

Garage Project BEER (Pale Lager, 4.8%)

My despair at being gluten intolerant was knowing I'd have to stop drinking Garage Project (namely Pernicious Weed - sad face). Luckily, the crisp, single-malt BEER has a naturally-low gluten count. There's no claims to being gluten free or gluten-reduced here, and its effect on people will differ, but Pete at GP notes that batch tests have shown a low gluten count of under 20ppm. Works for me.

Garage Project Good Shout (Hoppy Ultra Low Carb Lager, 4.0%)

Released in 2023, Good Shout is a low carb and low gluten brew (and explicitly billed as such, containing less than 20ppm gluten). It's light in terms of alcohol and body, but it's a refreshing drop and has no lingering discomfort, for me anyway. 

 

Stoke (entire range!)

When I first wrote this post the Stoke Nelson Pale Ale was the main gluten-reduced beer in the Stoke lineup. So it's nice to know the core Stoke range, including Wakachangi and First Light, are all low gluten beers that contain less than 10ppm gluten. This was confirmed in an email to the team at Stoke/McCashins. Rad! You can check them out on the McCashins website.

Hallertau (Numbers range 1-9)

A 2016 Stuff article made much of Hallertau's use of an "additive enzyme which breaks down gluten components leaving less than three parts per million (ppm) – enough to meet New Zealand's strict gluten-free legal requirements." While they don't batch test for gluten content anymore, the team confirmed in 2024 that their Numbers range (1-9) is brewed using Brewers Clarex and can therefore be considered gluten-reduced.

 

Gluten Free

Kereru 

One of the few New Zealand craft beers that are actually gluten free - ie. they are brewed with 100% gluten free ingredients. Kereru are leading the (admittedly-small) pack with at least five gluten free brews, including a hazy ale and a rice lager. My favourite is the Apex Hoppy APA with its mix of US and NZ hops. You can tell from the body and head its gluten free, but it is not lacking in taste. The Auro Ale is a little light for my taste buds but still a nice drop. Yet to try the others.

Scotts Brewing Co. - Pale Ale (4.5%)

For a long time Scott's Pale Ale was the only gluten free beer available, so for that reason alone they deserve credit. It's also easy to find in most stores. It's a shame I don't like it. Have no idea if their other beers are gluten free or not.

Garage Project Dirty Water (Seltzer, 4.5%)

Garage Project's Dirty Water Seltzer is "brewed not blended - with gluten free grain, real fruit and natural flavours. This delivers a sparkling clean, alcoholic seltzer." Comes in three flavours, plus "10% of profits go to supporting clean water initiatives in our own backyard." Let's hope this is the start of more brewers crafting gluten free options.

One more thing...

If you're still reading this then you'll probably like the website Low Gluten in Beer. This site includes the test results of a heap of international beer, including brews accessible in New Zealand supermarkets (a handy bookmark on your mobile phone). Apparently Steinlarger had less than 20ppm; so did Corona, Tiger and others.

You can see whether a beer has gluten or not on their alphabetical test results page: https://www.lowgluten.org/gluten-test-results/. 

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