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. 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.

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/. 

Missing something? Drop me a line

Top Ten IPA's for 2013

As you know, I like craft beer. I've been sampling a few over the last year, so here's my top 10 IPA's for 2013:

1. No.8 Wired Hopwired IPA
2. Tuatara Double Trouble
3. Garage Project Pernicious Weed
4. Panhead Vandal IPA
5. Emersons Bird Dog IPA
6. Epic Hop Zombie dIPA
7. Cassels & Sons One PA
8. Parrot Dog American IPA
9. Parrot Dog Bitter Bitch IPA
10. Croucher Galaxy IPA

Also worth a mention is the Renaissance MPA (Double IPA, which I had ages ago so I can't remember where to rank it).

Batch #4: Addington Pale Ale (APA)

#4: Addington Pale Ale

Thought I'd better update you all on the beer front (super important stuff, I know). Here's some pics of #4—the Addington Pale Ale—and its 'metadata'...

Batch #4: Addington Pale Ale (APA)

Method: Kit + Enhancer + Hops
Ingredients: Muntons Traditional Bitter Kit (35-45 EBU, 27-33 EBC), Copper Tun English Bitter Enhancer, NZ Cascade Hops & Golding Hops (2.0oz + 0.5oz pellets each as a tea), NZ Cascade Hops (1oz pellets, dry hopped)
Original Gravity: 1040
Final Gravity: 1020
ABV: 3.5%
Bottles: Glass (500ml, 330ml).
Bottled: 04-05-2012

Same process as #3, but with different hops. Funny, even though I added more hops it seems less hoppy when drinking it? Maybe it's just the hop variety? Or mix of hops? Anyway, it's 5 weeks old now, has a nice colour and head and is tasting like a well balanced, slightly (but not too) bitter beer with a nice aroma and Cascade flavour. It's definitely less 'tangy' than #3—whether that's to do with temp control or not is anyone's guess (I kept it lower this time, at 18C-20C). The fermentables were the same, although I want to try Coopers Enhancer #2 next time round, as it's got more malt extract than dextrose (the Copper Tun is mainly dextrose, from what I've read online).

As you can see the lacing is great, and retains head all the way down—yay!

Batch #5 is a Muntons Wheat Beer kit my neighbour threw in the fermenter a month back, and then the next brew I want to try is the Coopers Brewmaster Pilsner with Enhancer #2, just to see what difference the malt extract ratio will make. Might also use a different yeast to reach the target gravity. After that, who knows? Maybe some extract brews!

Dry hopping batch #4: APA

Thought I'd post a few pics of the process of dry hopping. This is for batch #4, which I'm calling an Addington Pale Ale (APA). Similar to batch #3, but with and increased amount of Cascade Hops instead.

So above, I've added my hop pallets to a plain, pre-bolied and sanitized pantyhose. There's about 1 oz in there, with the end of the pantyhose tied off at the very top to allow the hops to expand and dance. The pantyhose reduces the amount of sediment in the finished beer, and makes cleaning up easy.

I'm doing this 4 days into the fermentation process, and will leave it in there for 10 days. Removed the airlock, opened the lid, and had a wee peek. There's a bit of hop sludge from a few loose pallets I threw in on day one, but otherwise it's looking and smelling yum.

I dropped in the hops, and after taking these pics I gently submerged the hops with a sanitized spoon. Lid back on, airlock in, and now I'll leave it all for 10 days. The result: hopefully a very aromatic and flavorsome APA!

Pic of batch #1, and bottling #3: American Pale Ale

#1: Coopers Real Ale

Well, a quick beer update. Tried Batch #2—the Black Rock Pilsner—this week, which is close to 4 weeks old now. It's still a little young I think, but it has come out as a super drinkable, refreshing Pilsner. It's got a bit more depth than the Batch #1 thanks to the Copper Tun enhancer, but still not as hoppy as I'd like (think Wigram Bohemian Pilsner, or the Three Boys Pilsner). This may change over time, but I definitely think the addition of some Riwaka or Tettnanger Hops would do the trick. Also, Batch #1—the Cooper's Real Ale—is heaps better now that it is 8 weeks old. The sugar taste is still there, but its flavorsome and quite nice. The picture above is of the Coopers Real Ale.

Today my friend and I bottled Batch #3, which will hopefully be close to an APA (American Pale Ale)—a hoppy, aromatic ale that's bitter, but not quite as bitter as an IPA. Here's a run down of the ingredients, and a few pics to boot.

Batch #3: American Pale Ale (APA)

Method: Kit + Enhancer + Hops
Ingredients: Muntons Traditional Bitter Kit (35-45 EBU, 27-33 EBC), Copper Tun English Bitter Enhancer, Golding Hops (0.5oz pellets as a tea), Chinook Hops (1oz pellets, dry hopped)
Original Gravity: ???
Final Gravity: 1020
ABV: ???
Bottles: Glass (500ml, 330ml).
Bottled: 31-03-2012

Grabbed the Muntons Traditional Bitter Kit, which had one of the higher bitter ratings off the shelf, and spiced things up with 2 varieties of hops (in pellet form). Using a pre-boiled and sanitised stocking, I boiled 0.5oz of Golding Hops in 3L of water, making a really aromatic hop tea (this method won't get any bitterness from the hops, just flavour and aroma). This replaced the hot water I usually use from the kettle. We then added the Copper Tun Enhancer, stirred well, and poured in cold water to make 22L at 22 degrees. It smelt awesome, and the kit was nice and bitter—more so than the last two kits.

Now here's were we made a mistake. We didn't stir the cold water into the hot, which meant that when I took a hydrometer reading it was only at 1030. We did gently stir and swish around the yeast, but yeah, the density of the mix was really uneven. When I took a reading from the tap, it was over 1090 (eek!). Note to self: stir before adding the yeast to aerate properly.

Four days later, I bagged 1oz of Chinook Hop pellets in a sanitised stocking and placed them into the fermenter. This will hopefully add more complexity to the flavour and aroma, and give it that APA touch.

Which leads to today's bottling. We had a sneaky taste of the beer, and wow! Nice and bitter, and smelt awesome. Obviously still pretty green, very opaque still (a light brown/mud colour), but that will change over time. Like the last batch, it never passed 1020. I wonder if this is from not stirring, or maybe I need some more fermentables as the Enhancer isn't enough. But apart from that, I'm really excited about this one. 

Home brewing: the start of an obsession?

20 x 500ml bottles of Black Rock Pilsner

As a kid, I grew up with home brew. My dad had a whole heap in the garage or in the hot water cupboard, and I distinctly remember that malty sweet smell of the wert pre-mixing. So I guess I was always going to end up giving it a go at some stage. Little did I know it would take over my thoughts as much as it has! Despite the fat that I've only put down two brews so far, and despite only tasting one of them, I can't help but elaborately plan the next one in my mind. In the meantime, and to distract me, here's a run down of my initial brewing experience.


Batch 1: Coopers Real Ale

Method: Kit
Ingredients: Kit, Cane Sugar
Original Gravity: 1040
Final Gravity: 1010
ABV: 4.5%
Bottles: Glass, 750ml, 500ml, 330ml.
Bottled: 26-01-2012

After talking about beer one afternoon, my friend and neighbour Caleb rocked around a week later with a fermenter and related gear he had found cheap on trade me. He also picked up our first kit, a Coopers Real Ale. A week or so later, after sanitising all our gear, we got to work.

Unfortunately we didn't really do much other than follow the instructions. We used white (cane) sugar, and only found out after the brew was fermenting that it's cane sugar that creates the cidery, sour taste usually associated with home brew. Apparently things have come a long way, and using Beer Enhancers or different fermentables (such as extract or other kinds of sugars) is now the way to go. We also had no o-ring on our lid, took hydrometer readings by removing the lid, and when we bottled, we didn't invert the bottles to mix in the priming sugar.

Nonetheless, considering the primitive method and lack of temperature control (it stood alone in the garage), the brew came out a nice copper/amber colour, with plenty of bubbles and a nice head. After two weeks the beer really was quite cidery, but with age it has improved considerably. Last I checked it was very drinkable, but still had that slight cane sugar taste and lacked complexity.

We used a number of bottle sizes, to experiment with taste and because I think 750ml would be too much for us to drink if you only wanted a glass after work. So my bottle of choice is now the 500ml short, stubby bottles as used by Emersons.


Getting serious

Having discovered some books and websites, I decided to get a bit more serious. Again, trade me came to the rescue — I managed to pick up an old Kelvinator fridge that had been converted to a brew room, complete with heat lamps and thermostat, for a mere $30! This means we can brew at a set temperature all year round. Fitted it with a temperature gauge and removable shelves for bottle conditioning at controlled temps. I also picked up a better air-lock, temperature sticker for the fermenter, and an o-ring for a better seal.

Lights on in the warm box/fridge. Screws are to hold the shelf at back for bottle conditioning.

Batch 2: Black Rock Export Pilsner

Method: Kit
Ingredients: Kit, Copper Tun Pilsner Beer Enhancer
Original Gravity: 1.040
Final Gravity: 1.020
ABV: 3.2%
Bottles: Glass, 750ml, 500ml, 330ml.
Bottled: 01-03-2012

I wanted to try out a Pilsner, so we grabbed the Black Rock Export Pilsner Kit and this time used a Copper Tun Beer Enhancer, which is a sugar replacement containing dextrose, hops, malt extract, and other goodies. This is not a true Pilsner as it uses an ale yeast an ferments at higher temperatures (real lagers use lager yeast at cooler temps), but is still meant to be quite nice.

The smell and taste of the initial mix was considerably nicer than the first batch. You could smell a little bit of aroma from the Copper Tun—not heaps, but enough to be excited. Stirred in the yeast this time, and put it in the warmer at around 24 degrees. The airlock did its thing and so we waited a few days before taking a reading.

For some reason, the hydrometer never recorded anything below 1.020. I was worried about this, but a check online showed that many kits never reach their intended gravity. So we left it to ferment for a total of 10 days, making sure that fermentation had ceased and that the readings were constant. We bottled it using carbonated drops, and the beer itself looked a golden yellow. Smelt great too, a little bit hoppy but not super aromatic. Back into the fridge it went for a further 5 days at 20 degrees.

We're waiting a little bit to try this beer. This Thursday will be 2 weeks in the bottle, so after that I'd say. The beer has cleared heaps, has a good bubble in the bottle when inverted, and fingers crossed, will taste good. Bit gutted about the final gravity, but we'll see. Check back for an update! [CLICK HERE]


What's next?

I do want to give extract brewing a go and use malts and hops to get more control over the process, but for now I'd be happy with 2 or 3 really good kit styles, successfully customised and brewed. Next time around on the Pilsner I think I'll add my own hops—maybe whole hopped in the fermenter during the mix, and some dry hopping later on. Thinking Motueka Hops, or maybe Riwaka (as Emersons uses that and it would be interesting to compare).

Next batch I want to do is a bitter, maybe an APA, or even an IPA. There's some good write ups on the Coopers Brewmaster IPA kit that is apparently quite hoppy, so could try that with some added hops.

Also found a great home brew blog called Beer and Garden by Aidan in Nelson, which has been helpful and is definitely worth checking out.