The 10 best gluten-free beers taste tested

The best gluten-free beer at a glance 2023

• Best low-strength gluten-free IPA: Magic Rock Brewing Saucery, £19 (12 x 330ml)
• Best tropical IPA: Purity Brewing Session IPA, £42 (12 x 440ml)
• Best for pairing with food: Green’s Grand India Pale Ale, £2.50 (330ml)
• Best well-known gluten free lager: Peroni gluten free lager, £6.50 (4 x 330ml)
• Best citrusy pale ale: Wild Craft Brewing Wild Summer, £10 (3 x 500ml)
• Best easy-drinking pale ale: Wold Top Against the Grain, £2.28 (500ml)
• Best old-fashioned ale: Chiltern Brewery Three Hundreds Dark Old Ale, £2.90 (500ml)
• Best lager: Hambleton Brewery Gluten and Wheat Free Lager, £38 (16 x 500ml)
• Best high-strength pale ale: Brass Castle Brewery Sunshine IPA, £3.50 (500ml)

The best gluten-free beer to buy 2023

Magic Rock Brewing – Saucery

• Available from Magic Rock (£2.35, 330ml), Amazon (£19, 12 x 330ml), Morrisons (£6, 4 x 330ml)

Best low-strength gluten-free IPA:
ABV: 3.9%

From the Huddersfield-based brewery Magic Rock Brewing, this lower-strength gluten-free IPA has a tropical papaya freshness. At 3.9% it’s a quaffable can, and it works alongside savoury, un-spiced food – perfect if you don't like anything too sweet.

Available from:
Magic Rock (£2.35)
Amazon (£19, 12 x 330ml)
Morrisons (£6, 4 x 330ml)

Purity Brewing – Session IPA

• Available from Purity Brewing £42 (12 x 440ml)

Best tropical IPA
ABV: 4.4%

From Stratford-upon-Avon farm brewery site of Purity, this brew is a wonderful combination of simcoe, eureka and mosaic hops. It's an infusion of the perfect amount of real grapefruit peel means this unfiltered, hazy beer offers some incredible tropical fruit notes, with a pleasing oaty smoothness, some sweetness and an IPA bite to finish. The eye-catching can – designed by two final year students from the Birmingham School of Art – is as much of a draw as the beer itself.

Available from:
Purity Brewing (£42, 12 x 440ml)

Green's – Grand India Pale Ale

• Available from Ocado, £2.50 (330ml)

Best for pairing with food
ABV: 5%

There are awards in abundance for this beer (Free From Food Awards, Taste and an International Brewing Medal) from Greens, which brews in Belgium. Can you tell I love IPAs? The reason why is that they complement spicy foods so well – like Thai green curries, the mildest of kormas or a warming homemade chilli.

This Grand India Pale Ale has an attractive dark amber look, with a herbal and aroma, nutty flavour and a firm bitterness, which would go down well with a chunk or two of dark chocolate. Green's favours the use of naturally gluten-free ancient grains in their brews: sorghum, brown rice, millet and buckwheat.

Available from:
Ocado (£2.50, 330ml)

Peroni – gluten-free lager

• Available from Sainsbury's (£6.50, 4 x 330ml), Waitrose (£6.50, 4 x 330ml), Amazon (£14.10, 6 x 330ml)

Best well-known gluten free lager
ABV: 5.1%

This beer retains the famous crisp and refreshing flavour, with the touch of Italian style that has made Peroni Italy's number one premium lager beer. It comes in 12 packs in most supermarkets. It deviates a little from its more famous sister – it uses the same ingredients but the gluten is reduced. The beer is also endorsed by the Italian Coeliac Association.

Available from:
Sainsbury's (£6.50, 4 x 330ml)
Waitrose (£6.50, 4 x 330ml)
Amazon (£14.10, 6 x 330ml)

Wild Craft Brewing – Wild Summer

• Available from Wild Craft Brewery £10 (3 x 500ml)

Best citrusy pale ale
ABV: 4.5%

A pale and hoppy ale with a light nuttiness. The English Challenger and Golding hops offers surprising bursts of citrus and fruity aromas. The quirky labels featuring the pink, long-toothed Brewbacca on all the bottles from this Norwich brewery make their entire range fun and tasty gifts for beer fans.

Available from:
Wild Craft Brewing (£10, 3 x 500ml)

Wold Top – Against the Grain

• Available from Wold Top Brewery £2.28 (500ml)

Best easy-drinking pale ale
ABV: 5%

This East Yorkshire pale is a delight for the senses: a lemony nose with a creamy mouthful make this a very drinkable beer. It's perfect with baked salmon, mash and spring vegetables. Last year, ATG won a gold International Brewing and Cider Award for Reduced Gluten Beers.

Available from:
Wold Top (£2.28, 500ml)

Chiltern Brewery – Three Hundreds Dark Old Ale

• Available from Chiltern Brewery (£2.90, 500ml)

Best old-fashioned ale
ABV: 5%

This is a classic old ale in every sense of the word. Think dark and smooth with a toffee and raisin-like sweetness that is not off-putting, stridently nutty and bitter. It's named after the Three Hundreds, reaching across the back of the brewery, which is based in Aylesbury.

The sophistication of this brew has earned it four Great Taste awards. At 5% ABV, this beer is perfectly suited to well-matured strong cheeses.

Available from:
Chiltern Brewery (£2.90, 500ml)

Hambleton Brewery – Gluten and Wheat Free Lager

• Available from Hambleton Brewery (£38, 16 x 500ml)

Best lager
ABV: 5.2%

I am largely unmoved by many lagers, but this really is one of the best I have ever tasted. It has a pleasant yet unobtrusively light bitterness and citrussy taste. Lager fans would never notice it was gluten free if they had to blind taste this. Produced in Ripon, it's the world’s best-selling British Brewer Gluten Free Lager.

Available from:
Hambleton Brewery (£38, 16 x 500ml)

Brass Castle Brewery – Sunshine IPA

• Available from Brass Castle Brewery (£3.50)

Best high-strength pale ale
ABV: 5.7%

This superb beer and Free From Food Award winner is everything an India Pale Ale should be. The dry-hopping process has brought out a tantalising aroma of juicy fruits that’s followed by a stunning combination of maltiness and sweetness, and a flavour of gooseberry alongside a strong IPA bitterness. Based in Malton, North Yorkshire, Brass Castle is committed to certified gluten-free brewing.

Available from:
Brass Castle Brewery (£3.50)

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This review was last updated in December 2022. If you have any questions or suggestions for future reviews, or spot anything that has changed in price or availability, please get in touch at goodfoodwebsite@immediate.co.uk. For information on alcohol guidelines, read our guide to drinking responsibly.

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