This table compiles and summarizes the outcome of testing for each beer. Testing was done mainly with Reveal 3-D for Gliadin. I started testing with the EZ Gluten test as well since it measures at a higher ppm. I intended to test only those that failed the 3-D test at 5ppm, but have since discovered that EZ Gluten is not an appropriate test for fermented products.
The Human hedgehog is in fact, me. I denoted which ones I have consumed and the subsequent reaction or lack thereof. Being a fairly conservative person, I do not consume any of the beers that reflected a positive result.
As a disclosure, while I am a huge nerd, I am not in fact a scientist or a doctor. And while I followed the test kit instructions exactly, it was not done in a lab or with any specialized equipment other than the kit and a pipette. If you are Celiac or have an extreme outcome from consuming wheat proteins or any gluten, please do not take the test results to mean the beer is okay for you. I would assume it is not.
Results Table
| Beer | Producer | Style | Source | Reveal 3-D @ 5ppm | Human Hedgehog | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stella Artois | AB InBev | Lager | Bottle | Negative | Not Consumed | 4.8% |
| Celebrator Doppelbock | Ayinger | Doppelbock | Bottle | Negative | Not Consumed | 6.7% |
| Bass Ale | Bass Brewers Ltd | Pale Ale | Bottle | High Positive | Not Consumed | 5.1% |
| Black Butte Porter | Deschutes | Porter | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 5.2% |
| Belgian White Ale | New Belgium | White Ale | Bottle | Positive | Not Consumed | 5.2% |
| VooDoo Ranger Atomic Pumpkin Ale | New Belgium | Pumpkin Ale | Can | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 6.4% |
| Guinness Draught | Guinness | Stout | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 4.3% |
| Fat Tire Ale | New Belgium | Belgian Ale | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 5.2% |
| Sidecar IPA | Sierra Nevada | IPA | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 6.8% |
| Smithwick's Red Ale | Smithwick's & Sons | Red | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 4.5% |
| Stone IPA | Stone Brewery | IPA | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 6.9% |
| Mirror Pond Pale Ale | Deschutes | Pale Ale | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 5.0% |
| Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout | North Coast Brewing Co. | Imperial Stout | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 9.0% |
| Narwhal Imperial Stout | Sierra Nevada | Imperial Stout | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 10.2% |
| Pub Beer Lager | 10 Barrel | Lager | Can (Pint) | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 5.0% |
| 60 Minute IPA | DogfishHead | IPA | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 6.0% |
| Longboard Island Lager | Kona Brewing Co | Lager | Bottle | Negative | Not Consumed | 4.6% |
| Castaway IPA | Kona Brewing Co | IPA | Bottle | Positive | Not Consumed | 6.0% |
| Big Wave Golden Ale | Kona Brewing Co | Golden Ale | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 4.4% |
| Fire Rock Pale Ale | Kona Brewing Co | Pale Ale | Bottle | Negative | Not Consumed | 5.8% |
| Kanaha Blonde Ale | Kona Brewing Co | Blonde | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 4.2% |
| Black is Beautiful- Cookies & Cream Imperial Stout | Little Beast Brewing | Imperial Stout | Can (Pint) | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 10.0% |
| Black is Beautiful- Imperial Stout | Gigantic Brewing | Imperial Stout | Bottle | Positive | Not Consumed | 8.7% |
| Black is Beautiful- Imperial Coffee Stout | Fort George Brewing | Imperial Stout | Can (Pint) | Positive | Not Consumed | 10% |
| Black is Beautiful- Oatmeal Cookie Stout | Trap Door Brewing | Imperial Stout | Can (Pint) | Positive | Not Consumed | 10.5% |
| The Optimist IPA | Fort George | IPA | Can (12 oz) | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 6.2% |
| Rainbows & Unicorns IPA | Breakside Brewing | IPA | Bottle | Negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 5.1% |
| Sparkle Horn Sour Ale | Little Beast Brewing | Sour Ale | Can (Pint) | Positive | Not Consumed | 7.0% |
| Pilsner Urquell | Ashai | Pilsner | Bottle | Positive | Not Consumed | 4.4% |
| Jubelale | Deschutes | Winter Ale | Bottle | positive | Not Consumed | 6.7% |
| Bad Santa | Pelican Brewing | Winter Ale | Bottle | negative | Consumed with no ill effects | 7.5% |
| Winter Coat | Stormbreaker Brewing | Winter Ale | Can (Pint) | Positive | Not Consumed | 7.5% |
Thank you so much for this! I appreciate your testing.is there a way to contribute for the test kits?
Hello! I am very glad this is helpful for you, thanks for commenting. And a *huge* thank you for the offer to support the test kits, but the best way to support is simply to share the site broadly/spread the word. Also, if there is a beer you think would be great to test, just let me know!
Hello, First off, this is a Godsend! Thank you! I miss beer! I am not celiac, just sensitive. If i cross that invisible tolerance line,
I know, TMI, bloat and stomach cramps ensue. Im curious if you are similar in sensitivity level to me. I can consume lightly cross contaminated food and a tad of things like soy sauce and be mostly ok.
Anyway, the other night as I sat there drinking my sad gf beer and my husband drank his delicious real beer… I snuck a taste of his. Yeah big mistake because I couldn’t go back to my sad beer. I tossed it and pouted, ha! Is there any way you could test a few more beers? Boneyard RPM IPA and Ex-Novo Aperture are a couple that I’m dying to know about. Trying to think of more! Many thanks!
Can one purcha
se these kits in UK?
It is a US company based in Lansing MI that produces them (Neogen) You may check with them if they either distribute to UK companies or if you can order it and have it sent, though that route may be expensive since the kits need to be kept cold until used.
Fantastic stuff, please keep it up!
Thanks! I am glad it is helpful and I will be posting more for the holidays for sure!
Would you be willing to try like coors light or Michelob ultra?
Thanks for the beer suggestion! I plan to do some testing in the the next week or so and will add these two.
Best site ever!!! You have reintroduced ‘regula’ beer to me!! Has Bells Two Hearted ever made the test list?!?!
Fantastic compliment. Thanks for that and thanks for the great spirit. Two Hearted (http://www.bellsbeer.com/beer/year-round/two-hearted-ale ) sounds amazing and I gotta say, the brook trout on the label is right up my ally. I reached out to the brewery to see if I can get a sample. May take some time, but I’ll get an update out.
Hello, this is so amazing, being able to drink real beer again, all because of your research! Thank you!! Have you any plan to continue testing to add more beers to the list? I’d love to know if you’d be adding anymore options available to folks here on the West Coast! Bless you for this list!!
Hey there! Awesome blog I wish I would have found it sooner! I have been testing some beers with EZ gluten kit. Do you happen to have a source or explanation to why you say EZ gluten cant test fermented beverages?
Hi! I did quite a bit of research of the type of antibodies needed to accurately identify both gliadin and gluten proteins. Each manufacturer of testing kit uses a different type of antibody. The challenge of measuring fermented/hydrolyzed products for gluten has been covered in dozens of studies. Most articles were pretty nerdy :-). But for EZ Gluten, under their product site FAQ’s near the bottom (https://www.elisa-tek.com/elisa-technologies-news/gluten-testing-solutions/) the give a very readable summary of the Skerritt, R5, and G12 antibodies and which ones are suitable for fermented/hydrolyzed products.
The challenge with testing Beer and other fermented products is the protein is changed by the process and makes it hard to find and identify the protein. Skerritt is a “sandwich” type antibody vs a “competitive” antibody; Sandwich types are identified as unsuitable for fermented/hydrolyzed product testing . Here is a table from a study that identifies the strengths/weaknesses:https://www.frontiersin.org/files/Articles/470429/fnut-06-00097-HTML/image_m/fnut-06-00097-t001.jpg
When you look on the EZGluten’s Corporate site, it identifies that the antibody used in EZGluten is Skerritt. See the 4th paragraph https://www.elisa-tek.com/elisa-technologies-news/gluten-testing-solutions/.
Hope this is helpful1!
Hi and I appreciate the thorough reply. However, I would disagree a bit in that an antibody isn’t either sandwich or competitive. The type of assay is what can be either one. In a competitive ELISA you only need one epitope to detect an antigen. You are right in that hydrolyzed gluten fragments may only be able to get detected by competitive systems, those only requiring one epitope. The EZ Gluten assay only requires one epitope and falls into this category. Also, considering that glutenin and gliadin are in somewhat equal proportions in gluten, the Skerritt antibody can act as a marker for overall gluten. It picks up glutenin more than R5 or G12. It has also been show to be more sensitive than the other antibodies, even to the point of false positives. So it is a relatively good system for measuring gluten in beer.
This is an awesome response, thank you! And yes, please challenge. I agree with you, I should not attach the type/format of assay to the antibody. I wrote the post a while back and had assumed since ELISA website said they used they same approach for aller-tek, that EZGluten also required two epitopes. You are saying the EZGluten LFD actually only requires one epitope, which would be fantastic since it would make it suitable for testing beer. I communicated this with Elisa Tech and they validated it was based on one epitope. I also asked about any specific challenges with barley, based on their website’s FAQs, and the response was no issues.
Hey – thanks for your input, I appreciate this and plan to adjust the statement.
Hey,
Wow I appreciate your nice reply. I think it’s awesome that you are using another platform to test, or used to. I don’t want to say I’m 100% sure but yes I do believe EZ only needs one epitope. It’s still not the best testing method but for what I can buy at a decent price it does the job good enough! Impressed you reached out to them. You definitely have a scientist in you! Yeah again if anything I’d say it’s just a decent ballpark positive or negative, and that there’s a chance that depending on the batch of beer it could vary. Definitely if people are celiac still talk to doctor and trust how they feel after drinking certain beers. Cheers!
Hey this is awesome! Thank you so much! I just ordered EZ Gluten tests to try some beers since your update and the site speaks of testing. Would you want community contributions?
Hey, it’s me again! So I wanted to update you on some EZ Gluten stuff. Basically I have found out that EZ Gluten actually is a sandwich assay. Kind of a bummer but I think it still works fairly well. In my opinion any gluten peptide that has been degraded/broken down enough to only have one epitope, should be highly susceptible to digestive proteases (chymotrypsin, pepsin, brush border enzymes) and unlikely to stimulate an immune response. However, this hasn’t been test so I can’t say for sure. Anyways just want let you know about the new info I found out.
I’m guess when you asked them about the antibody they may have misunderstood the question.
Anyways thanks have a good day!