Mailbag Monday – Gluten-Free Edition

May 26th, 2014 by The Beers and Ears Crew in Mailbag Monday

Welcome back to Mailbag Monday!

Before we get started, it’s not often we get analysis of theme and the history behind it for a bar. However, EPCOT Explorer has done just that for Trader Sam’s at Disneyland (and he goes into the just-announced Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto for the Polynesian Village as well). It’s a long and detailed read but it’s worth your time.

Also, let’s give Steve Shorlin and Keith (who comments here every so often) a shout-out for sending in beer tips! Steve found Great Divide Yeti Imperial Stout near Expedition Everest, and Keith noticed we didn’t have Einstök Icelandic Toasted Porter at Il Mulino on our list. We had heard about Yeti Imperial Stout being served at the recent Expedition Everest race, but it’s apparently made its way to the nearby cart for everyday consumption!

On the website we’re also adding photos to the location pages! We’ll be digging photos up from our personal stashes but we’ve started with some locations that we’ve featured here before such as Be Our Guest Restaurant!

Many of you have asked us this question in so many words:

Can I get gluten-free beer at Disney World/Disneyland?

Before we get into the answer, let’s be serious for a moment. We’re not doctors. Seriously, we do not have medical degrees of any kind. We also don’t play doctors on television, and we didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. This is for information only and if you have sensitivity to gluten you should talk to your doctor.

That being said, yes, you can get beer at both Disney World and Disneyland that is either gluten-free or gluten-reduced.

Gluten-reduced? What in the world does that mean?

Omission, a line of beers from Widmer Brothers, are brewed with malted barley, which is the reason most beers contain gluten. However, they have a magical vacuum (or some other device) that sucks the gluten out of the beer while leaving everything else.

Omission Lager can be found at both Disney World and Disneyland. Omission Pale Ale is only found at Todd English’s bluezoo at the Dolphin at Disney World. An Omission IPA is also brewed, but neither Disney World nor Disneyland stock it.

Next up is Redbridge. This beer, brewed by AB-InBev, is naturally gluten-free because it was never brewed with wheat or barley. Instead, Redbridge is brewed with sorghum. Redbridge can be found in multiple locations at Walt Disney World. We’re not aware of any locations in Disneyland that serve Redbridge.

Finally, instead of a beer, many (but not all) ciders are gluten-free. Angry Orchard, Ace, Possman, Crispin, Strongbow, and others at Disney World and Disneyland are all gluten-free ciders.

We do try to make a note in the beer list when we know something is gluten-free. The vast majority of beer brewed is not gluten-free; if you don’t know for sure, it probably contains gluten.

Since this has gotten a bit long already, we’re going to leave it with this one question for today. Be sure to tweet, Facebook, or email us your questions for future editions of Mailbag Monday!