Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Asahi Dry Zero Tests Gluten-Free

One of the hardest parts of going gluten-free was giving up beer.  I looked into various options, and I found that there are a few non-alcoholic “beers” that don’t list barley or malt as ingredients: Asahi Dry Zero, Sapporo+, and Kirin Perfect Free.  Of these, Asahi Dry Zero is the most popular, and it’s available at many bars and restaurants (including my favorite karaoke box).

I also discovered Polos Spirytus Rektyfikowany (スピリタス in Japanese), which is a Polish spirit similar to Everclear.  It’s 192 proof (96% alcohol).  If I want to go out and have a few beers, I fill some little soy sauce bottles with Spirytus and put them in my pocket.  One 13ml bottle, mixed with one 350ml can or bottle of non-alcoholic beer, will produce a mixture with an alcohol content (by volume) of about 3.5% (as opposed to 5% for a standard Japanese beer).  Of course, I can add more if I want to.  I even found a neat little page that will do the calculations for me, so I know how much I’m drinking.

After a little more research, I discovered a useful blog at lowgluten.org.  It’s written by a German guy named Steffen, who tests various beers for gluten content.  It inspired me to test a few myself, and Asahi Dry Zero was the first one that I tested.  I used the Gluten-in-Food test kit from Imutest, which claims to detect gluten levels down to 20 ppm in food, and down to an amazing 1-2 ppm in liquids.

The test did not detect any gluten.  Hooray!  I plan to test several more beers and related beverages, like Kirin Hard Cidre.  I’ve also heard that the original Nodogoshi is made with soy protein, rather than barley, so that’s next on my list.