Gluten-free beers

All of y'all are the best. Thank you!

Have a look at NPR's The Salt and Bon Appetit for recommendations:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/01/25/170259193/a-quest-for-real-beer-without-the-gluten

http://www.bonappetit.com/blogsandforums/blogs/badaily/2013/02/gluten-free-beer-tastes-good.html

As far as cider goes, you can also try perry, which is cider made from pears.

My current absolute favorite: the dark ale from Harvester Brewing out of Portland. It's a dedicated glutenfree facility and it tastes like real beer. Really. They have an IPA that my IPA-loving husband adores, and he isn't allergic to gluten and can drink regular IPAs. I found this at PCC here in Seattle; I don't know how hard it is to find outside the Northwest.

Second best is Daura, from Spain. It's delicious. A close second is Omission.

The rest I've tried (Red Bridge, Bard's, New Grist) are all just okay. They don't really taste like beer, but they're a good substitute if you're baking with it. I prefer New Grist for my glutenfree beer bread. I recently tried Green's dark ale and was more impressed with it than I remembered being a few years ago. I think they've improved their recipe.

Finn River has a dry hopped cider that's incredible. It's sweeter than beer and has a sort of light ale flavor. Finn River also has occasional limited runs of specialty ciders. Their bourbon barrel-aged cider a few months ago was incredible.

For cider, I also recommend Blue Mountain's Dry Creek and anything by Tieton Cider Works.

Thank you both very much. Petitbleu, a question - how does hard cider compare to beer? About the same alcohol content? It must be a very different taste though?

I know it's not beer per se, but there are loads of great ciders on the market right now. Crispin has several amazing flavors (including one made with sorghum that I found particularly nice).

Budweiser makes Red Bridge, and we think it's pretty good! Easily available here in supermarkets, along with a smattering of others. Taste, though, is in the mind of the taster.