Style: American Pale Ale
Brewing location: Portland, Oregon
Originating country: USA
Alcohol by Volume: 5.8%
Ingredients: Yeast, Water, MALTS: Pale, Caramel, Honey, and Hallertau
, HOPS: Cascade
Format tested: 12 oz. Los Angeles, CA
Beeradvocate rating: 78/100
Ratebeer rating: 44/100
Test kit: E-Z Gluten
Miscellaneous
Every bottle has a batch serial number; this number can be entered on the Omission website to look up the independently tested gluten results.
Omission is brewed by Widmer Brothers, founded in 1984 in Portland, Oregon
CEO and craft beer enthusiast, Terry Michaelson, was diagnosed with celiac twelve years ago; and brewmaster Joe Casey’s wife has been a celiac since 2006.
Omission beers use a brewing enzyme called Brewers Clarex™ which breaks apart and detoxifies the gluten protein chains. The beers are then packaged in a closed environment to eliminate any cross contamination risk.
In 2013, Mass Spectrometry research was conducted by an independent lab which validated that Omission Lager and Pale Ale are devoid of known barley toxic epitopes, the specific peptide sequences and reactive sites in gluten molecules that cause reactions in the human small intestine. These same beers were tested using the R5 Competitive ELISA and were found to lack any measureable gluten content. A growing body of peer reviewed scientific literature supports that the process is effective in breaking up and detoxifying gluten peptides.
Test result photo
Test result
Negative at 20 parts per million (ppm), meaning it is less than 20 ppm. Though standards vary from country to country, according to the FDA, "In order to use the term 'gluten free' on its label a food must meet all the requirements of the definition, including that the food must contain less than 20 ppm gluten." It is said that products with a gluten content below 20 ppm are suitable for people with celiac disease.
My experience drinking Omission Pale Ale
An all-round excellent beer. I defy anyone to blind taste this against other leading American Pale Ales and say it's missing something - especially gluten! Hats off to Omission/Widmer for going where other brewers feared to tread. A truly bold move that gave all 'gluten-challenged' beer-lovers hope that life was worth living! Omission Pale Ale is always the first beer I look for when beer shopping.
It should be no surprise that Omission Pale Ale is under 20 ppm gluten as that's how Omission markets itself. Omission beers are tested using an independent lab conducting R5 Competitive ELISA analysis. The science behind the EZ Gluten test kits that I use is somewhat different and therefore the result could have differed. So it is encouraging to know that the EZ Gluten results on this site stand up to the method that Omission uses to test their beers.
I am not sure where I fall in the gluten tolerance spectrum; I am gluten intolerant but not celiac. I definitely know what it feels like to be “glutened” i.e. gluten exposure, but I have not deliberately pushed my gluten consumption limits with any food or beer. I have consumed 3 x 12 oz. bottles in 2 hours countless times and felt no gluten effects.
