Expert: Ed Westemeier - 9/10/2008

Question
I have developed allergies to wheat & corn. I have learned that most national brands use corn and to look for barley malt beers. I can not find any listing of these beer brands. Do you know of any brand names like this. Thanks for any advise.

Answer
There is no such list, but here's some general advice.
You're right that all the major American lager beer producers use adjuncts (either rice or corn, sometimes both). This is necessary to get the extremely pale golden color. If you see a beer labeled "all malt" then you know it's made of just malted barley. That makes it a slightly darker color (as well as giving it more flavor).
Almost no "craft" beers from microbreweries and brewpubs use adjuncts, so you're going to be pretty safe with any of them (just steer clear of the wheat beers).