Yes, gluten free whiskey is real! Well, mostly. Even though whiskey is often made from glutinous grains (barley, wheat and/or rye), the distillation process removes gluten proteins. Distilled beverages meet the U.S. Food and Drug administration’s proposed standard of less than 20 parts per million of gluten proteins or prolamins, and so can be called gluten free. The National Institutes of Health’s Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign even says that cocktails made with distilled alcohol are safe for celiacs to drink.

However, there are other factors to consider: not all whiskies are straight with nothing added. Some whiskies have caramel color…