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Labeling Rules

Two federal agencies regulate alcoholic beverage labels in the United States, and which one regulates yours depends on what you brewed it from. A sorghum beer and a barley beer are not governed by the same agency, may not say the same things, and do not carry the same burden of proof.

FDA — Questions and Answers: Gluten-Free Food Labeling Final Rule — The FDA's own Q&A on 21 CFR 101.91: the 20 ppm definition, the fermented and hydrolyzed foods records requirement, and the TTB/FDA jurisdiction split. If you brew from sorghum, millet, rice or buckwheat, this is your rule.

TTB Ruling 2020-2 — Current TTB policy on gluten content statements for wine, spirits and malt beverages. Effective 13 October 2020; supersedes Ruling 2014-2. If you brew from barley, this is your rule.

TTB — Agency homepage, for label approval (COLA) and general guidance.

Tier: Directory · Verified 4 August 2026 · Re-check every 6 months · Not legal advice

This page is orientation. A labeling decision is worth paying an attorney for — a label revision after a rejected application costs more than asking first.

The jurisdiction split​

Get this right before anything else.

TTB — the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau — regulates most malt beverages, meaning beer made from malted barley and hops, plus distilled spirits.

FDA regulates beers that do not meet the statutory definition of a malt beverage. The FDA's own guidance names sorghum beer as the example. If your beer is brewed from sorghum, millet, rice or buckwheat and does not use malted barley and hops, you are most likely an FDA-regulated food, not a TTB malt beverage.

That is a strange outcome and it catches people. It also works in your favour, because the FDA route is the one where the term "gluten-free" is actually available.

Our experience​

Tier: Directory. We are pointing you at the regulators and the operative rules, read on the date shown. Confirm against current guidance before you rely on any of it.

If you are FDA-regulated: 21 CFR 101.91​

The FDA defines "gluten-free" at below 20 ppm. The term is voluntary — nobody makes you use it — but if you use it, the food must either be inherently gluten-free or contain no ingredient that is a gluten-containing grain, derived from one without processing to remove gluten, or derived from one with processing to remove gluten where that use results in 20 ppm or more gluten in the food. Any unavoidable presence of gluten must be less than 20 ppm.

The fermented-foods records requirement​

This is the part brewers underestimate. Beer is a fermented food, and 21 CFR 101.91(c)(2)–(4) requires the manufacturer to make and keep records that provide adequate assurance that:

  • the food met the gluten-free definition — under 20 ppm — before fermentation or hydrolysis;
  • the manufacturer evaluated the processing for potential gluten cross-contact; and
  • measures were implemented to prevent gluten being introduced during manufacturing.

Records must be kept for at least two years after the food is introduced into commerce, and produced to the FDA on request during inspection.

Read that as a records obligation rather than a testing obligation. The rule exists because the standard assay cannot reliably read a fermented product — see Gluten Testing Methods and Their Limits — so the law asks for upstream evidence instead. That is exactly what the QA Trust Chain and batch records are for. If your records cannot survive an inspection, the claim is not supported no matter how clean the beer is.

If you are TTB-regulated: Ruling 2020-2​

For malt beverages fermented from gluten-containing grains, the ruling does not permit a "gluten-free" claim. Those products are limited to a "[Processed / Treated / Crafted] to remove gluten" statement, and that statement carries a mandatory qualifier:

"Product fermented from grains containing gluten and [processed or treated or crafted] to remove gluten. The gluten content of this product cannot be verified, and this product may contain gluten."

The ruling also prohibits specific gluten-level claims — "x ppm" — for fermented products, because the testing cannot support them, and restricts celiac-related health claims.

Two things follow. First, this is the regulatory expression of the distinction this site makes throughout: gluten-reduced is not gluten-free, and the federal government agrees in writing. See Gluten-Reduced Beer Is Not Gluten-Free and The Trust Gap.

Second, note the asymmetry: products made without gluten ingredients may be labeled gluten-free, and distilled spirits made from gluten grains may be labeled gluten-free where good manufacturing practice prevents gluten carrying into the final product. Fermented malt beverages get neither allowance. Distillation removes gluten in a way regulators accept; fermentation does not.

What this means for a sorghum beer​

Most likely: FDA jurisdiction, "gluten-free" available to you under 21 CFR 101.91, and a two-year records obligation on pre-fermentation evidence.

That is a materially better position than any barley brewer can reach — they cannot use the term at all. Worth understanding as a market fact, not just a compliance one.

What to ask, and who​

Ask a beverage attorney which agency regulates your specific product before you design the label. The answer follows from your grain bill, and it is not always obvious at the margins.

Ask what records the agency expects, and for how long — then check your batch records actually produce them.

Ask whether your state adds anything. Federal is the floor, and at least one state has taken a different line on gluten-removed malt beverages.

Do not assume a certifier's mark satisfies a regulator, or the reverse. Separate systems, separate requirements. See Getting Certified Gluten-Free.

Verified as of 4 August 2026 — read the FDA Q&A and TTB Ruling 2020-2 directly and quoted the operative language from each; confirmed 2020-2 supersedes 2014-2. We have not had this reviewed by counsel.

Gluten Free Brewer has no commercial relationship with the organizations on this page and receives nothing for listing them. If that ever changes, it will be disclosed here.