Fireball is a popular whiskey liquor with a strong cinnamon flavor. Many enjoy this liquor in cocktails or as a shot of fireball. Before you order that drink at happy hour, be sure to find out, Is Fireball Gluten Free?
What Is Fireball?
Fireball is a flavored whiskey with a strong fiery kick of red hot cinnamon flavor similar to atomic fireballs candy. The Fireball cinnamon products are owned by the Sazerac Company, which takes pride in saying they use real cinnamon, but they do not disclose if they use artificial ingredients as well.
Fireball Whisky comes in several different alcohol content proofs, which means how strong the liquor is by the percent alcohol in the liquor. You can find it at most liquor stores, wine stores that sell hard alcohol, or even grocery stores that are allowed to sell hard alcohol.
Fireball also added a new malt beverage (either malt-based or wine-based) to its portfolio so that it could be sold alongside beer in stores that only sell beer. The way to tell them apart is to be sure the bottle you buy has “Whisky” written on the label. As of this post date, the malted drink is a limited release and is only sold in Oregon.
Note that it isn’t a typo. The brand does not use the “e” in whiskey on its label. They keep with an old traditional Canadian spelling of whisky that omits the “e.”
Be sure to check my Alcohol List to see which alcohol brands are gluten free.
You must read all ingredient labels carefully when you are on a gluten-free diet due to celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.
Answer: Is Fireball Gluten Free?
Fireball, as with any distilled liquor, is made with gluten-containing grains. Pure whisky is technically gluten-free because any gluten would be removed during distillation.
That being said, the Fireball brand adds flavoring and states on its website that Fireball “may” be processed in a manufacturing plant that processes wheat. They use multiple processing locations to keep up with demand.
Fireball does not list any gluten-containing ingredients in the cinnamon flavoring added to the whiskey. The company claims they use a proprietary recipe, so we will never know exactly what ingredients are used to know if it is truly gluten free. This whisky also does not contain Propylene Glycol.
Many gluten-free people can drink this liquor without adverse reactions, while others claim they get glutened from Fireball Whisky.
As I mentioned in my Is Brandy Gluten Free Post, distillation removes gluten proteins. It heats fermented liquids until they vaporize. This vapor is condensed into an alcoholic liquid.
During the process, lower boiling point components are separated from higher ones. Gluten has a very high boiling point, so it is removed in distillation, leaving the end product gluten free. This process of distillation is why most distilled alcohol is gluten free.
In the case of Fireball, you will have to decide if you want to risk drinking this liquor.
If you truly love Fireball but don’t want to risk the potential of gluten, you can make a homemade Cinnamon Whiskey with a pure distilled whiskey. I am a huge Kahlua fan, so check out Is Kahlua Gluten Free too!
