My sister texted me the other night, presumably while at a bar, asking whether Jameson whiskey is gluten-free. While I’ve heard that dark liquors may pose problems for some gluten-free vigilantes, I’ve never had issues with it myself, and have always worked under the assumption that the distillation process thoroughly extracts any problematic proteins. To test my theory, I hit the web. A quick Google search was an impenetrable clusterfuck, with some forums decrying everything from Grey Goose vodka (made from wheat) to Jack Daniels (fermented from a mash of corn, rye, and malted barley), while others backed my distilled “enough to be safe” theory. Fed up with wading through the digital shouting matches, I turned to more reliable sources. I started by checking the individual websites of popular liquors, including Jameson, Jack Daniels, and Grey Goose. My exact question was answered on Jameson’s official site: “Yes, Jameson is gluten free. This is because the distillation removes any residual cereal protein. In any event we do not use any gluten containing cereal (e.g. wheat) in our mash.” Jack Daniels also claims their Black Label Whiskey has no carbs, gluten, fats, or cholesterol, as they’re all removed during distilling. Unfortunately, the Grey Goose site didn’t have an answer–or any FAQS at all. To make matters worse, they also didn’t have a phone number to call, and I was forced to fill out one of those annoying “Contact Us” e-mail forms. No word yet.Still not 100 percent satisfied with the website responses, I took my research a step further and reached out to Cody Rossen, who conducts PR for Maker’s Mark. His response was another thumbs up for Maker’s and all distilled spirits. With a plethora of good support behind my theory, I turned to Twitter and asked local gluten-free cookbook author, Shauna Ahern, and gluten-free blogger Jeanne Sauvage about their imbibing. “I don’t have any problems with any of the straight liquors,” Ahern told me. She did mention that flavored spirits in which the additives contain gluten might be a problem if they’re added after distillation. Sauvage confirmed “The thing I have problems with is if the ‘mash’ is added back to the liquor AFTER the distillation process.”So there you have it. Get drunk and carry on!