Belgium’s beer culture is built on inclusion in a specific sense: the country produces styles that cover almost every register of taste, strength, and occasion. The Gluten-Free Double Ale from g Green / Brunehaut extends that inclusion into a category that most Belgian breweries have not addressed — a strong ale at 7.0% ABV with a full amber character, dark fruit, and caramel warmth, certified gluten-free without the flavour compromise that gluten-free beer has historically required. If you are Belgian and living in Tokyo and you or someone at your table cannot drink standard barley-based beers, the question has always been whether anything gluten-free could hold its place in a serious Belgian beer conversation. This one can.
Rongy’s certified gluten-free strong ale
g Green / Brunehaut is a brewery based in Rongy, in the Hainaut province of southern Belgium, with the gluten-free range developed in the 2010s. Brunehaut is a family brewery with roots in the region, and the g Green label represents its dedicated gluten-free production line — beers brewed and certified to meet gluten-free standards without being positioned as reduced or compromise products. The Double Ale is the strongest expression in the range, built to demonstrate that gluten-free production is compatible with the kind of body and character that a Belgian strong ale requires.
The beer pours amber, and the sensory profile delivers what the colour suggests: dark fruit, caramel malt character, and a full body that carries the 7.0% ABV with a warming rather than aggressive finish. The gluten-free certification means the beer is brewed without the standard barley malt that conventional ales rely on, using alternative grains and processes that achieve the same depth of flavour without the gluten content. The result is a beer that sits comfortably within the Belgian strong ale tradition in flavour and body, making it accessible to coeliac and gluten-sensitive drinkers without asking those drinkers to accept a lesser beer.
How Gluten-Free Double Ale is drunk at home
Santé! / Op uw gezondheid! (sahn-TAY / op-uw geh-ZONT-hayt) — French and Flemish respectively, both meaning “to your health.” In Hainaut, the French-speaking south of Belgium, Santé is the toast most commonly heard — and a beer that allows everyone at the table to raise a glass makes the toast more complete.
In Belgium, a strong ale at 7.0% with this kind of body belongs to the main course of the Sunday family lunch — a beer with enough character to carry Stoofvlees, the slow-braised beef stew cooked in dark ale until the sauce reduces into something dense and sweet-savory. The dark fruit and caramel of the Double Ale respond to the reduced cooking liquid of the stew in the same way a conventional Belgian dubbel would, making this one of the few gluten-free beers that earns its place at that part of the meal without adjustment. Moules-frites works alongside it as well — the brine of the mussels sharpened against the caramel malt, the fries providing the salt that any strong ale benefits from. Belgian fries with mayonnaise are present regardless of the course, and the Double Ale handles their fat cleanly.
Belgian beer festivals, where an increasing number of breweries now offer gluten-free options alongside the standard range, give the Brunehaut g Green beers visibility with an audience that has not always had a serious option to reach for.
How to drink it in Japan
The Gluten-Free Double Ale is a cold-season beer in Japan — October through March — when a strong ale with warming alcohol and caramel depth suits the temperature and the food. It is also the beer that solves a specific practical problem at a gathering: a Japanese table that includes coeliac or gluten-sensitive guests now has a 7.0% strong ale from Belgium that they can drink alongside everyone else.
At FamilyMart, try it alongside a beef nikuman — the steamed pork-and-beef bun available warm at the counter — where the slightly sweet, savory filling responds to the dark fruit and caramel of the Double Ale in the same register as Stoofvlees does at a Belgian table. For a composed pairing at home, serve it with buta no kakuni — Japanese braised pork belly, slow-cooked with soy, mirin, and sake until the fat renders and the glaze deepens. The caramelised soy reduction and the dark fruit note in the beer find each other directly, and the warming finish of the Double Ale carries the richness of the dish without being overwhelmed by it. It is gluten-free; the pairing logic is not.
Certified gluten-free strong ales from Belgium are essentially absent from Tokyo’s specialty import shops, where the gluten-free beer category, when it appears at all, tends toward light lagers. By the case from Omori Mart — 330ml × 24 cans — the per-can cost is accessible and the format is practical for households that keep it as a regular option rather than an occasional special order.
Get Gluten-Free Double Ale delivered in Japan
Gluten-Free Double Ale is available from Omori Mart in a 330ml × 24 can case, delivered nationwide across Japan.
- Free shipping on orders over ¥15,000
- Pay at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, or Lawson — or by bank transfer or card
- Nationwide delivery to any address in Japan
Rakuten and Amazon Japan do not carry this label. Omori Mart is where Belgians in Japan find the beers that cover the full range — including the ones that make sure nobody is left out of the round.
[Shop Gluten-Free Double Ale →]
https://omorimart.com/product/gluten-free-double-ale-can-330ml-x-24-cans/
Santé in Rongy, where a Hainaut brewery decided in the 2010s that gluten-free should mean full flavour, and kanpai at a Tokyo table in November — seven percent, amber in the glass, and everyone at the table can raise one.
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