Finding gluten-free beer in France that is not industrial and bland is harder than it sounds. Gluten-free specialty shops rarely carry beer. Craft brewers working seriously on gluten-free recipes exist, but they are scattered, hard to find, rarely grouped in one place.
That is the gap I wanted to fill when I launched Free My Beer in late 2025: a dedicated online shop for celiacs, people with gluten intolerance, and anyone who wants to drink beer without worrying about ingredients.
What it is
Free My Beer runs on Shopify. No dropshipping, no third-party warehouse: I manage stock myself, order directly from breweries, pack and ship orders.
The positioning is editorial curation. I do not list every gluten-free beer available in France. I look for brewers who take gluten-free seriously and whose beers are actually good. The current catalog includes Mont Blanc, Paname Brewing Company, Nautile, Run'Hard, Brasserie Horla, Grisette and Brasseur de la Jonte.
Three types of customers: celiacs who have no choice and need reliable references, people with gluten sensitivity who want to avoid symptoms without giving up beer, and curious drinkers exploring this segment.
The e-commerce side
Shopify was the obvious call. I had managed shops for freelance clients before and knew the platform well. Fast to set up, stock management built in, checkout that works.
The technical part is not what takes time. Logistics is. Finding the right carriers for beer (fragile, heavy, regulated by alcohol volume), managing stockouts when a brewery runs dry, tracking delays. Operational, unglamorous, but what keeps a shop running.
Brewery relationships
The part I did not fully anticipate. Approaching small breweries takes time. You have to show you are serious, that you understand their product, that you will not discount their work.
I built relationships progressively, one brewery at a time, explaining the project and its positioning. Some replied within 24 hours, others took weeks, a few never answered. That is how it goes. What matters is having a solid catalog, not the largest number of references.
Free My Beer has an Instagram account I run directly: @bieres_sans_gluten. Product posts, brewery portraits, educational content on gluten-free beer and celiac disease.
It is the part that costs the most energy because it is constant. A niche shop without community goes nowhere. Instagram is what builds connection with people who follow the topic, whether out of medical necessity or genuine interest.
What I learned
Building an e-commerce shop solo from scratch is not just code or marketing. It is managing tech, logistics, suppliers, customer support, communication and accounting at the same time. Every layer is learnable, some faster than others.
What I would do differently: invest in SEO much earlier. The shop exists, the products are good, but organic visibility takes time to build and I should have prioritized it from the start.
Free My Beer keeps growing steadily. If you are looking for gluten-free beer worth drinking: free-my-beer.com.