I still remember standing in my grandmother’s kitchen, watching her pour a deep purple liquid from a glass jug into a mason jar. She’d smile and say, “Just grapes, a pinch of sugar, and time.” No ingredient list. No corn syrup. No lab-grown yeast. Just the same method her own mother had used a century before.

Fast forward to last month, when I grabbed a six-pack of what I thought was a simple lager at the grocery store. I flipped the box over, and there it was: “corn syrup solids.” I blinked. Corn syrup? In beer? And where did that corn come from?

That question sent me down a deep rabbit hole. What I found surprised me-and it might surprise you too. So let’s take a walk through how our drinks changed, and how we can quietly bring back the old ways.

A Tradition That Didn’t Need Fixing

Fermentation is one of the oldest human technologies-older than the wheel, older than writing. For most of history, beer was just barley, water, hops, and wild yeast. Wine was crushed grapes left to do what grapes naturally do. No one was engineering genes because the ingredients themselves were already perfect.

Brewers and vintners spent centuries selecting, not modifying. They saved the best yeast from one batch to start the next. They planted heirloom grape varieties that thrived in local soil. It was slow, deliberate, and natural. None of these traditional methods relied on anything genetically modified. Not once.

How GMOs Slipped Into the Glass

The shift started quietly in the 1990s, when large-scale farming embraced genetically modified corn and soy. Suddenly, cheap corn syrup became the go-to sugar source for mass-produced beers. Today, many conventional lagers and light beers are fermented with corn syrup-and over 90% of corn grown in the US is genetically modified.

But it didn’t stop at corn. The yeast itself-the tiny workhorse of fermentation-can now be genetically engineered. In the last decade, a few yeast strains have been designed to produce wine with lower histamines or higher alcohol. One strain was even modified to crush grape skins more efficiently. These are impressive lab achievements, but they break a fundamental link: the one between the drink and the land it came from.

And because alcoholic beverages in the US aren’t required to label GMO ingredients, you’d never know just by glancing at a bottle or can.

Where Do GMOs Hide?

Here’s a quick breakdown of common ingredients that may be GMO-derived in beer and wine:

• Corn syrup or corn sugar - Often from GMO corn. Used in many light beers and some ciders.
• Sugar from sugar beets - Almost all US sugar beets are GMO. Used to boost alcohol in some wines.
• Modified food starch - Can come from GMO corn or potato. Used as a stabilizer in cheap canned cocktails.
• Malt extract - Sometimes made from large commercial suppliers who may use GMO grains.
• Commercial yeast - A few strains sold to wineries and breweries are genetically engineered, though still rare in small-scale operations.

So avoiding GMOs isn’t just about the drink itself-it’s about everything that went into it.

A Case Study in Pure Tradition

One of my favorite examples comes from Belgium. Lambic beers are made by spontaneous fermentation-meaning they don’t add yeast at all. Instead, the brew is left open to the air, and wild yeasts from the local environment settle in and do the work. No factory-produced yeast. No GMO risk. Just a beer that tastes like the place where it was made.

Lambic brewers have been doing this for hundreds of years, and they still do it today. Their method is proof that you can make incredible, complex beer without any modern shortcuts.

On the wine side, look for “natural wine” producers. These are vintners who use native yeasts, no additives, and minimal filtration. They’re essentially recreating the winemaking of our great-grandparents-and they happen to avoid GMO inputs by default.

What I Actually Do

After all my digging, I’ve landed on a few simple habits. They don’t require a biochemistry degree or a second mortgage.

1. Look for organic certification. Organic beer and wine can’t use GMO ingredients. It’s the safest bet.
2. Choose “all-malt” beer. If a label says “all-malt,” it’s made from barley only-no corn or rice. That automatically cuts out GMO corn syrup.
3. Ask a small brewery. Local craft breweries are usually happy to talk about their ingredients. A quick email-“Do you use any GMO corn syrup or modified yeast?”-gets a straight answer most of the time.
4. Shop at a good wine store. Ask for wines made with native yeast or from small organic producers. The staff usually know their inventory.
5. Trust the one-ingredient test. If a drink lists an ingredient you’d find in a pantry-grapes, barley, hops, water-you’re probably safe. If you see “corn syrup solids” or “modified food starch,” put it back.

Why This Matters Beyond the Glass

I’m not here to make anyone afraid of their evening beer or Sunday wine. What I really want is for us to reconnect with the idea that good, clean ingredients are enough. That we don’t need to engineer our food (or our drinks) to be delicious.

Our grandparents proved it. The Belgian lambic brewers prove it. And every small producer who chooses organic honey, heritage grains, or native yeast proves it.

So the next time you raise a glass, whether it’s a pale ale or a pinot noir, think about what’s inside. And if you can, choose something that would have been familiar to the people who came before us. Because sometimes the best innovations are the ones that rediscover the past.