Thursday, May 29, 2014

Summary of 'Gluten in Beer' Test Results


Beer Test Results using E-Z Gluten*
Bud Light Over 20 ppm
Coors Light Under 10 ppm
Corona ExtraUnder 10 ppm
DuvelUnder 20 ppm
Fat Tire Over 20 ppm
Guinness Over 20 ppm
Heineken Over 20 ppm
Heineken Light Over 20 ppm
Leffe Over 20 ppm
Modelo EspecialUnder 20 ppm
Negro ModeloUnder 20 ppm
Newcastle Brown Ale Over 20 ppm
Pabst Blue RibbonUnder 20 ppm
Red Stripe Over 20 ppm
Sapporo Over 20 ppm
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Over 20 ppm
Stella Artois Over 20 ppm
Stone IPA Over 20 ppm
Tsingtao Under 20 ppm
* Though standards vary from country to country, according to the FDA, "In order to use the term 'gluten free' on its label a food must meet all the requirements of the definition, including that the food must contain less than 20 ppm (parts per million) gluten." It is said that products with a gluten content below 20 ppm are suitable for people with celiac disease.
DISCLAIMER: We are testing beers out of our own curiosity at home and sharing the test results with others. We are not medical doctors and our results should not be interpreted as medical advice. We do NOT claim that ANY of these beers are safe to consume if you have celiac disease or are gluten intolerant.

20 comments:

  1. This is awesome! Thank you! Look forward to see more results!

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  2. Thank you so much for this website!!! I am in the same boat as you it sounds like. I feel usually no effects when I have fries cooked in shared oil, or drink a corona. But I feel terrible if I have anything that has flour in it, and can't drink Guiness anymore without feeling like I've developed an ulcer. :( Man I miss my stout.

    Anyway, thanks for doing this! I hope you keep it up! Last night I enjoyed a Modelo with my mexican dinner, thanks to finding your website. I felt great afterwards, so I'm excited to try the others on this list that are <20 ppm.

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    1. Thanks for you your support Olivia. I miss stout too. Hopefully I will find one under 20 ppm!

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    2. Will you please research Landshark or Shiner Ruby Reds?

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  3. Hi ! I am from Germany and I am soooo thankful for this site. Thanks a lot ! But I have 2 questions:
    1) What kind of test do you use ? Is this a test you can buy in the US to check Gluten ?
    2) How safe is this test ?

    Thanks a lot !!

    Erik

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    1. Hello Erik, I use the EZ Gluten test kit. The kits are available online http://www.ezgluten.com and can be shipped worldwide. I will leave EZ Gluten to comment on the reliability of their test. So please be careful consuming beers tested under 20ppm on this site. If you are celiac or extremely sensitive it probably is not worth the risk. And even if you are not so sensitive, gluten damage can be asymptomatic.

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    2. Hi,
      Thanks for all your info and the testing you've done on the many beers out there.
      Do you find the ez test strips cost effective? I looked at their website. The way they're listed makes me think it costs quite a bit to test foods and beverages for gluten in one's own.
      What do you say?
      -Connie

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    3. I would like you to test a few others and am willing to pay for it. How do I contact you? I want to see results on Reg Coors, Pabst NA, Dos Equis, and New Begium's Shift Pale Ale (this one in particular).

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    4. I would love to know the Pabst NA results too! Or any NA results.

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  4. Can you test Perth Brewing company? They claim their beers are GF. (Perth ON)

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  5. Sir (or Madam), you are doing God's work.

    And by God I am of course referring to Silenus, the Greek God of Beer. :)

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  6. Love your blog sight, thank you so much. Do you plan to test any non-alcoholic beers in the future?

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    1. Thanks Josh. Your positive feedback is much appreciated. I've never tried non-alcoholic beer but to me alcohol is a key part of the flavor of the beer - it wouldn't be beer without it. Omission, Estrella Daura Damm and others have shown that removing gluten takes nothing away from the flavor of beer. Without alcohol, IMHO it's not beer.

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  7. If your looking for stout that's GF try westerham brewery in Kent England. They do a fantastic stout and a big selection of GF beers and pilsner. Ian

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  8. As a coeliac I really appreciate you testing beers. _However_ there is much research which suggests EZ Gluten testing gives very unreliable results for barley proteins (Hordiens). Worse still that these results vary massively depending on the strain of barley that was used. So it is possible that you are observing different barley strains which test low, not truely low gluten beers. So to all - use caution!! Martin , Aberdeen, Scotland.

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  9. Thanks for you comment Martin. It's certainly true that there is no 100% reliable method out there to test the gluten content of hydrolyzed/fermented products. And the FDA recognizes this by not allowing beers like Omission and Estrella Daura Damm to be labeled gluten free because they once contained barley. Fair enough. As soon as there is a more reliable and affordable method available I will test all these beers again. Until then we have to put our faith in tests like EZ Gluten as a useful proxy for the actual gluten level. I have seen nothing out there to suggest EZ Gluten is less reliable than any of the other test kits out there. In fact it seems to give more conservative results than the other test kits such as Imutest and GlutenTox. I've benchmarked EZ Gluten by testing Omission Pale Ale (a beer that claims to be less than 20ppm gluten) and EZ Gluten gave a less than 20ppm result. Most of the beers I test are greater than 20 ppm, so any that test less than 20ppm, in theory, could be as safe as Omission. It's a small, but I hope, valuable list to visitors of this site. As always, this is not medical advice. Any beers consumed based on results from this site are consumed at your own risk.

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  10. I want to kiss you. And drink gluten-free beers with you.

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  11. I wrote to the Guinness brewrey and they wrote me an email back saying Guinness contained 11 ppm but they couldn't brand it GF because that was too high for Ireland. I've been GF since 2010 and regularly drink Guinness without effect. I am Irish though, maybe an inbuilt genetic acceptance? I took this as proof that God is in fact Irish.

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    1. Can you provide us with verified proof of this letter? As EZgluten test results seem to be different.

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