Is Coors Light Gluten-Free?
Is Coors Light gluten-free? Whether you want to open up a cold one with some friends, you’re trying to buy a drink at a bar, or you’re staring at the alcohol aisle in a store looking for something gluten-free to buy, here’s how to know if Coors Light or other alcohols are safe.
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Is Coors Light Gluten-Free?
First, Coors is a brand that produces both beers and hard seltzers. The Coors Light line however, is only for beers.
Beer in general is typically made with gluten, but let’s go over the ingredients of Coors Light. Per the Coors Light Website, Coors Light contains water, barley malt, hop extract, lager yeast, and corn syrup.
Based on the ingredients listed, Coors Light is not gluten-free. That’s because barley malt is derived from the gluten containing grain barley, and is not saffe. And lager yeast would likely be derived from a past gluten-filled brew and thus be unsafe.
Is Coors Hard Seltzer Gluten-Free
While Coors Light is not gluten-free, Coors Hard Seltzers are. You can see this on the back of the cans where they have a certified gluten-free logo from gluten.org. Because there is a gluten-free certification on these products, they are automatically safe. We don’t even need to look at the ingredients because a third party has done all the work in verifying safety for us.
(For more help on reading alcohol labels in the USA to identify if a product is safe, check out my Celiac Crash Course where I cover the basics of celiac safety, including how to identify gluten on food, alcohol, beauty, medication, and supplement labels).
Not All Hard Seltzers are Gluten-Free
Now that we know Coors Light is not gluten-free but that their hard selzters are, it’s important to know that not all hard seltzers are gluten-free. Hard seltzer, also known as Sparkling Alcohol Water or Spiked Seltzer, is a drink containin seltzer, alcohol and flavoring.
The alcohol used in seltzers often is from cane sugar, but sometimes can be from malted barley. If cane sugar is used to make the seltzer, then it is gluten-free. But if malted barley is used, then it is not. Even if the product says something along the lines of “crafted to remove gluten”.
An example of alcoholic seltzers not being safe is the malted beverage Smirnoff Spiked Sparkling Seltzer. This is a malted barley beverage that advertises itself as gluten removed. Gluten removed or not, this product is not safe.
That’s because first, malted beverages typically have the primary ingredient of barley which has been malted. Barley is one of the gluten containing grains people living gluten-free must avoid.
And even if the product has been crafted to remove gluten, it is not considered safe in the USA because we don’t have the ability to verify the safety of these of products. Not only that but we have research to prove people with celiac may still react to these products.
For more on gluten-removed alcohols and how they’re different from distilled alcohols, read this blog post.
In Summary...
The bottom-line: always do you due diligence in ensuring the gluten-free status of the alcohols you buy. Things like hard cider and hard seltzer sound like they’d always be gluten-free but they can contain gluten. And if you need help with determining if any alcohol is gluten-free…
If you’re recently diagnosed with celiac disease and no one helped you figure out how to identify safe gluten-free food, medications, supplements, beauty products, or alcohol yet alone how to prevent cross-contact correctly…
Check out the Celiac Crash Course. A self-paced course designed by a celiac dietitian with over 10 years lived experience with celiac to help those who need help learning how to say celiac-safe get the simple strategies they need to enjoy a gluten-free life.