For the past 5 or so years I have been drinking Coors Light, under the impression that it might have less than 10ppm gluten. It was after reading a blog (GlutenInBeer), whose assay showed it to have less than 10ppm gluten1, that I decided to start drinking it. Since I am gluten sensitive and not celiac (HLA-DQ2/8 negative), this was enough evidence for me to enjoy the beer without worrying. I even convinced myself the the “cold-filtration” instead of pasteurization done with other light beers, was the reason the gluten may be low. To further my loyalty to the supposedly low gluten Coors Light, I even visited the brewery in Golden, Colorado. Bummer that the tour guide looked at me crazily when I inquired about the cold filtration systems!
Anyways, at some point I decided run my own test on Coors Light using EZ Gluten. The results surprised me…
Positive (>10ppm)! I thought this couldn’t be right! So, I tested again and got the same results. Still trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing, I did one more test, this time with a new 6 pack of Coors while also including a control of Truly hard seltzer. HIGH POSITIVE once again for Coors, while Truly was flat negative. If I were to make a guess from the strip, i’d estimate maybe it’s 30-60ppm gluten.
After looking more into it, I believe the other blog’s negative result was false, their test strip is faint and may actually be showing a positive result. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.
Update September 2022: I’ve ran one more test on Coors Light, and once again the result was positive. Still seems to be in the 30-60ppm range.
Bottom Line: Coors Light seems to have gluten levels in the range of 30-60ppm and should be avoided by those with Celiac Disease or anyone on a Gluten Free Diet.
January 2022 Results (30-60ppm)
September 2022 Result (30-60ppm)
I believe the other blog’s negative result was false, their test strip is faint and may actually be showing a positive result. Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.
Enjoy some more pics from my trip to Colorado!
References