Is Carlsberg gluten free?

Carlsberg is a barley beer, which is the short answer, and as a coeliac it was one of the first pints I had to give up. Carlsberg Danish Pilsner is brewed with malted barley alongside rice, hops and water, and barley is a gluten grain. Carlsberg’s own FAQ confirms the beer is not gluten free, and Coeliac UK lists beers, lagers and ales as not suitable for a gluten free diet unless the brewer has put them through a specific gluten removal step. Carlsberg has not done that.

What is actually in the can

The Carlsberg recipe is built on malted barley, with rice in the mash as an adjunct that lightens the body. The malted barley is the gluten source. There is no enzyme treatment, no deliberate gluten reduction, and no gluten free certification on any beer in the mainstream Carlsberg range, including the Unfiltered, the 1883, the Special Brew, the Elephant and the 0.0 alcohol free version. The packaging carries the standard cereals containing barley allergen declaration, which is the most reliable thing you can read off a label. If it says contains barley, the beer contains gluten.

The 0.0 trips a lot of people up. Alcohol free does not mean gluten free, and the two have nothing to do with each other. Carlsberg 0.0 is brewed with the same grain bill and ends up in the same place: barley in, gluten in the finished beer.

The low ppm test result trap

There is a thread of older content online claiming Carlsberg tests below 20 parts per million, the legal threshold for a gluten free label in the UK and EU. A few home test kits and independent labs have reported low results over the years. None of this makes Carlsberg safe for coeliacs.

Three things are going on. First, there is no deliberate gluten removal process at Carlsberg, so any low reading is a side effect of fermentation rather than a controlled outcome. Second, results vary by brewery, batch, packaging and test method. The same brand brewed in Denmark, the UK and Australia can give different numbers, and coeliacs in those countries have reported very different experiences. Third, the standard test used on beer is known to miss small fragments of gluten that have been broken down by yeast but are still capable of triggering coeliac symptoms. A negative on the lab readout is not always a negative in the gut.

The position that matters is the brewer’s. Carlsberg does not market Carlsberg as gluten free, and Coeliac UK does not classify standard barley lagers as suitable for a gluten free diet. The home test screenshots online do not change either of those.

The Carlsberg that is gluten free: Celia Organic

The Carlsberg Group does own one gluten free labelled beer. Celia Organic is a Czech lager brewed at Žatecký pivovar, a brewery the group acquired a majority stake in during 2014. It is brewed from barley like any other lager, then put through a patented process that uses an enzyme during cold conditioning to bond with the gluten, followed by a fine filtration step that strips it out. Independent batch testing puts the finished beer below 3 parts per million, well under the 20ppm legal threshold.

It is the same parent company, a completely different proposition for a coeliac. Celia Organic is 4.5%, crisp, hopped with Saaz, and easy to find in UK retail. You can read more on Celia Organic Lager in our directory.

What to drink instead

If you want that clean, cold lager hit without the gluten, the easiest swaps from the directory are:

• Celia Organic Lager, 4.5%. The Carlsberg family answer. A Czech Pilsner brewed from barley and deglutenised below 3ppm. The closest thing to standard Carlsberg you can drink as a coeliac.
• Daura Damm Lager, 5.4%. Spain’s mainstream gluten reduced lager, barley based and tested below 3ppm. Probably the most stocked gluten free lager in UK supermarkets.
• Bellfield Craft Lager, 5.2%. Edinburgh brewed, Coeliac UK certified, and the closest UK option to a standard pale lager.

For more in this category, see our guide to gluten free lagers, or browse the full beer directory.