Is Red Stripe gluten free?

Red Stripe is a barley lager, and that settles it. It is brewed from malted barley, the same grain that gives most lagers their backbone, and gluten sits in the barley protein. Unless a brewer takes a deliberate step to break that gluten down, a barley beer contains gluten. Red Stripe does not take that step, so it is not gluten free and not safe for anyone with coeliac disease.

What is actually in Red Stripe

Red Stripe is a Jamaican style lager at 4.7%, brewed in the UK under licence by Heineken. The recipe is built on malted barley, with hops, water and the usual lager adjuncts. There is no enzyme treatment, no gluten reduction, and no gluten free certification of any kind. Coeliac UK is plain on the wider point: beers, lagers, stouts and ales contain varying amounts of gluten and are not suitable for a gluten free diet. Red Stripe sits squarely in that group.

It is the same stable as several beers people ask about for the same reason. Diageo, which licenses Red Stripe, sells it alongside Guinness, Harp and Kilkenny, all standard barley beers and none of them gluten free.

How much gluten is in it

Red Stripe does not publish a tested gluten figure, so the honest answer is that the exact number is not public. What we do have is two independent home tests, and they agree. A 2014 strip test returned a very high positive above 20 parts per million. A 2022 test using an Imutest kit returned a clear positive for gluten.

Both are home kits rather than certified laboratory analyses, so treat the exact level as unconfirmed. The direction is not in doubt. Twenty parts per million is the legal ceiling for calling a beer gluten free, and Red Stripe is over it.

Is Red Stripe safe for coeliacs

No. It is a barley beer above the gluten free threshold, which is the whole of the answer for anyone with coeliac disease.

The question that comes up next is usually some version of “I drink it and I feel fine”. That feeling is real, but it is not proof of safety. For coeliacs, gluten can keep damaging the gut lining without producing an obvious reaction at the time. Absence of symptoms is not absence of gluten, and it is not absence of harm. The test results and the recipe both point the same way.

Does Red Stripe do a gluten free version

No. As of June 2026 there is no gluten free or gluten reduced Red Stripe, and no announcement of one. A few large brewers have run experimental gluten free batches of other beers, but nothing covers Red Stripe, and an experiment in a taproom is not a product on a shelf. If that changes we will update this page.

What to drink instead

If you want that clean, refreshing lager pour without the gluten, switch brand rather than waiting on Red Stripe. A few certified gluten free lagers from our directory worth trying:

• Bellfield Craft Lager, 5.20%. The closest match to Red Stripe in strength and character. Certified gluten free, crisp and easy drinking, good with jerk chicken or anything off the grill.
• Hambleton GFL, 5.20%. A dedicated gluten free lager from an established UK brewery. Listed as gluten free, though we could not confirm the full testing basis for this beer.
• Bellfield Ace Lager, 3.20%. A session strength table lager with the same clean finish, for when you want the refreshment at lower alcohol.

For more in this style, browse the full beer directory.