Is San Miguel gluten free?

San Miguel is two beers as far as coeliacs are concerned, and the one you find on most pub taps is not the one that is safe. Standard San Miguel Especial is a normal barley lager that contains gluten and is not suitable for anyone with coeliac disease. San Miguel Especial Gluten Free is a separate, enzyme treated product that the brand describes as suitable for people with coeliac disease, tested below 10 parts per million, half the legal gluten free limit. If the front of the pack does not say Gluten Free, assume it is not.

The standard lager: not safe

San Miguel Especial, the 5% lager that turns up on most UK draught taps and supermarket shelves, is brewed from water, barley malt, corn, hops and yeast. There is no enzyme step and no gluten free claim. San Miguel’s own UK FAQ is unusually direct about this: their standard range is not suitable for gluten intolerant people. If a bottle does not specifically read Gluten Free on the front, the safer assumption is that it is the standard version.

This is the bit that catches people out in pubs more than anywhere else. A barman who knows San Miguel makes a gluten free version can quite cheerfully describe any San Miguel as gluten free, and the wrong glass arrives. The fix is the same as it always is: look at the bottle, not the tap badge.

San Miguel Especial Gluten Free: certified safe

The gluten free version is a deliberately different product. Same recipe and the same base of water, barley malt, corn, hops and yeast, brewed at 5.4% where the standard UK version is 5%, with an enzyme added at the end of the brewing process to break the gluten protein down. San Miguel test the finished beer at under 10 parts per million, comfortably under the 20 parts per million legal limit that defines a gluten free beer in the UK and EU. The pack carries the Crossed Grain symbol, the Coeliac UK Crossed Grain Trademark.

It is also one of the easier gluten free lagers to walk into a UK supermarket and pick up. Tesco, Asda and Ocado stock the 330ml bottles in 4-pack format and Amazon carries the 24-bottle case. For trade buyers, LWC and Tennents Direct distribute the same NRB format.

Like every enzyme treated barley beer, the pack still says contains barley. That is required by UK allergen law for the small number of people with a barley allergy, which is a separate condition from coeliac disease. The gluten free claim covers the coeliac threshold and the barley declaration covers the allergy. Both can be true on the same can.

What about San Miguel 0.0?

San Miguel 0.0, the alcohol free version, is not gluten free. The product page lists water, barley malt, hops, aromas and yeast, with no enzyme treatment and no gluten free claim, and the same FAQ line about the standard range not being suitable for gluten intolerant people applies to it. There is nothing on the pack pointing a coeliac in its direction.

If you want a beer that is both alcohol free and gluten free, San Miguel currently does not offer one. You have to go elsewhere.

What to drink instead

For a Spanish style gluten free lager, or for the alcohol free combination San Miguel does not cover, there are a few obvious places to go in our directory:

• Daura Lager, 5.4%. The other big Spanish enzyme treated lager, made by Damm in Barcelona and tested below 3 parts per million by CSIC. The closest like for like for San Miguel Gluten Free.
• Daura 0.0%, 0.0%. Alcohol free. Our directory data shows it tested below 20 parts per million, the legal gluten free limit. Check the current label before buying.
• Celia Organic Lager, 4.5%. A Czech organic lager, de-glutenised using a patented process and batch tested below 3 parts per million, if you want to step outside the Spanish bracket.

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