Is Bud Light Gluten-free?

Find out if your favorite brand of light beer, Bud Light, is safe for a gluten-free diet. Plus which varieties and flavors you can enjoy that are gluten-free.

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If you like beer, you’ve probably heard of Bud Light. It can be found just about anywhere in bars and restaurants that serve Budweiser beer.

This light beer is considered a light lager by the Bud Light brand and also comes in other varieties and flavors, like a zero carb option, citrus flavors, and even has a brand of hard seltzers for folks who prefer that over beer.

If you’ve been a Bud Light fan for a while and are trying to decide if this drink is still a good option for you if you’re starting a gluten-free diet, you’re in the right place.

Find out in this post what Bud Light is as well as some of the basics about this brand, what products Bud Light makes, what gluten is and if beer is considered gluten-free, and find out if Bud Light is safe to drink on a gluten-free diet.

We’ll also go over any flavors and varieties of Bud Light that you can safely enjoy on your gluten-free diet the next time you’re at the store, bar, or restaurant and choosing a drink.

This post is part of the Gluten-free Alcohol Series, where we’re going to discuss different types of alcoholic drinks and how they fit into a gluten-free diet.

What is Bud Light?

Bud Light is a brand of light beers and alcoholic beverages that have lower alcohol content, lower calories, and lower sugar options than Budweiser beer brand.

The main selling point of Bud Light is that it’s a “healthier” alternative to Budweiser, its big brother in the beer world.

Bud Light offers a variety of different drinks, including light beers and hard seltzers in a number of flavors, which we’ll get to a little farther down in the post.

Read on: Is Budweiser gluten-free?

Who is the manufacturer of Bud Light?

The Bud Light brand of beer is manufactured by the Anheuser-Busch company. Its headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri.

Anheuser-Busch has gone through many different versions of its company through mergers and acquisitions of smaller brands, but is the parent company of Budweiser, Bud Light, and many other popular brands of beer.

What products does Bud Light make?

Bud Light has a number of different flavors, varieties, and isn’t just beer anymore – but they also make hard seltzers.

Here is the current lineup of products and flavors that the Bud Light brand produces.

Bud Light
Bud Light NEXT
Bud Light Peels
- Lemonade
- Orange
- Lime
Bud Light Chelada
- Original
- Extra Lime
- Mango
- Fuego
Bud Light Platinum
Bud Light Seltzer
Bud Light Platinum Seltzer
- Wild Berry
- Citrus
- Blood Orange
Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda
- Classic Cola
- Cherry Cola
- Orange Soda
- Citrus Soda
Bud Light Seltzer Retro Tiedye
- Cherry Limeade
- Blue Raspberry
- Twisted Berry
Bud Light Seltzer Cocktail Hour
- Watermelon Mojito
- Lime Margarita
- Tropical Punch
- Strawberry Daiquiri

What is gluten?

Gluten is a protein found in most wheat products, and acts as the “glue” that helps to hold wheat, barley, kamut, spelt, farro, durum, bulgur, rye, and semolina together to maintain their shape.

Gluten is naturally occurring, and therefore is impossible to strip away from the grain. If a grain naturally has gluten in it, there’s no way to make that food gluten-free.

Some beer manufacturers offer a “gluten-removed” option for beer, but folks in the gluten-free community don’t all agree these beers are truly “gluten-free’ and safe to consume on a gluten-free diet.

Is beer gluten-free?

Most all beer contains gluten from the malted barley or wheat used during the beer-making process. Both barley and wheat are gluten-containing grains.

In the process of making beer, the gluten remains in the drink, as opposed to distilled drinks, such as whiskey that uses malted barley but the gluten is distilled out of the final product.

According to Healthline, different types of beer generally contain differing levels of gluten:

Lager: 63 ppm
Stout: 361 ppm
Ales: 3,120 ppm
Wheat beer: 25,920 ppm

This means that lagers have less gluten content than wheat beers, however both contain gluten. If you’re on a gluten-free diet, you’ll want to avoid all conventionally made beers.

Read on: Does beer have gluten?

What are the ingredients in Bud Light?

According to the Bud Light website, these are the ingredients in their classic flavor of Bud Light:

“Hops, barley, water, and rice.”

Other flavors and varieties of Bud Light will likely have other ingredients, but these are the staple ingredients of most Bud Light beer.

Bud Light is Budweiser’s “light” beer.

It comes in different flavors and options just like normal Budweiser. Bud Light, Bud Light Platinum, Bud Light Peels, and Bud Light Chelada all contain gluten in the form of barley. These should be avoided on a gluten-free diet.

All the light beer options from Bud Light are considered not safe for a gluten-free diet, as they contain barley as a main ingredient.

Bud Light seltzers are gluten-free as the alcohol used in these beverages are derived from sugar, not a wheat or gluten-containing grain.

If you love beer and are looking for an option to enjoy, choose a different brand from my gluten-free beer list to satisfy your beer needs.

What varieties of Bud Light are gluten-free?

None of the light beer options of Bud Light are gluten-free, and should be avoided on a gluten-free diet.

That said, all their seltzer options are gluten-free. You can choose from any of the following flavors and varieties of Bud Light seltzers and feel good about sticking with your gluten-free diet.

Bud Light Seltzer
Bud Light Platinum Seltzer
- Wild Berry
- Citrus
- Blood Orange
Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda
- Classic Cola
- Cherry Cola
- Orange Soda
- Citrus Soda
Bud Light Seltzer Retro Tiedye
- Cherry Limeade
- Blue Raspberry
- Twisted Berry
Bud Light Seltzer Cocktail Hour
- Watermelon Mojito
- Lime Margarita
- Tropical Punch
- Strawberry Daiquiri

Is Bud Light Next gluten-free?

Bud Light Next is made with malted barley and rice, according to the brand’s website. Since malted barley contains gluten, this drink is not considered gluten-free.

Opt for a different light beer that is made using gluten-free grains.

Is Bud Light Lime gluten-free?

Bud Light Lime is considered a light lager, meaning it contains gluten from the barley that Budweiser uses in all their beer products.

Avoid this option, but consider swapping for a Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade instead as these are gluten-free.

Is Bud Light Lemonade gluten-free?

Bud Light Lemonade from the Peels line is not considered gluten-free and contains barley.

However, their Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade is considered gluten-free by the Budweiser brand, so choose this option if you enjoy hard seltzers.

Are Bud Light Seltzers gluten-free?

Bud Light Seltzers are considered gluten-free by the brand. On their website, they list some of their varieties as gluten-free while others don’t call this out.

However, when researching this post, I was able to find that many retailers, like Safeway, Target, and Walmart have them listed as gluten-free.

Bud Light Seltzers come in different flavors and varieties. Here are the different types of seltzers that Bud Light makes and you may find at stores, bars, and restaurants.

Bud Light Seltzer Classic
Bud Light Platinum Seltzer
Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda
Bud Light Seltzer Retro Tiedye
Bud Light Seltzer Cocktail Hour

Read on: Are Bud Light Seltzers gluten-free?

If you’re a fan of Bud Light and have been wondering if this beer is safe to continue drinking while moving to a gluten-free diet, I hope this post has helped give you the information you’ve been looking for.

While Bud Light beer is not gluten-free, the brand does offer some gluten-free options in their seltzers.

There are plenty of other gluten-free beer brands available, so you don’t have to live without beer – just the gluten in many mainstream brands!

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