With almost 50% of the votes Warsteiner was the clear winner of the recent poll. Warsteiner is not one of my favourites and in Germany it is considered as a “ladies beer” because of it’s light and rather sweet taste. But it is on 4 in the ranking of Germany’s best selling beers so it can not only be ladies who buy this beer. It is actually better then it’s reputation and sold worldwide. I’ll give it a try more often, also because of the result of the gluten test:
Beer: Warsteiner Premium Verum
Producer: Warsteiner Brauerei Haus Cramer KG
Originating country: Germany
Brewing location: Germany
Bottle size: 0.5 l = approx. 16 Oz.
Alcohol by volume: 4.8%
Ingredients: water, barley malt, hops extract
Miscellaneous: –
Test Kit: Imutest Gluten-in-Food Kit
Test result: There is no indication of the presence of gluten. According to the instructions there should appear a clearly visible pink test spot on the left of the test area ( T ) to indicate the presence of gluten. But this test is negative. The pink spot on the right test area ( C ) is a control spot and indicates that the extract/sample is suitable, the test has been performed correctly and all reagents are active. Even though the detection limit in this kit is very low (1-2 ppm) and the test is negative please note this is not a medical advice – please see also my facts page.
ck
YOUR WONDERFUL SITE + WARSTEINER
I was thrilled to see practically negative (or completely -) gluten test results for
Warsteiner. Did you test their Dunkel also?
Also PLEASE…..in your opinion, do you think that Warsteiner is completely safe to drink
since the discovery of Legionnaires’ disease in the wastewater from the Brewery last
Sept. 2013? I cannot find any updates, or any definite resolution of the situation.
I stopped drinking Warsteiner because of this. Now I am afraid that I have been
ingesting large levels of gluten because I switched to Weihenstaphaner Hefe Weissbier,
which is excellent. I WOULD LIKE TO ‘RETURN’ TO WARSTEINER, ESPECIALLY DUNKEL.
Thanks for your wonderful web site, and I do hope you will respond, and I look forward
to hearing from you.
Regards,
ck
Steffen
Hi ck,
Thank you very much for your nice feedback. Well, I wouldn’t worry too much about the Legionella bacteria found in the sewage water near the Warsteiner brewery. I assume they control this now even stronger as they don’t want to have a PR disaster like that again. And they tested the beer which never was affected. The source is still unknown but most likely not caused by anything from the brewery.
Weissbier contains wheat and so high gluten. I would not recommend to drink wheat beer when you are a Celiac or sensitive to gluten. I haven’t tested the dark Warsteiner so far, next on my list are Canadian and some more American and German beers.
Cheers Steffen
CK
Hello again Steffen,
Once again, you have a fantastic website. Thank you so much.
Please……
Can you tell me if Warsteiner Premium Verum. uses isinglass (fish bladders) to
filter the beer? Also, they use “hops EXTRACT”… Is hops extract the same as, or aka
“chemically altered hop extract,” known as tetrahops ?
I was thrilled to see your gluten test results for this beer, but now, I am very concerned
about the isinglass and tetrahops possibly being used in this beer.
I have “tried” to get answers, but there is nobody to speak with about it.
Steffen, thanks again so very much for all you are doing.
I look forward to your very important response, because there is no one at Warsteiner to
speak with about it.
Regards,
CK
(I think that we
should be very concerned based on news article:
What’s in Your Beer? Fish Bladder and Antifreeze Ingredient?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/food-babe-petitions-beer-makers-disclose-additives/story?id=24085296
ABC News · 18 hours ago)
Steffen
Hi CK, these are some excellent questions and thanks for the interesting article. In Germany for beer exists a so called ‘purity law’. In this law German beer must only contain water, hops and barley. Well, this is also used as an marketing instrument to show that German beer is made from natural substances only. In reality any artificial ingredients (like aromas) must be declared on the label and in Germany it is frowned upon to use in beer. Mainly the big breweries use hops extract and according to law hops extract must be made from hops only and must not contain any artifical substances. I asked a local brewer and he said that hops extract is OK to use despite the fact he doesn’t. The taste with real hops is much better he explained but the usage of hops extract is not harmful.
About the fish bladders I found out that in Germany it currently must not be declared on the label when this filtration method is used. Some guy asked big breweries exactly this question and posted the results on a vegan discussion board (in German): http://www.vegetarierforum.com/threads/257-Bier-nach-dem-deutschen-Rienheitsgebot
Short summary of that: Most of the big breweries (Beck’s etc.) use diatomaceous earth to filter beer and don’t use fish bladders. Warsteiner responded very detailed on how they filter beer, they use layers of cellulose with embedded diatomaceous earth and confirmed not to use any animal content in the production.
Diatomaceous earth seems to play a big role in the filtration of the gluten proteins/peptides as well.
CK
Hello Steffen,
Thank you for your detailed response. Almost seems like The Reinheitsgebot has been manipulated to fit the particular brewery, and is “open to interpretation?”
You state:
‘Warsteiner responded very detailed on how they filter beer, they use layers of cellulose with embedded diatomaceous earth ‘
….Well, DIATOMACEOUS EARTH releases arsenic into the beer! http://eideard.com/2013/04/09/common-filtering-material-is-adding-arsenic-to-some-german-beers:
***
Technische Universität in Munich concluded that the arsenic was released into the beer from a filtering material called kieselguhr, or diatomaceous earth, used to remove yeast, hops and other particles and give the beer a crystal clear appearance.
And, you said:
I asked a local brewer and he said that hops extract is OK to use despite the fact he doesn’t. The taste with real hops is much better he explained but the usage of hops extract is not harmful…..TO ME, that says it all!
Looks like Warsteiner has the worst of both worlds!
Steffen…Please, are there ANY low gluten, diatomaceous earth free,
hops extract free beers STILL made in Germany?, and that are available here?
Steffen, thanks so much for your diligence and honesty. I have shared your
wonderful website with everyone I know. We all appreciate you very much.
I look forward to your response. Thank you.
Regards,
CK
Steffen
Hi CK, oh my god what happened to my favourite drink? The Reinheitsgebot is a joke I agree. But also wine is filtered with diatomaceous earth. The food industry is to blame, they put a lot of rubbish in our food and drinks. But regarding the diatomaceous earth I am rather relaxed. I am happy that Warsteiner has very low gluten and also the hops extract is, well, not nice but acceptable to me. I almost only drink Warsteiner since my test and so far I feel good and never experienced a gluten intolerance reaction.
In the study they say only some out of 140 samples showed critical values. Further more, “at least six other countries had higher arsenic amounts than German beers” so it’s a general issue and their suggestion is to wash diatomaceous earth before use.
Unfiltered beer has high gluten so I can’t/don’t want to drink it. I believe it is impossible to find a beer which fits all your requirements. But to drink no beer is not an option for me 😉
Keep on CK!
articooldown
Hey Steffen,
would you be able to test the Weihenstephan beer?
Steffen
Hi articooldown, I assume you mean the Weihenstephan wheat beer which is available in the US? I haven’t tested it but as it contains wheat the gluten content is much higher by nature. I tested their lager here: http://www.lowgluten.org/weihenstephaner-helles-gluten-test/
Cheers Steffen
articooldown
Thank you Steffen for the quick reply.
I do want to ask if u can test stella artois beer which they use corn and rice just like the corona beer. So im wondering if u will be able to test that out or have u already done it?
Steffen
Stella was my favourite pub beer when I used to live in the UK. But here in Germany it is not available. I may can test it when I travel next time to some West European country as there Stella is widely available. Cheers Steffen
Dan
Where do I find warsteiner in California??
Dogbite Williams
Dan, Trader Joe’s carries it. They let you buy singletons with no upcharge.