Is soju gluten free? Our guide for coeliacs

As any celiac will know, it’s vital to check whether anything you’re about to consume contains gluten. If you’re a celiac, you know that finding a drink that doesn’t contain gluten can be difficult. This particularly applies to alcohol, which is why we wanted to write this article. Although soju is popular in Korea, it’s a lot less common in other countries. This means your bartender, or the people you’re drinking with, may not know whether soju is OK for you to drink. But fear not! Do you want to know if soju is gluten free? We have the answer – just read on to find out more.

Is soju gluten free?

Most brands and varieties of soju are gluten free. Why? Generally speaking, most brands of soju are made using cheap base materials, like rice or sweet potato. 

In particular, this applies to the most popular brands like Jinro and Lotte Chum Churum. This is because these brands have mass market appeal. This means they are manufactured more cheaply to keep costs down for the consumer.

Besides, the alcohol is distilled down from these ingredients during the manufacturing process. Anything that is likely to cause gluten intolerance is diluted during production.

Barley has historically been used in the production of soju during rice shortages. This practice persists today. This production process means that – even if the distillery uses barley – it is unlikely to affect you. Though it might if you are particularly sensitive to low amounts of gluten.

I hate to say it though but, like so many things in life – it depends. It’s always worth checking the label to see the ingredients. Often, this will tell you what base the alcohol has been distilled from.

Of course, checking the ingredients will be second nature to most coeliacs. You might also struggle if you don’t have a Korean friend to translate! But, as always, it’s worth doing if you are particularly sensitive to gluten.

To save you the trouble, we can tell you about some brands you should avoid – and some you can rely on.

Are there any brands coeliacs should avoid?

The base alcohol in Jinro Chamisul soju is distilled from barley and sweet potatoes. Because it contains barley, we’d recommend you might want to avoid this brand if you’re particularly sensitive. Unfortunately, as it’s Korea’s best selling soju, this might be easier said than done.

Various additives and flavourings may also contain gluten, as the American National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases notes. This is due to the grains that are used to produce them.

As always, we recommend you check the label. Look if there are any additives or flavourings you know that you are particularly sensitive to.

In particular, you may want to check the label of any flavored soju that you’re thinking of trying. But why is that?

Flavored soju almost always makes use of flavorings. They’re used to enhance the particular flavor that they’re trying to achieve. As well as this, E numbers are often used.

We haven’t found any brands that clearly use grain-based additives. As a rule though, the cheaper the brand, the more likely it is that they will use artificial – rather than natural – flavorings.

We can’t say with any certainty that these flavorings will cause celiacs an issue, but please do be cautious. If you know you’re especially allergic to a particular flavoring, watch out. It’s probably best to be on the safe side and steer clear of that flavor of soju.

What brands of gluten free soju should celiacs buy?

Being celiac can be an expensive business. We’ve all been there in the supermarket aisles. Gluten free products are often more expensive than their glutenous counterparts.

I’m afraid that, when it comes to soju, much the same applies. More expensive brands of soju like Andong or Hwayo use a more traditional distillation process. As part of this, they stick to rice as the base ingredient for their alcohol.

Likewise, as these brands aim for a purer taste, they also don’t add stabilisers and additives to the drink. As we know from the above, these can sometimes be an issue.

This means that you can be certain these varieties are gluten free. This isn’t always the case, as we’ve seen with some of the cheaper, and thus more popular, brands on the market.

What about other dietary requirements?

Are you Muslim? We’ve written an article for you: just follow this link to find out whether soju is halal or haram.

We’ve also looked into whether soju is kosher or not, for those that follow the Jewish faith. If you want to know more, you can find out by clicking this link: Is soju kosher?

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you are a celiac and on your travels, you may be worried about drinking soju. When you go to Korea, and you’re trying it for the first time, you don’t want to trigger your celiac disease.

Fear not, though, as it is easy to get a hang of. We want to make sure you can enjoy it, and only suffer a hangover, not digestive problems!

To start, make sure to look out for the legal labeling on the bottle, as you would with other foods. Unless you suffer with an acute gluten intolerance, most soju is likely to be OK to drink.

But if in doubt once you’ve read the label, try and stick to brands that use more traditional methods. They base their drink on rice. This means they eschew more modern methods which sometimes incorporate barley.

Frequently asked questions

We’ve rounded up below some of the questions we’re most frequently asked about the most famous brands of soju, and whether they’re gluten free.