OVER THE

Over a BARREL

Scotland’s talented brewers are making pints more accessible thanks to their gluten-free beers

Written by Peter Ranscombe

eruse the labels of beers in your local bottle shop or scan the clippumps in your local pub and there’s one phrase that’s appearing more and more Poften – ‘gluten free’. From big players like BrewDog and Tennent’s through to international brands, it feels like every brewery is getting in on the act. Yet, as with so many emerging trends, it’s Scotland’s talented craft brewers that are leading the charge. Chief among them is Edinburgh’s Bellfi eld Brewery, the UK’s fi rst beer maker dedicated to producing only gluten-free brews. Two of the brewery’s three directors – who founded the business in 2015 – have coeliac disease, a condition in which their immune systems attack their own body tissue causing damage to their guts when they eat gluten, which is found in grains such as barley, oats, rye and wheat. While coeliacs must avoid gluten, other people are choosing to cut it out of their diets. Bellfi eld began by brewing its gluten-free beers in other breweries before opening its own premises at Meadowbank in 2019, complete with a fun taproom and beer garden. Its range has expanded from its initial Bohemian pilsner and Lawless Village India pale ale (IPA) to now include a selection of ales, lagers, and porters. While Bellfi eld’s brewing process is a closely guarded secret, I remember touring the brewery during its opening night and hearing whispers that its technique involves a slower pace than standard beer making.

‘As with so many emerging trends, it’s Scotland’s talented craft brewers who are leading the charge’

Interestingly, that slower pace is also one of the reasons why Scotland’s new generation of craft distilleries is able to produce whiskies of a high-enough quality that they can be drunk at a younger age than many of their mass-produced competitors. Slow and steady does indeed appear to win the race.

Now, pay attention – here comes the science bit. Most gluten-free beers are made using an enzyme called ‘Clarex’, which is employed primarily to clarify the beer and improve its stability and therefore shelf life, but which also has the useful trick of breaking down gluten.

Bellfi eld uses Clarex at the end of its process, but only for its clarifying properties, because the company’s own clever brewing processes are what makes its beers gluten-free. It selects paler malts with less gluten and sometimes uses non-gluten containing ingredients (NGCIs) such as maize and buckwheat, as well as favouring specifi c yeasts.

The result is beers approved by Coeliac UK after independent testing. To be labelled as ‘gluten-free’ under European Union regulations – built into UK law before Brexit – products must contain fewer than 20 parts per million (PPM) of gluten, with Bellfi eld’s brews registering fewer than 10PPM.

While Bellfi eld is setting the pace, other Scottish craft breweries are also producing gluten-free beers. Examples include Black Isle Brewery’s excellent Goldfi nch session IPA, and many of Tempest’s brews, such as Long White Cloud NZ extra pale ale, Modern Helles lager, Pale Armadillo session IPA, and Sleight of Hand alcohol-free pale ale.