Brass castle brewer, Sam Teale, and marketing manager, Amy Pulling, with cans of Bad Kitty and Sunshine IPA
Yorkshire-based Brass Castle Brewery has moved to full gluten-free production and plans to expand its laboratory capability so it can certify every batch of its beer in-house.
The company made the announcement as two of its canned beers, Sunshine IPA and Bad Kitty vanilla porter, were shortlisted in the national FreeFrom Food Awards, which recognise excellence by free-from producers across the food and drink sector.
Brass Castle founder, Phil Saltonstall, has always sought to make the beers suitable for as many drinkers as possible, using vegan-friendly brewing methods ever since the brewery opened in 2011.
The company’s canned beers were already gluten-free, and in December the brewery moved to completely gluten-free brewing of all beers in cask, keg and can.
Phil said: “At Brass Castle we are really proud of our beers and of our brewers’ fantastic recipes, and we don’t want any beer drinkers to have to miss out. We’re delighted to have been able to switch to complete gluten-free production without impacting upon the signature flavours.
“By bringing our gluten testing in-house, we will be able to give drinkers absolute assurance, every time they buy one of our beers, that it is gluten-free — and we can do so without having to pass on any significant extra cost to the bars and pubs we work with.”
Gluten testing is required for every batch of beer produced, and third-party laboratory work can cost breweries thousands of pounds a year. For a run of 5,000 canned beers, the cost equates to only about 3p per can. However for a typical run of 44 casks of ale, it can add around £2.50 to the cost of a cask, potentially dissuading publicans who often operate to very tight margins.
At the moment, Brass Castle has its cans of Sunshine IPA, Bad Kitty porter, Helles Lager and Hoptical Illusion pale ale certified through Brewlab in Sunderland, but it plans to invest £200,000 in laboratory equipment and a canning production line at its brewery in Malton within the next six months, enabling Brass Castle to put more of its beers in cans and also to certify each batch of cask, keg or canned beer itself.
Awards
Brass Castle has won a string of awards for its beers and business practices since its formation in 2011 and the gluten-free beers have continued to win awards since the recipe changes. Bad Kitty was named runner-up beer of the festival from a field of more than 400 beers at the Manchester CAMRA festival in January, then champion beer at the Liverpool St George’s Hall Winter Beer Festival the following week.
The canned versions of Sunshine IPA and Bad Kitty are up against 15 other beers in the drinks category of the 11th FreeFrom Food Awards, with the winners to be revealed in London on April 17.
Increasing numbers of food and drink producers, including brewers, are seeking to cater for gluten-free customers, and FreeFrom awards director Michelle Berriedale-Johnson said judges had been amazed by the range and quality of the entries.
Brass Castle has managed to make its beers gluten free by using tiny amounts of a vegan-friendly protease enzyme. Only 45ml is needed per 2,000 litres of beer produced, equivalent to one teaspoonful for every 400 pints.
Phil said: “One way of making beer gluten free is to avoid barley or wheat, and to use ingredients such as maize, oats or sorghum instead. We and other breweries have done that at times, but for many drinkers the barley and wheat character are integral to beer.
“We have done a lot of research and came across this enzyme. Some breweries use it to reduce protein haze, but a lovely side-effect is a reduction in dissolved gluten.
“We’re delighted to have been shortlisted in the FreeFrom awards, alongside some other excellent breweries, who are also demonstrating that gluten-free beers can be just as delicious as regular beers.
“We knew there didn’t have to be a flavour penalty in making the switch to gluten free, but we’re still surprised that not one Brass Castle drinker seems to have noticed a difference. It’s possible that our beers have just got even better.”
