NAKEDNESS – invigorating, liberating, fun!
And we at Eden River Brew Co. guarantee that all of these life-affirming feelings have been packed into every one of our bottles of our new gluten-free, vegan beer, Naked Pale. A light, crisp and refreshing drink that everyonecan enjoy.
(Although, living in the North of England, we can’t offer solutions for paleness!)
With around 1/100 people in the UK suffering the symptoms of Coeliac disease in the UK, and an estimated 8.5 million people choosing to follow a reduced-gluten or gluten-free diet as a lifestyle choice, there is a definite and growing demand for gluten-free products.
But with two of the main ingredients of beer –barley and wheat –containing gluten, how is it possible to make a great-tasting and gluten-free real ale?
Here comes the science
(It’s okay, not too much science.)
Gluten is a protein – a composite of storage proteins that are stored together with starch and sometimes oils in the endosperm tissue of wheat, barley, rye and oats, which provides nutrition to the developing grain embryo.
In bread making, the kneading process aligns these storage proteins to give dough elasticity and bread it’s structure.
For people with the autoimmune disorder Coeliac disease, the damage caused to the small intestine makes it hard for the body to digest gluten, and it is this that results in the debilitating symptoms of severe stomach pains, bloating and vomiting.
Go gluten free – not free from beer
Whereas other breweries have experimented with using alternative grains and grasses, such as millet, rice, corn, buckwheat or sorghum, which can give the drink a slightly different taste, at Eden River we have stuck to the principles of The Reinheitsgebot, a German purity order concerning the production of beer, stating the only ingredients that can be used in production of beer are water, barley and hops. If you remove the barley it becomes a carbonated alcoholic drink, not a beer.
Instead, we stripped the gluten from our traditionally brewed Eden Pale ale using an enzyme – BREWERS CLAREX®. Originally designed for chill haze reduction, Brewers Clarex® added at the start of the fermentation process, digests the gluten from the roasted barley, breaking it down to leave a gluten-free beer made using (barley) malt with no impact on taste or quality.
Laboratory testing by Murphy & Son, using the Ridascreen Gliadin Competitive test, demonstrated Naked Pale to have a gluten content of less than 10ppm (which is below the 20ppm CODEX standard required for gluten free certification).
Consequently, in contrast to other gluten-free beers that are often described as crisp and cider-like with fruity accents, Eden River’s gluten-free Naked Pale tastes like a true Pale Ale –light, hoppy and refreshing.
As with all of our beers, we strive for perfection in taste and freshness, so you can be sure that no compromise has been made on either with our free-from choices of Naked Pale and low alcohol Fool’s Gold.