Our First Gluten Free Beer

We have always thought there was something special about Little Swine.  Not only does this 2.8% pale ale punch above its weight in the flavour stakes, it’s also gluten free.

Little Swine may have started out life as a lower alcohol beer, but when we suggested adding a gluten free beer to our range, it got Head Brewer, Miles, thinking. 

Brewing a good lower alcohol beer without losing the all-important flavour, is notoriously difficult.  But Little Swine has lots of hops added at the end in the boil and dry hopped for flavour.  It is also brewed with less malted barley and wheat in the mash tun.  In fact - all the attributes you want for a gluten free beer!  So while Miles is limiting the sugars and therefore the alcohol for the lower alcohol, unbeknown to him, he is also brewing a naturally low in gluten beer.

Samples of Little Swine were duly sent off to an independent laboratory for testing.  Much to the satisfaction of Miles, it turns out that Little Swine is gluten free.  That’s official.  Although it is brewed with malted barley and wheat, both of which contain gluten, Little Swine meets the “gluten free” criteria.

We’ll soon be updating the Little Swine label to carry the certified “gluten free” claim, the first of our beers to do so. Watch out for the new labels, coming soon.

Little Swine, our dry-hopped pale ale, packed with tropical aroma and a robust hop finish, is available in 330ml bottles from the Brewery Shop, online store and the Brewery Tap.

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