Brewery exports gluten-free beer

A Suffolk brewery has started to export its new gluten-free beer to markets worldwide.Bosses at St Peter's Brewery, near Bungay, who produced the new St Peter's G-Free bottled beer, are optimistic of good sales after a good response during trials across the UK.

A Suffolk brewery has started to export its new gluten-free beer to markets worldwide.

Bosses at St Peter's Brewery, near Bungay, who produced the new St Peter's G-Free bottled beer, are optimistic of good sales after a good response during trials across the UK.

Now the beer is being launched on the international market, and the first shipments left last week for export to the US and eight European countries, including Italy and Sweden. The brewery's managing director, Colin Cordy, said the beer, which has an AVB of 4.2pc, had proved popular during testing.

'When we decided to brew a gluten-free beer, we set ourselves the challenge to produce a beer which was every bit as good as our normal award-winning range of ales and beers,' he said. 'To give the beer its own character we selected American- grown Amarillo hops and these give the beer a citrus and mandarin aroma.'

He added: 'The beer is clean and crisp with a pilsner style lager finish. We have had many positive comments about G-Free, ranging from industry experts to consumers with coeliac disease, including many who had previously given up hope of drinking beer again since being diagnosed.'

He said the secret was that the beer was brewed using the cereal crop sorghum instead of wheat, making it suitable for people with gluten allergies.

It will be available from internet retailer Ocado from late March, indepenedent stores and www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk