Bellfield Brewery

Go back not too many years, and gluten-free meant compromise, whether you were drinking beer or eating cakes. Gluten-free food and drink tended to be more expensive, less tasty and was typically produced at industrial scale and lacking in any real character.

Skip forward to today though, and an Edinburgh brewery is winning major awards for its range of modern gluten-free beers; not in a special ‘free-from’ category, but up against traditional gluten-containing brews.

Bellfield was set up in 2015 by a team including two coeliacs, with the express purpose of making exceptional beers that just happen to be gluten-free.

“There was nothing on the market that we enjoyed drinking at the time,” says Bellfield’s Giselle Dye. “We didn’t want a beer only coeliacs could drink – we wanted a great-tasting craft beer for everyone to enjoy.

They launched their first two beers - Lawless Village IPA and Bohemian Pilsner - in spring 2016.

Bellfield’s beers are gluten-free and now also registered with the Vegan Society, so they’re suitable for coeliacs, gluten avoiders (around 2 in 10 of the population now actively avoid gluten) and vegans, one of the UK’s fastest growing food trends.

“We make our beer using traditional methods. Unlike many other gluten-free beers, we produce our beers naturally. We take testing and analysis very seriously and I think the time we take over our beers, is also part of the reason they taste so good.”

Bellfield’s precise process for naturally removing the gluten from its brew is something of a secret, as it took head brewer Kieran more than a year to perfect.

Research and development continues to be hugely important to Bellfield, which has an ongoing relationship with Heriot-Watt University’s world-renowned brewing and distilling programme. Bellfield also works closely on its recipe development and quality control with David Smith (Brewing Services Limited) the Master Brewer who is a consultant to the business.

“Last year we experimented with gluten-free barley developed by the Australian Crop Research Institute, and we’ll continue to experiment with grains like buckwheat, rice and maize” Giselle continues.

In the meantime though, Bellfield’s strategy seems to be working. Over the past year, it has picked up two country awards in the World Beer Awards and The Independent ranked its IPA in the top ten IPAs in the UK.

The brewery is now pushing beyond its home market in the central belt of Scotland, working with distribution partners to reach London and elsewhere. Bellfield now has UK wide coverage from all the major distributors and wholesalers, including Bidfood, Matthew Clark, Pigs Ear, Amathus, Inverarity Morton, Pivovar and online beer shops.

This month Bellfield beers go onto the free-from shelves in Morrisons and the brewery also hopes to start exporting to Canada and the Nordic countries this year.

Giselle reports Bellfield beers have enjoyed strong demand from bottle shops, delis, bars and especially food-led outlets which are now very conscious of diners with dietary requirements. “Bellfield is now also offering its beer on tap, mostly on home ground in Edinburgh pubs; it ticks a number of boxes for anyone looking for a beer to offer customers that’s tasty, gluten-free, vegan and award winning.

Bellfield continues to expand within its Edinburgh home and has plans to build a tasting or taproom on-site, as well as playing host to pop-up markets involving other local businesses. So, if its distinctive bottles and taps haven’t yet reached your local, keep an eye out: these are great beers, regardless of whether you are coeliac, vegan or just someone that enjoys a tasty pint.