Gluten-sensitive but enjoy a good brew? This one’s for you!
Category 12 Brewing has had a recent ‘Breakthru’ on making a beer gluten-removed. This makes it the first gluten-reduced beer to be made on Vancouver Island.
The new line of beer is called Breakthru and the lineup features a pilsner, an India pale ale and a pale ale.
Category 12 say they pride themselves on finding the intersection of ‘old-world’ brewing methods and scientific ingenuity to challenge perceptions of what beer can be and the Breakthru line is just the latest evidence of that.
Brewmaster and co-founder of Category 12 Brewing, Michael Kuzyk has a doctorate in microbiology and biochemistry from UVic as well as 25 years of brewing experience that helped him develop the recipes and the process to make a gluten-removed beer he can be proud of.
“Our Breakthru beers are breaking food myths that giving up gluten comes with compromising taste and quality,” said Kuzyk.
“There is a fundamental basis of biology and chemistry with brewing that guides the fermentation process and enables the creation of consistently great-tasting beers.
While the beer is not 100% gluten-free, it is brewed using gluten, then a process is used where an enzyme is used to remove the gluten. This way there are very little amounts of gluten so people with sensitivities can safely enjoy it.
“We take this classic method one step further by exposing each batch of beer to a gluten-destructing enzyme during fermentation,” said Kuzyk.
Each Breakthru batch is tested to ensure there is less than 10 parts per million (ppm) of gluten remaining, while the world standard for a ‘gluten-avoidant’ customer is typically 20 ppm.
To ensure transparency with their customers, Category 12’s website has a page where people can enter the batch number for the Breakthru they purchased to see what the gluten analysis of that specific batch was in ppm.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoDynkNvwFn/
More about the new gluten-removed brews:
- Breakthru India Pale Ale – 6.9% alc/vol | 68 IBU: Robust and hop-forward while balanced and rich in resinous flavour. Expect to taste notes of pine and citrus with a crisp body that makes for a satisfying drinking experience
- Breakthru Pale Ale – 4.9 alc/vol | 35 IBU: Full-flavoured beer without the bitterness. In the classic pale ale floral hop complexity melds with rich malts to create a stellar drinking experience
- Breakthru Pilsner – 4.9% alc/vol | 26 IBU: Crisp and clean, this brew will quench thirst like nothing else. With high carbonation and refined malt flavour, fans of classic lagers will be impressed by its complexity and refinement
