Q&A with Bellfield Brewery

Now you all know we love food, gin and good beer! Next on our Q&A feature are the lovely folk from Bellfield Brewery. Not a beer we’ve tried before but to cater for all our readers we’ve featured them as they’re totally gluten-free. Here’s how they got on answering our questions.

Who are you and what do you produce?

We are Bellfield Brewery, the UK’s first dedicated gluten-free brewery based in the Abbeyhill area of Edinburgh.  We produce beer in small batches, using traditional brewing methods combined with non-traditional ingredients; the perfect combination of science and art!

How long have you been in business?

We only started selling our beers in March 2016, so we’re still very young, but we’re in the great position of already having our beers available in over 250 places across the UK.  Saying this, it’s been a lot of hard work in the run up to this point, researching and refining the recipes, including an innovation project with Heriot Watt’s International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, as well running our successful Crowd Funding Campaign which helped raise £180,000 to get the Brewery started!

What’s the story behind the product, why did you decide on beer?

We’re all massive beers lovers obviously, but our tag line ‘Born Of Grief – Brewed With Love’ comes from the fact that we were founded by Coeliacs, so we know from personal experience how the gluten-intolerant drinker has been left behind by the explosion of craft brewing in the UK. We wanted to change this and start a brewery that produced great tasting beers that are certified gluten-free and carry the ‘crossed grain’ symbol.  Our Bohemian Pilsner was a finalist in the 2016 Scottish Beer Awards ’Best Lager or Pilsner’ category, so we’re confident we’re on the right track!

How do you make the beer?

As a dedicated Gluten-Free brewery, we use our proprietary process to ensure our beers are gluten-free. We use a mixture of carefully selected traditional grains and only the finest hops for flavour and aroma.  Our beers are filtered and tested for gluten and only then do we bottle, knowing the beers can be certified gluten-free.

What makes you stand out from other similar products?

As all we make is gluten-free beer, we have a USP in the market, we rigorously test our beers and publish the results on our website. The company is founded by Coeliacs and therefore you can trust Bellfield to deliver a gluten-free, tasty beer every time. We don’t use any animal based agents, such as isinglass (often used to clarify) in our beers so our beers are also vegan and suitable for vegetarians

What’s the best way to serve Bellfield Beers? 

Chilled in one of our specially selected glasses with a lovely meal and some friends.

What food is best served with your product?

Our Bohemian Pilsner goes very well with salads, chicken and fish dishes whilst the Lawless Village IPA is especially good partnered with spicy foods.

How do you decide what flavours to make?

We are a small growing business and are trying to reach a large and varied market, therefore our flavours need to be subtle yet interesting as some of our customers will be drinking beer for the first time in years.

What’s your favourite beer you make and why?

We love the subtle honey and melon aroma and soft flavours of our Bohemian Pilsner. It’s a lovely stand alone beer but also works great with food.

Where can we buy your product? 

You can buy our beers in our our online shop, and at over 60 off licenses, bars and restaurants in Edinburgh and more across the UK.  You can see just some of these places on our stockist page.

Anything else we’ve not asked that you would like to tell us?

We have a lot of fun our social media, so come over and keep up to date with all our news and photos with our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages!  Thanks so much for inviting us on The Edinburgers!

Thanks to Anna at Bellfield Brewery for sending over the answers and pictures! We’ve got a few bottles in the fridge chilling for tomorrow night so we’ll let you know how we get on. If you give it a try, let us know!