Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Brew took your time..
Guinness launches alcohol-free stout after 4 years of development
GUINNESS has launched a new alcohol-free version after a fouryear quest to replicate the taste of the original black stuff.
It says Guinness 0.0 is a response to a growing consumer appetite for non-alcoholic, l ower - calorie beverages.
Th e product was developed by an innovation team based at Guinness’s brewery at St James’s Gate in Dublin.
Aisling Ryan, one of the t eam’s l ea d bre wers, sai d “hundreds and hundreds” of versions were tried until they finally landed on one they were happy with.
She added: “It’s been a long time in the
SOMETIN GOOD New drink will be available in the New Year making. We’ve been working on this for over four years now, so it’s really exciting to get to this stage and finally get it outside the gates.”
The early stages of the brewing process mirror those of standard Guinness, with the same main ingredients used – water, barley, hops and yeast. The key difference is the addition of a cold filtration stage at the end to remove the alcohol from the brew. Ms Ryan said finding a way to take it out i n a “gentle way” without using heat was crucial in maintaining the special Guinness taste.
She added: “Removing alcohol can be quite harsh and a lot of non-alcohol beers out there compromise on flavour.
It’s not easy when you take away the alcohol to be left with a beer that has the quality we deem essential at Guinness.
“We knew from the start we didn’t want to put the beer under any thermal stress or to heat treat the beer to remove the alcohol.
“We looked at a lot of different technology solutions to be able to do that and we’re really happy with the one that we landed on because t h e re’s n o compromise on the quality at the end.”
Gui n n e ss i n si st s the feedback from independent taste tests has exceeded expectations.
Five years ago, the company trialled an alcohol-free malt-based drink in I ndon esia i n response to th e introduction of stricter drink laws in the country. Guinness 0.0, which is destined for a worldwide market, is a different product created with a different recipe and process.
It will initially be rolled out in off-sales in Ireland and the UK, with draught Guinness 0.0 due to be available in pubs from the New Year.
A global launch of the product is pencilled in for next summer.
Guinness’s global brand director Grainne Wafer said the company was responding to growth in the non-alcohol beer market of around 25% per annum on the island of Ireland and 30% in Great Britain.
It’s really exciting to finally get it outside the gates AISLING RYAN YESTERDAY