A Coeliac since 1988 Derek Green had become accustomed to his gluten free diet, but still longed for a nice cool glass of beer. For the Coeliac beer was out of the question, it was one of those products that was on the banned list as it was made from barley and wheat. Compromises could be made with the choice of gluten free food, but when it came to beer there was no such compromise; there was no gluten free beer. So in 2002 having retired from his textile business in Yorkshire, Derek decided he was going to do something about it.

So began a long process of discussions, meetings, trials, false hopes and dead end trails. Breweries did not want to know about production that did not exist and one that could not be quantified.

The breakthrough came in late 2003 when he met an eminent Belgian professor of brewing who by coincidence has a daughter with Coeliac disease and there began a relationship with the mutual goal of providing a gluten and wheat free beer. Trials went better than anticipated and in May 2004 Derek Green launched the UK’s first ever gluten free beer named not surprisingly Discovery.

Derek then tried hard to fulfil his objective of providing choice to the Coeliacs. In 2008 the Professor established a means of extracting safely and consistently gluten from conventional beers brewed with malt. This created the opportunity to provide wider choice and Greens Premium Pils and Golden Ale were launched the same year, and later Export Lite. These beers continue to be brewed by Belgian craft brewers to this day and they all have European Accreditation to be called gluten free, meaning a safe beer for Coeliacs (tested at less than 5 ppm). They are also suitable for vegetarians and vegans, meaning no animal bi products are used during the brewing process. Low in calories too, the Export Lite is less than 100 calories per bottle. Are these the ultimate virtuous beer?!

 Green's Beer is distributed by Attard & Co. (Foodstuffs) Ltd. Tel:  2123 7555