There’s been something special about Burton upon Trent and beer that stretches back centuries and if the present climate is seeing breweries closing, Burton is showing signs of bucking that trend with certainly two and possibly three companies either actively searching for premises in or planning to move to the town in the near future. When picking Burton as a base, it’s not just a case of “opening a brewery”, they are choosing to add another page to the town’s unique history that has seen over 100 commercial endeavours in the last 300 odd years.
One of these hopefuls is G3 Brewery who launched their first beer at Brews of the World last weekend, it is the passion of Daryl Hollier.
“I was born in Burton Hospital and I’m still here!” says the proud Burtonian. “As far back as I can remember I’ve known Burton is a brewing town, I’ve always been very interested in the town’s heritage. Up until now I have only ever been a passionate homebrewer.”
This changed when Daryl bumped into an old friend George, fittingly in Brews of the World, and they got talking: “We both use to be drummers of local bands in Burton. George is the owner and brewer at Bluntrock in Padstow, and we spoke about my brewery plans and decided to do a collab for my first beer. I went down to Bluntrock for the brew day with George and six weeks later here we are launching G3 with an event at Brews of the World, along with a Bluntrock tap takeover and live music from local band Dirty Bomb.”
The first G3 beer is Spacetime and is described as a 5.6% New Zealand hazy craft beer but with one big difference, it is Gluten Free.
“Around ten years ago I started to develop Gluten Intolerance, which was a bummer as I’m a beer enthusiast,” confesses Daryl. Finding there was very little choice for Craft Beer he has decided to make it his mission to change that. ”I’d usually have to settle for a cider when drinking out although things have improved recently and you’re starting to see more Gluten Free beers around. Even still statistics show that only one third of pubs offer Gluten Free beer and they’re usually lagers.”
With millions of people on the UK alone living with Gluten Intolerance, it is an important issue, particularly for those who are undiagnosed.
“With intolerances it’s usually a quantity thing, I can usually get away with one normal beer without getting too many symptoms, these can vary from person to person: some minor, like bloating, indigestion, and fatigue but can also be more severe, similar to food poisoning!”
The brewing process for Gluten Free beers has improved in recent years, as Daryl explains: “It was nearly always brewed with grain alternatives, like sorghum syrup. In recent years, it has become possible to brew using the standard all-grain methods but strip the gluten out of the beer at the end of the process. This has drastically improved Gluten Free beers, making them almost indistinguishable.”
Spacetime has been brewed with all the grain you would get in a standard beer and then had the gluten removed during the brewing process.
“It isn’t easy to find good Gluten Free craft beer. I plan on changing this by bringing hoppy and hazy Gluten Free craft beer to the market with no compromises on taste and quality.”
Anyone who drank Spacetime at Brews of the World would have been hard pressed to differentiate it from the other Hazy IPA Craft Beers on sale, so mission accomplished!
G3 will continue as a Cuckoo brewery for the time being, but there are plans to find a permanent home: “For the next beer I’m looking at either a Pale Ale or a West Coast IPA, I’m starting with collaborations and contracting, but the goal is to open my own brewery in Burton when the time is right.”
Spacetime is available in keg and you can buy cans from the web site www.g3brewery.com
