Food and Drink

Beer of the Week: Brick Brewery Peckham Helles

Introduced to the Brick Brewery core ‘Foundation’ range earlier this year, Peckham Helles is a gluten-free Helles lager.

Joining the south-east London brewery’s solid line-up (with a particularly notable flair for exceptional sour beers), Peckham Helles is Brick Brewery’s first gluten reduced/free classified beer, using newly developed enzymes to remove unwanted gluten, without the use of non-traditional brewing grains such as sorghum or maize. Fermented, conditioned slowly, and filtered for crystal clarity, the beer has been specifically designed “simply for drinking, not thinking”.

“It’s fair to say that we’ve taken our time over this,” says Brick Brewery founder Ian Stewart, on the launch of Peckham Helles. “We’ve wanted to do it for a long time but we don’t mess around when it comes to quality and flavour so it really mattered that we got it right. Technically, we’re very proud of the result but the proof is always in the customer feedback – so far, so good on that front! Brick is all about being inclusive and offering something for all beer tastes and all beer moments, Peckham Helles really helps us live that philosophy in real time and gives us another very strong string to our bow.”

“We’re really seeing a change in how customers approach beer both in the on- and off-trade,” adds Ian. “It’s really important to be agile enough to be relevant and offer choice. We’re hoping our Helles will be a hit with the trade where there’s been a significant rise in the need for decent gluten-free beers that stand up to their gluten contemporaries. As we move into 2020, where consumers are increasingly aware of what they want – we have an exciting few months ahead for our Helles I think!”

Brewed with German Pilsner malt and Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops, Peckham Helles is Brick Brewery’s take on a classic Bavarian Helles lager. With a straw yellow complexion, light malt aromas are joined by some white bread and fruity yeast esters. Pleasant malt notes continue on the palate, joined by some herbal spice notes and soft/moderate bitterness which lingers on the crisp finish with further malt savours. Light-medium bodied, clean, and refreshing – Peckham Helles is an impressive new addition to the Brick Brewery family.

Peckham Helles is available to order from Brick Brewery’s website. £2.10, 330ml can.

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Jon Hatchman

Jonathan is Food Editor for The London Economic. Jonathan has run and contributed towards a number of blogs, and has written features for publications such as Eater London, The Guardian, i News, The Independent, GQ, Time Out London and more.

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