Water, malt, hops, and yeast alone aren't enough when it comes to crafting the world's finest beers. The best beers are showcases of the brewmaster's artistry, where unwavering quality, expertise, top-notch ingredients, and excellent brewing equipment converge. At the Fat Lizard brewery, we only brew beers that we want to drink ourselves – a lot. Our beers are our interpretations of various styles, but they all share both easy drinkability and a flawless, clear flavor profile.
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Over 90% of our beer's ingredients are of Finnish origin, and all our beers are handcrafted in Espoo. We deliver the beer fresh directly from the brewery because the hop aromas and nuances are at their best in fresh beer. Additionally, we always store the finished beer in cold conditions to preserve the hop aromas for as long as possible.
GLUTEN FREE BEER?
BEING GLUTEN FREE IS NO COMPROMISE
For us, great beer always takes precedence, and we don't compromise on taste or quality. We want everyone to enjoy our drinks regardless of allergies. We used to assume that brewing gluten-free beer would lead to compromises, until we tested a batch. It turned out that most of our beers are inherently gluten-free. After fine-tuning the production process, we can now make excellent, easy-drinking gluten-free beers.
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The drinking safety of our beer is analyzed by Net-Foodlab Oy in Turku and The National Center for Laboratory Research and Risk Assessment (LABRIS) in Tallinn. Alcohol safety is ensured by Põhjala Lab Services in Tallinn.
WHAT IS GLUTEN IN BEER?
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Naturally gluten-free grains include, for example, buckwheat, millet, rice, corn, broomcorn, and oats. However, the primary ingredient in traditional Western beer is barley, which contains gluten. Other grains can be added to beer, but barley always needs to play the leading role because it contains a significant amount of enzymatic activity. These enzymes can break down the starches in malted barley into sugars, which yeast uses to create beer from the wort.
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Beer is crafted by the brewer, and yeast transforms it into beer. Other grains have weak enzymatic properties for this purpose and may not necessarily be hulled grains. Hull-less grains can pose problems during beer production processes, such as mashing, filtering, and rinsing.
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Many other grains also require separate heat treatment before use to make them easier to handle.
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Naturally gluten-free beers are also very different in taste and mouthfeel compared to traditional beer. To make what's called "regular" beer gluten-free, it is necessary to use a prolyl endoprotease enzyme.
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In this case, the beer is not naturally gluten-free, nor is it entirely gluten-free; its gluten content is below 20 mg per kilogram, which is the limit required by the EU food regulation (for comparison, regular bread contains 120,000 mg of gluten per kilogram). However, the daily recommendation for those with gluten allergies is still two 0.33-liter cans of beer, even if they have a gluten-free label.
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The enzyme can break down all known immunogenic gluten epitopes in beer. Epitopes are parts of an antigen associated with the human immune system. The antigen becomes harmless when the epitopes are broken down, as it no longer interacts with the immune system. The amino acid chain of the gluten protein is broken down into small peptides.
You can recognize our gluten free beers by this icon:
YES WE CAN
Our beers are packed in aluminum cans because they are durable, sustainable and lighter than glass bottles. Also the UV-radiation cannot spoil the beer. For the restaurant packaging we use 20 liter KeyKeg®-packages.
