A Bedford-based brewer is celebrating the latest stage of world domination for his award-winning low-calorie, gluten-free beers.
Jimmy Walsh, who is originally from New Zealand but came to the UK 10 years ago, launched Lowrise Brewery after seeing the explosion in low-calorie craft beers in the Southern Hemisphere and the US.
The three co-founders developed a craft beer with 40% fewer calories than its full-fat counterparts. After initially being stocked in Waitrose, the brand is celebrating its latest listing in 206 Tesco stores, with the product going live on the Ocado website next week.
According to the website: “Lowrise is a new wave craft beer brand built for the modern drinker – great taste, zero compromise.
“We brew award-winning, low-calorie, gluten-free beers with premium New Zealand hops, delivering full flavour with a lighter feel. Beer that fits your life, not the other way around.”
Within eight months of bringing the beers to market, Waitrose had picked up the brand, and it was on tap in Brewhouse & Kitchen sites as well as independent pubs and bars in East and North London.
“It tastes just like a traditional hoppy beer,” explained Jimmy. “We go all out on flavour and the low-calorie benefits are definitely secondary to the taste.”
After living in Hackney for several years, Jimmy, his girlfriend and their Golden Retriever decided to relocate to Bedford, his girlfriend’s hometown.
“Bedford’s great; really nice people, people who actually say hello, and a great community spirit. At the recent Castle Road Jumble Trail, I gave out samples of the beer, and it was a great way to get to meet and chat to people.
“I also love Beerfly, who stock our beers in their fridges.
“I have only met one other New Zealander here so far, though.”
Jimmy says the aim is to build a sustainable, scalable business, maintaining the high quality craft beer flavour.
He’s very keen to be part of the community in his adopted home town, and said: “Going forward, we’re really looking forward to sponsoring events in Bedford and speaking to people about how we can be involved.
“We really love it here, and it would be great to make Bedford part of the Lowrise success story.”
You can buy cans of Lowrise at Beerfly on St Cuthbert’s Street and also at Waitrose and Tesco stores. Watch this space for local draught stockists…
