St Austell Brewery moves into low & no-alcohol with Proper Job 0.5% launch

St Austell Brewery is to introduce a low-alcohol version of its flagship Proper Job ale.

Bottles of Proper Job 0.5% are to roll out initially via DTC and the on-trade from 10 October (rsp: £24.50/12x500ml).

It is the first launch into a new category for the Cornish brewer since it entered lager with Korev in 2010.

The low-alcohol version of Proper Job had taken two years and several incarnations to develop, said Georgina Young, brewing director at St Austell Brewery.

It was made by brewing to an abv of 0.5% rather than de-alcoholising a full-strength beer, Young explained. This resulted in an alcohol-free ale full of “big, vivid flavours”.

“It’s what you call a restricted fermentation,” she said. “But we’re keeping as much of the flavour and characteristics in there as we can.”

The NPD would offer ale drinkers – currently underserved in alcohol-free – the chance to enjoy a booze-free version of the bestselling bottled IPA in the off-trade, said St Austell Brewery marketing and communications director Laura McKay.

“From a low & no perspective we all know the numbers,” she said. “It was clearly something we had to get a grip of. From a style perspective [in alcohol-free], lager completely dominates, and therein fuelled our rationale to lead with ale.

“With Proper Job being the number one bottled IPA in the off-trade, it made sense that when we got to a place where we were absolutely happy with the beer that it would be the brand we should lead with.”

St Austell Brewery was currently experimenting with canned and draught formats of Proper Job 0.5%, Young said.

It could also look to introduce low-alcohol versions of other beers, including St Austell Hicks and Bath Ales Gem in the future, she added.