A new brewery is launching a range of rice-based beers, starting this month, that will tap into the under-served market of consumers that are excluded from beer drinking due to gluten intolerance and other food allergies

A brewery in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, near Nagoya, is producing a gluten-free range of imitation beers brewed exclusively from rice and containing no major allergens or animal-derived ingredients. The brew range, named Oryvia, was developed by brewery Rice Hack, which is run by Yasuo Michiguchi. Five varieties in the Oryvia line are expected to be released during this year. The first will be named Miyabi, priced at JPY770 (US$5.40) after tax, which is scheduled to be released by the end of May. Miyabi boasts a classic hop-flavoured taste, with a flavour so close to that found in normal beer that a drinker is not aware it is made with rice, according to Rice Hack. The other variants will be released through summer, autumn and winter. All will fall under the “happoshu” imitation beer category as defined by the liquor tax law.

Michiguchi has spent nine years creating Oryvia in collaboration with his fellow director at Rice Hack, Nobuo Nozaki, who is also president of the Nagoya-based confectioner. Nozaki Seika. In March this year, the project took a leap forward when Michiguchi obtained all the needed licences and permits for liquor sales, alcoholic drink production and related business activities.

Using rice as its main ingredient, Oryvia brews avoid the harsh taste of malt and appeal to drinkers who do not like beer’s typical bitterness. The brews also eliminate gluten from barley and wheat, as well as removing 28 specified allergenic food items or animal-derived materials from the ingredient list. Consequently, it is safe to drink for people with gluten sensitivity, allergies and a vegan preference, according to Michiguchi.

The use of rice as a base, was in part derived from the desire to help address the overall decline in rice consumption in Japan, which now faces a shortage of the staple following years of falling demand. “The prolonged rice shortage at this time has stemmed, at least in part, from farmers’ unwillingness to grow the crop due to insufficient consumption in recent years,” he said. “I wanted to address the issue by using rice as the material for our brews”

In particular, Michiguchi wanted to take advantage of waste products in rice processing, such as defatted rice bran from the production process of rice oil, a local specialty in Kuwana; along with using broken grains that cannot be sold in the market.

Rice Hack’s brewing facility in the Nagashimacho district of Kuwana is currently very small, with only a maximum weekly production capacity of 500 litres, but the brewer is expecting to increase output capacity once demand grows. “The market for gluten-free products is growing the world over, including increased demand for gluten-free beer,” says Michiguchi. “Few brewers produce gluten-free beer in Japan now, which means the emerging market holds great potential for growth.”