The predecessor of the CELIA DARK beer is its older “brother”– CELIA beer, a light gluten-free lager. The Žatec brewery launched it on the market in October 2010. The beer’s creation was the result of cooperation between the Prague-based Research Institute of Brewing and Malting, PLC, which developed a unique technology enabling the safe production of beer for celiacs, and the Žatec brewery, which implemented the gluten-free technology and production, and introduced the beer called CELIA.
"Launching the CELIA DARK beer on the domestic market is a logical expansion of the highly successful offering of the CELIA gluten-free beer not just for people with celiac disease, but for all people who prefer easy-to-digest foods that do not burden the organism," said Martin Kec, an Executive of Žatecký pivovar spol. s r. o. "It was once again confirmed that beers produced using traditional technologies from high-quality ingredients will always find their devotees," added Martin Kec.
CELIA beer established itself quickly on the market. Whereas approximately 1120 hl of the beer were sold in 2011, in 2012 it was already 1500 hl, and last year sales reached 2600 hl. In 2014, we plan to sell 3500 hl of CELIA beer in all its versions.
CELIA beer was first exported in the beginning of 2011. The beer is primarily exported to the markets of Italy, Sweden, Great Britain, Finland, Norway and Portugal. It is sold via the Internet in France, Germany and Switzerland. Australia is a new market and negotiations are currently under way regarding exports to the USA. A small gem is the export of CELIA beer to Brazil and to Peru.
The Žatec brewery has received several awards for the production of CELIA beer. The first of these was the Annual Prize of F. O. Poupě awarded by the Czech Beer and Malt Association in 2011. In 2012, CELIA beer was awarded an honorable mention by the Association of Innovative Entrepreneurship of the CR in the Innovation of the Year competition. In 2013, CELIA beer won first prize in the beer category at the prestigious FreeFrom Food Awards 2013 in London.