{"id":691656,"date":"2026-04-27T01:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T00:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/?p=691656"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:15:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:15:57","slug":"from-the-rugby-pitch-to-a-brewing-revolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/from-the-rugby-pitch-to-a-brewing-revolution\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Rugby Pitch to a Brewing Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Rugby Pitch to a Brewing Revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former Rugby Professional Reinvents Beer with Roley\u2019s Super Natural Lager<\/p>\n

Former professional rugby player Stewart Rowley is reshaping the global beer market with his disruptive, award-winning brand – Roley\u2019s Super Natural Lager – the first beer to achieve premium taste, health-conscious innovation, and a world-first brewing technology.<\/p>\n

After retiring from professional sport, Rowley faced the same challenge many athletes encounter: how to maintain discipline and enjoy daily life without compromising his health. “I wanted to enjoy a beer without the excess calories, sugar, or compromise,” he explained. “What I found in the market was a split: beers that were low-calorie but forgettable, or beers full of ultra-processed shortcuts. Nothing felt premium, natural, or genuinely satisfying. So, I decided to build it myself.”<\/p>\n

This involved a decade of development, including a collaboration with Sheffield Hallam University to create SmartBrew, Roley\u2019s proprietary brewing technology. SmartBrew allows beer to ferment over ten times faster than traditional methods, maintaining the full depth and flavour of a premium lager while reducing calories and carbs, and retaining B-Vitamins.<\/p>\n

The result was Roley’s Super Natural Lager, a 4.4% ABV beer with 35.8% fewer calories than other 4.4% lagers, containing 0.1g of sugar, and 5g of carbs per serving, while being rich in B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 (Pyridoxine), and B9 (Folic Acid).<\/p>\n

Roley\u2019s Super Natural Lager has already achieved significant acclaim, winning \u2018Best International Lager\u2019 in the UK and Gold at the World Beer Awards 2025. Backed by a strong and experienced team, early commercial success has included partnerships with HYROX, F45, and Crystal Palace FC, as well as listings in premium venues such as the Michelin-starred Whatley Manor in the Cotswolds.<\/p>\n

Highlighting its rapid market impact, Roley\u2019s served over 5,000 pints at the HYROX Excel London event in December 2025, which was the largest HYROX event globally at the time, despite being available for just a few months.<\/p>\n

“I set out to reinvent what beer could physically be,” says Rowley. “Super Natural Lager keeps the character, depth, and enjoyment of a great pint whilst providing for the needs of health-conscious, active consumers. Our mission is to give people a smarter choice, one that meets the growing demand for products that are better for you without compromising on taste or experience.”<\/p>\n

www.roleys.uk<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Rugby Pitch to a Brewing Revolution Former Rugby Professional Reinvents Beer with Roley\u2019s Super Natural Lager Former professional rugby player Stewart Rowley is reshaping the global beer market with his disruptive, award-winning brand – Roley\u2019s Super Natural Lager – the first beer to achieve premium taste, health-conscious innovation, and a world-first brewing technology. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":691662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-691656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clubs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691656"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":691699,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691656\/revisions\/691699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}