St Austell Brewery has released its first low-alcohol beer under its flagship IPA brand, Proper Job.

Proper Job 0.5% ABV has been in development for more than two years and will launch on October 10.

The family-owned brewery, which has been operating for 173 years, has been carefully adjusting the beer's recipe to celebrate Proper Job’s famous flavour profile.

It is hopeful that the 0.5 per cent version will become a leading player in the no/low alcohol IPA market.

The new beer is brewed with the same hops as Proper Job – Cascade, Willamette, and Chinook – offering a low-alcohol version with signature citrus, grapefruit, and pineapple flavours.

(Image: St Austell Brewery) Georgina Young, brewing director for St Austell Brewery, noted the increasing demand for low and no-alcohol drinks over the past five years.

She said: "Knowing how loved Proper Job is amongst beer drinkers, we opted to respond to this demand by bringing the big, vivid flavours of our flagship brand to the low-alcohol market.

"Whilst it’s been a long time coming for St Austell Brewery to release a low-alcohol beer, we took time to evolve a brewing method that would create a naturally authentic IPA, worthy of being branded Proper Job 0.5%.

"We wouldn’t settle for anything less than a well-bodied, tasty IPA without the alcohol, and we’ve finally perfected a recipe which has nailed that."

She added: "Consumer testing was the final stage in our journey and we were thrilled it was deemed the overwhelming favourite against many of our competitors in extensive taste tests."

With lager currently being the dominant force in the low-alcohol market, and nearly two-thirds of pub and restaurant visits now including non-alcoholic drinks, St Austell Brewery, which owns 160 pubs in the South West, wanted to introduce its popular IPA to the market.

The launch of Proper Job 0.5 per cent also comes at a time when many people are choosing to go sober for October or want to enjoy the festive season with a full-flavoured beer without the alcohol.

Proper Job 0.5% will be available in a 500ml bottle from October 10 and can be ordered online from the St Austell Brewery shop and across its pub estate from October 14.

Canned and draught versions will be introduced in the coming months.

For more information and to order Proper Job 0.5% visit staustellbrewery.co.uk.