A BREWERY has launched its first own brand low-alcohol beer just in time for Dry January. Hepworth & Company Brewery, based in Pulborough, has created Spartan – a British style pale ale which uses speciality malts that limit the fermentation to 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV). The aim was to create a low-alcohol ale which would still have the rounded body normally expected in a full-strength beer. Head brewer and managing director Andy Hepworth said: “Low-alcohol beers have improved greatly over recent years. However many of the ales use big, brash American hops to make up for the lack of other characters in these beers.