RiceBran Technologies Develops New Line of Rice Bran Based Ingredients Targeting the Craft Beer Industry

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan, 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- RiceBran Technologies (NASDAQ: RIBT and RIBTW) (the "Company" or "RBT"), a global leader in the production and marketing of value added products derived from rice bran, today announced that it has completed the development of a series of new craft brewing ingredients containing stabilized rice bran to be marketed as ProRyza™ Brew.

The Craft Beer industry has exploded in recent years with total sales increasing 20% in 2013 to reach over $14 billion. A fast growing subset of that market is home brewing. According to the American Homebrewers Association, there are over 1.2 million home brewers producing more than 2 million barrels of beer annually in the US alone.  Of those 1.2 million home brewers, approximately 60% have started brewing within the last nine years.

RBT's formulators have recently partnered with Master Brewers at PicoBrew to replace certain existing grains used in the brewing process with RBT's new line of ProRyza™ Brew ingredients. PicoBrew was established in 2010 and their flagship product, the PicoBrew Zymatic®, vastly improves the precision, repeatability, and overall quality of the beer-brewing experience. It simplifies and automates the process of home brewing allowing anyone to brew craft beer in the comfort of their own kitchen.  The two companies have created a number of great tasting traditional and reduced gluten brewing recipes. 

"We are excited to work with PicoBrew as our first step toward entering this fast growing segment of the beer industry.  PicoBrew's Zymatic™ simplifies the home brewing process and has enabled it to build a loyal, growing customer base of creative home brewmasters," stated Richard Ray, ProRyza™ Brew project coordinator at RiceBran Technologies. "We are equally excited about the larger market potential for RBT in the Craft Beer Industry. While the larger brewing companies traditionally use rice as a grain source, craft brewers have increasingly been seeking other carbohydrate alternatives for their formulations. Our ProRyza™ Brew line of ingredients are not only a great carbohydrate source, non-GMO and gluten free, but the oil in our bran also brings out more hops flavor.  This should enable brewmasters to use less hops in their formulations and help reduce overall brewing costs."

Mark McKnight, SVP of Sales and Marketing at RiceBran Technologies states, "In addition to targeting the home brewer market with PicoBrew, we plan to aggressively market the benefits of our ProRyza™ Brew line of ingredients to small, medium and large craft brewers across the US in 2015 as we seek to establish a significant presence in the Craft Beer industry in the years to come."

About RiceBran Technologies

RiceBran Technologies is a human food ingredient and functional foodcompany focused on the procurement, bio-refining and marketing of numerous products derived from rice bran. Rice Bran Technologies has proprietary and patented intellectual property that allows us to convert rice bran, one of the world's most underutilized food sources, into a number of highly nutritious human food ingredient and animal nutrition products. Our target markets are human food ingredients and animal nutrition manufacturers and retailers, as well as natural food, functional food and nutraceutical supplement manufacturers and retailers, both domestically and internationally. More information can be found in our filings with the SEC and by visiting our website at www.ricebrantech.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements about RiceBran Technologies' expectations regarding introduction of new products for the craft brewing industry. These statements are made based upon current expectations that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties.  RiceBran Technologies does not undertake to update forward-looking statements in this news release to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking information.  Assumptions and other information that could cause results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking information can be found in RiceBran Technologies' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent periodic reports. 

Investor Contact:

Ascendant Partners, LLC
Fred Sommer
+1-(732)-410-9810
[email protected]

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