Belly button fluff behind new Vic brew

After some serious navel-gazing, a Victorian brewery has found a new use for beer bellies - as a handy source of yeast.

Belly button beer is a creation from Gisborne South micro-brewery 7 Cent, which harvested yeast grown on their brewers' navel fluff to find the strain that made the best-tasting ale.

The yeast was then grown in a lab to ensure it was sterile and could be produced in large enough quantities.

7 Cent describes the resulting brew as "a new world-ish, Belgian-ish witbier with fresh orange zest and toasted coriander seeds". And perhaps the odd bit of fluff.

The beer has been specially brewed for the annual GABS Beer, Cider and Food Festival, which will be held in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland in May.