The growth of the non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits industry the last 5 years in the US has been nothing short of astounding. From bland tasting, to bad tasting, few options the industry has grown to many restaurants having multiple craft options and major breweries like Heineken and Corona introducing non-alcoholic options of their core beers that are nearly indistinguishable from the original. Athletic Brewing, a craft brewery devoted only to non-alcoholic beer, has grown into one of the largest independent craft breweries in the US. Others have exploded onto the scene, with national distribution in under a year or two. Many of these “breweries” however, don’t have a physical...

A lot of people ask why and complain that non-alcoholic beer is expensive. “If it doesn’t have the alcohol, why does it cost so much?” Alcohol, however, is not something that is “added” to beer it is a byproduct of a process, and while it adds to the body and flavor, the remaining flavor comes from the malts and hops used. Making a non-alcoholic beer uses a similar amount of the most expensive ingredient, hops, and plenty of malts (sometimes the same), along with additional safety processes. Many NA Beers begin as full-strength beers which the alcohol is then removed from. While they maybe benefit from lower taxes, this alcohol now must be dealt with either by turning it into a separate...

Non-Alcoholic beer is growing rapidly across the US. At the moment there are over 120 breweries producing their own non-alcoholic beer, either solely non-alcoholic breweries or breweries with one or more NA versions alongside their standard offerings. There are two categories of producing NA beer; ways that produce less than 0.5% alcohol during the brewing process or the removal of alcohol from a full-strength beer after production. The good thing is that today, both methods and variations of them have produced excellent tasting NA beers. Brewing Without Creating Alcohol: Many of the more recent, and rapidly growing, brands in the NA beer sector proudly state they brew in a way that...