Non -alcoholic beer – at first I thought what an absolute waste of time of effort?
How wrong was I?
Firstly, you have to appreciate just how big this sector of the beer market it is.
This year in Australia, revenue from non-alcoholic beer was more than $361 million dollars and is expected to grow even more according to market research company Statistta.
Already, according to some market research, it accounts for about 10 percent of the total beer sales.
So, what is fuelling this interest and demand for non-alcoholic beer?
There are a couple of factors.
One is the choice by Millennials to cut back in their full-strength consumption. These are people born between 1980 and 1997.
This might be because of their wanting a healthier lifestyle or the recognition that’s it is simply too hard to go anywhere, especially when driving, to avoid being over the limit.
The other thing is that they don’t shape up as well after a big night.
Older, more seasoned drinkers tend to have greater staying power in this case and years of experience have helped face the morning after much better (I think so anyway).
The easy option is to go for non-alcoholic beer.
Which brings me to the second reason and one which I have personally discovered – some non-alcoholic beers actually taste pretty good.
Gone are the days when the only low alcohol/non-alcohol brew tasted like dishwater.
You simply wouldn’t buy them, no matter how cheap they were because the taste was terrible.
Now with so many mainstream and craft brewers entering into the market, the choice is far greater and the products are greatly improved.
You actually can get a non-alcoholic beer which can rival the full strength brews.
Store holders at the Great Australia Beer Spectaculars (GABS) held this year in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney noticed that non-alcoholic options were becoming increasingly popular.
Another factor is that’s more restaurants, cafes and venues are offering non-alcoholic options on their drink lists.
It’s one thing to go out for a meal and another to limit yourself to one or two drinks if you are the driver.
Non-alcoholic beers allow you to be as social as you like, stay in control and still be under the limit if you encounter an RBT.
Brewers such as Great Northern, Carlton, Asahi, James Squire, Coopers and Heineken are just a few of the mainstream big boys making beers with no alcohol while the craft beer market is also exploding with non-alcoholic offers from four Pines, Bentspoke, Brewdog, Hop Nation and Heaps Normal all worth trying.
However, there’s a sting in the tail of “responsibility”.
The cost of these products, despite having no alcohol in them doesn’t mean they’re cheap.
The cost of producing a non-alcoholic brew involves removing the alcohol content after brewing a normal alcoholic drop.
This process is called ‘dealcoholisation’ and is complex and this is where the cost comes in.
It doesn’t seem right, does it?
But taking out the alcohol is time consuming, involves more steps in the production line and reduces the volume of brew which cans be labels as non-alcoholic.
Hence, we have to pay for the process.
And for those who think they might be able to make non-alcoholic home brews, think again.
There aren’t too many brews on the market and the process of home brewing doesn’t mean all the alcohol producing sugars are easily removed.
There is a chance to make low alcohol home brews but it is very challenging to make no alcohol brews, so the best advice is leave it to the professionals.
In hindsight, I can see the sense in the sector of the beer market and respect those who choose non-alcoholic beers for any or all of the reasons mentioned in this article but until the cost of these brews comes down to a competitive level, I’ll stick to something a little stronger
Cheers
Bob Anthony
