Non-alcoholic beer isn’t what it used to be. Some of us are old enough to remember when you needed to stay sober at a bar but still wanted something approximating a beer, you’d meekly ask the poor bartender to dig in the darkest corners of the cooler for that lone sixer of dusty O’Doul’s, only […]
Non-alcoholic beer isn’t what it used to be.
Some of us are old enough to remember when you needed to stay sober at a bar but still wanted something approximating a beer, you’d meekly ask the poor bartender to dig in the darkest corners of the cooler for that lone sixer of dusty O’Doul’s, only to take a sip and realize it tasted nothing like beer.
Well, those days are down the drain. While overall U.S. sales of beer have plateaued, non-alcoholic beer sales were up 32 percent between 2022 and 2023. And the trend has hit home, with two pillars of St. Louis craft beer, Schlafly and 4 Hands, both releasing NA versions of iconic brands in recent months. (A third brewing elder, Urban Chestnut, is also dipping a toe into the space.)
“We’ve been flirting in that space for the last two years,” says Kevin Lemp, president and CEO of 4 Hands, referring to the Liquid Rain non-alcoholic IPA collab they did with local NA OG Wellbeing Brewing a couple years ago. “We don’t feel like it’s just a Dry January play anymore. We see year-round opportunities.”
That fits the national narrative — NoLo is no longer just for Lenten loopholes and Sober October. In general, people are consuming less these days, with Gen Z boozing it up 20 percent less than millennials, who, in turn, were teetotalers compared to their Gen X parents.
Part of the reason is kids are much more health-conscious, both in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. Legal weed as a lower-calorie, less-hangover-inducing alternative for getting fucked up is definitely another factor. But interestingly, according to NielsenIQ, 82 percent of people buying NA beer, wine and spirits are also buying the full-octane stuff.
So, what gives?
“We see people who do drink and are on a night out, who want to slow it down,” says Lemp. “So, they throw non-alcoholic beer into the mix.”
Of course, the other key to NA’s recent success is the mega-leap forward in quality. Previously, non-alcoholic beers were made either by boiling the alcohol off a batch of beer or halting fermentation — both robbing the finished product of the full flavor, aroma and feel of an actual brew. Now brewers have an array of high-tech tools at hand, from membrane filtration to vacuum evaporation to modified yeasts that won’t produce ethanol in the first place.
Lemp says 4 Hands contracts with Madison, Wisconsin-based Octopi Brewing, which uses a special filtration technique to produce NA versions of St. Louis staples: City Wide Hoppy Pale, Full Life Lager and Incarnation IPA, all of which taste frighteningly close to their namesakes, with less than .5 percent ABV.
“We use the exact same ingredients as we do to make the real beers,” says Lemp. “And we feel like we’re drinking a well-crafted beer that just doesn’t have the alcohol.”
That’s a bold claim, and full disclosure: I have yet to drink an NA that tastes exactly like an alcoholic beer. But we, as a civilization, are definitely getting closer.
Here are the St. Louis non-alc offerings that are leading the way.
