Alcohol-free beers boost Carlsberg results
Fifteen percent growth in Western Europe is not a fad, it is a habit forming, and it is forming around the brands that can put a fridge in every shop.
Our take
Alcohol-free is the hardest thing a small brewery can make properly. It wants process control, kit and shelf life that a ten barrel plant does not naturally have, and a bad one does more damage to a taproom's reputation than no one at all. So the honest position is that most independents cannot chase this on the shelf, and pretending otherwise sells them an expensive idea.
The part they can win is the table. A third of the group that walks into a taproom on a Tuesday is not drinking, and if there is nothing for them the whole table goes to the bar down the road instead. That is a bigger number than the margin on any single pint.
Pouring someone else's good 0.0% is not a defeat. Losing the round is.
The reporting is The Brewers Journal’s. The opinion above is ours, and we have not reproduced their article. Read it where it was published →