Popular Mechanics (South Africa)
The science of making alcohol-free beer
MAYBE YOU’VE SEEN IT AT THE bottom of a restaurant’s beverage menu or a brewery’s extensive beer list: the ‘NA’ or ‘non-alcoholic’ option. There, it might feel like an afterthought but the non-alcoholic movement, especially when it comes to beer, is gaining traction in the adult-beverage market. Non-alcoholic beer dates back to Prohibition, but it’s having a resurgence, fuelled by changing consumer habits and brewers’ successful tinkering with the complex processes required to make it. Between July and September 2020, NA beer sales were up approximately 38 per cent in the US compared with the same period in 2019, according to data analytics group IRI. Craft operations dedicated to NA suds have sprung up across the United States, not to mention beer giants such as Heineken and Anheuser-Busch – the maker of Busch NA and O’Doul’s, two long-running NA beers that clock in below 0.5 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) – which are also investing millions to launch alcohol-free products.
‘We’re looking to go forwards with Budweiser Zero, a truly 0.0 per cent beer,’ says Adam Warrington, vice president of corporate social responsibility for AnheuserBusch. ‘With the category growing and the equity we have in a brand like Budweiser, getting people the taste of a Budweiser with zero alcohol and zero sugar is a key point of differentiation for us.’
According to the US Food and Drug Administration, a non-alcoholic beer can contain 0.5 per cent ABV or less. To make one, manufacturers typically brew a beer as they normally would, then remove the alcohol using tricky, often expensive techniques. Now, breweries are finding ways to create a beverage without yielding any alcohol to remove in the first place, therefore producing a true 0.0 per cent ABV beer.
Brewing NA beer is all in an effort to support sober but still-social drinkers, whether it’s a lifestyle choice or for a specific occasion. Maybe they need to drive, are training for a marathon, or are at a work lunch. ‘We’re coming into a time of moderation,’ says Philip Brandes, founder of NA craft brewery Bravus Brewing Co, based in southern California. ‘Think of the White Claw movement, right? Low alcohol and low sugar. That completely exploded.’ Brewers like Brandes are focused on giving people quality non-alcoholic options, including darker and hoppy beers.
‘There was just a shocking lack of quality products out there that were thoughtful,’ says Paul Pirner, who co-founded Minneapolis-based Hairless Dog Brewing Co about five years ago with Jeff Hollander. They both had previously given up alcohol. ‘By thoughtful, I mean products that were conceptualised and thought of with
someone like us in mind, as opposed to just being a pity product on the end of somebody’s line,’ Pirner adds. The exclusively non-alcoholic beer list at Hairless offers an ale, lager, IPA, and coffee stout.
Creating a quality NA beer is not easy. There are three common production methods: vacuum distillation, reverse osmosis, and arrested fermentation.
During vacuum distillation, beer is heated so the alcohol evaporates out. The vacuum chamber lowers the boiling point from around 78°C to as low as 34°C, which helps preserve aromatics and flavour. Reverse osmosis operates like a kidney dialysis machine: Fermented beer is pushed through a membrane filter with microscopic pores where alcohol molecules and water are separated out. Water is then added back in. With arrested fermentation, brewers can remove yeasts or stop them from becoming active, in order to prevent the yeasts from creating high levels of alcohol. This is usually done by cooling down the beer.
But these methods have drawbacks. A high-end vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis filtration machine can cost as much as $3 million, a prohibitive amount for many startups. Perhaps even more challenging is extracting the alcohol without altering the taste. Even with a vacuum, the heat involved in distillation can strip flavour, whereas arrested fermentation doesn’t allow for that flavour to fully develop, which can result in a worty taste.
That’s why new proprietary methods are so attractive. Hairless Dog relies on an alcohol-free production system, about which Pirner wouldn’t share specifics. ‘We use a
THERE IS A HUGE CALL FOR IMPROVEMENT [IN NONALCOHOLIC BEER PRODUCTION] BECAUSE THE CRAFT BEER PALATE IS WHAT IT IS TODAY. THERE’S JUST GOING TO BE A TON OF INNOVATION.
really standard brewing process with a couple of major differences just in terms of how things are set up and how we treat the ingredients,’ he says. ‘By the time it gets through the brew kettle and everything else, it’s a finished product.’ Heavily guarded processes like this are often an appealing option for craft NA operations that are unable to invest in the expensive systems used in conventional methods, says Roger Barth, a chemistry professor at West Chester University and the author of The Chemistry of Beer: The Science in the Suds. Marketing also comes into play. By aligning these techniques with traditional production methods, Barth says breweries push back on the negative perception of NA beer flavour.
Whatever processes are used, it’s likely the beer industry will continue to experiment in an effort to produce a quality selection of NA beers, from IPAs to oatmeal stouts. That means NA newbies should try a slew of different styles and brands, then try them again. ‘There is a huge call for improvement [in NA beer production] because the craft beer palate is what it is today,’ Pirner says. ‘There’s just going to be a ton of innovation over the next few years and a ton of improvement as we all fiddle with our processes. There are just going to be so many more options, and there’s going to be so much more quality.’ We’ll raise a glass to that.