Heroes from (nearly) zeroes

Opinion

1 Dec

New Zealand craft breweries are joining the growing non-alcoholic beer movement with new releases from three of our top local names, as Michael Donaldson explains…...

A flurry of non-alcoholic beers from local craft brewers is set to be game-changer for the zero ABV beer market in New Zealand.

In the space of a few weeks, Bach Brewing, Sawmill Brewery and Garage Project have each launched six-packs of non-alcoholic beers. In a triumph for the trio of craft producers, these brews all won a bronze medal in the “Speciality and Experimental” category at the Brewers Guild Awards in October.

Good George Brewery looks likely to join the fray early next year too, after entering an experimental non-alcohol beer in the Awards as well.

The Speciality and Experimental class is quite broad and this year its entries included double-digit ABV hop monsters, wild ales, milkshake IPAs, smoked beers, nutty beers, fruity beers and more. For all three of these new non-alcohol beers to win medals in such a wide-ranging category is therefore quite an achievement.

At this point, it’s worth noting the use of the term “non-alcoholic” as opposed to “zero” ABV.

The true “zeroes” on the market include Heineken 0.0 (the market-leader in this category), as well as Peroni Libera and Bavaria. They are generally made by having alcohol removed, usually via vacuum distillation, although Heineken and others keep their methods secret.

“Non-alcoholic”, on the other hand, is a legal definition, which in New Zealand means a beverage with less than 1.15% alcohol by volume (ABV). Other countries have lower thresholds, with 0.5% a more common mark.

“What Bach, Garage Project and Sawmill have in common is that they’ve avoided this worty flavour and the beers taste bright and clean.”

There are plenty of non-beer products on shelves in New Zealand with some alcohol, but less than 1.15%, courtesy of fermentation: kombucha is one example. Even a very ripe banana can contain around 0.4% alcohol.

Both Bach Brewing’s ‘All Day Non-Alcoholic IPA’ and Garage Project’s ‘Tiny But Mighty No Alcohol Hazy IPA’ are advertised as less than 0.5% ABV, while Sawmill’s Bare Beer is touted as less than 1.15%, with the brewery saying the ABV is closer to 0.7%.

Sawmill’s brewer, Scott Sharp-Heward, is quite open about the methods they employed. They used speciality grains that don’t ferment easily and combined them with a low-attenuating yeast (a yeast that makes lower alcohol) and as a result they can create a full fermentation that naturally produces very low ABV.

This is different to other techniques such as “arrested fermentation” where a brewer halts the fermentation process shortly after it starts. Arrested fermentation can lead to a disappointing “worty” flavour profile that’s best described as a muddled maltiness.

What Bach, Garage Project and Sawmill have in common is that they’ve avoided this worty flavour and the beers taste bright and clean. In fact, Craig Cooper from Bach Brewing said it was the number one requirement from contract brewing partner Steam when they developed the recipe.

All three beers are hop-driven, but in different ways. Bach’s All Day bursts with tropical hop character and long-lasting flavour, while Garage Project’s Tiny But Mighty is brightly lemon citrus with a sparkling mouthfeel. Sawmill’s Bare Beer is in a pale ale style and has an uptick of bitterness under-cutting a piney-citrus hoppiness.

All three are naturally light on the palate but that comes with the territory. The only way to fatten up the mouthfeel in a non-alcoholic beer is to add sugar, which is why so many on the market taste overly sweet. But that’s not the case here and as a result all three beers are quite sessionable and pleasing.

In short, they are three of the best-tasting non-alcoholic beers on the market right now and are proof of the skill that New Zealand craft brewers have developed in recent years.