Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | November 8, 2021 | wbjournal.com Sober brews As the non-alcoholic beverage market grows, Central Massachusetts breweries are trying to tap into the trend fueled by flavor, the pandemic, responsibility, and mystery BY MONICA BENEVIDES WBJ Senior Staff Writer A new trend is brewing in the cra beer world, and it's one without a buzz. Traditionally castigated to out- of-sight coolers and the bottom of beer lists, cra brewers are stepping into the realm of non- alcoholic brews and experimenting with the wide variety of flavors and styles consumers are accustomed to seeing in their alcohol-containing counterparts. It's a change standing to represent a potentially significant shi in how brewers, and the larger beer industry, conceive of both beer and beer consumers. "No one focused on flavorful non- alcoholic beer targeted toward the cra beer consumer, so people didn't know it was an option," said Chris Lohring, owner and head brewer of Notch Brewing in Salem, which started brewing non-alcoholic beers just before the coronavirus pandemic. e reasons a person may choose to drink cra non-alcoholic beer instead of standard cra beer options are as varied as the reasons a person might abstain from alcohol, whether for health, lifestyle, religious, or cultural reasons – some temporary, some permanent. Shifting waters For Notch, which has long specialized in session beers – beers with lower alcohol content – Lohring said making the leap to brew non-alcoholic options was a logical step. While the larger cra beer industry leans toward higher-alcohol content products, where it's typical to see cra brews coming in at 6%, 7%, 8% alcohol by volume or higher, Lohring opted to specialize in lower ABV beers at Notch because he's always personally dried toward them. From his vantage point, the thinking that intensity of beer flavor and high alcohol content have to go hand in hand is a blindspot, a viewpoint he described as very American. Notch is making small batches of non-alcoholic pilsner and a New England IPA, which will initially be distributed around Massachusetts, with plans to scale up. Customer response, he said, has been great. "People are thrilled," Lohring said. Although the overall market share Non-alcoholic beverages, by the numbers Projected consumption increase of low and no-alcohol beverages internationally by 2024 31% Source: International Wine and Spirit Research report from Feburary 2021 3% No and low-alcohol market share within international beverage alcohol market in 2020 92% Beer & cider's share of no and low-alcohol segment internationally Central Massachusetts brewers like Jack's Abby in Framingham are looking at making non-alcoholic craft beer, as consumers look for flavorful brews without the hangover. PHOTO/GRANT WELKER

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