The Future of the Alcohol-Free Industry

The Future of the Alcohol-Free Industry

2020 is going to be remembered for a lot of things and many industries have been hit hard by it. But there is also some good news for one thing the alcohol-free industry has seen some impressive growth.

The sale of alcohol-free and low-alcohol beverages rose by 32.5% according to data from Nielsen. But this resilience highlights growing trends in the alcohol-free beer market as more and more people opt for the low or alcohol-free versions of their favourite beverages.

So, this leads us to ask what the future holds for the low/ alcohol-free beverage market? More and more big-name breweries are introducing their own products like Guinness 0.0 for example. But are these big names in the alcoholic beverage market able to maintain a top spot when it comes to the alcohol-free industry?

Well, let’s take a more in-depth look at the big players and examine the market size as a whole. There is a lot to think about and consider before we can really come up with a forecast of what the future holds. So, let’s get down to business and see what we can uncover.

Market Size

Examining the market size of any industry is complicated but according to data from the 2019-2024 Global Non-Alcoholic Beer Market Report, it is predicted that the alcohol-free market could grow to an impressive $7050 million dollars in value.

However, while the alcohol-free market is growing when compared to the market for alcoholic beverages it is still quite small comparatively at least if we look at the percentages. However, again we need to see how this could change in the future.

AB InBev might not be a name you are instantly familiar with, but you likely know many of its products. It’s a multinational brewing company based in Leuven and the world’s largest brewer. They have revealed that by 2025 they want at least 20% of their beer sales to be alcohol-free.

So, at the moment the Alcohol-free market may still be quite small at least when compared to the size of the alcoholic beverage market. However, the market is growing and growing fast so in the future it will be significantly bigger.

The Big Names

There are a lot of big-name breweries when it comes to alcohol-free beverages and we’ll be looking at some of them in more detail below. While the marketplace isn’t quite as crowded as alcoholic beverages there are still plenty of players including some names that might be familiar.

BrewDog

BrewDog is a Scottish brewery that was founded in 2007 famous for its provocative marketing techniques the brewer is a big name in the alcohol-free industry. They even had their own TV show in America. In 2019 BrewDog became one of the top 25 most popular beer brands and was valued at over 1.5 billion dollars.

Big Drop Brewing

Big Drop Brewing was founded in October 2016 so compared to some it is quite a new name in the industry. However, despite this, they have quickly made quite a name for themselves and have an impressive range of alcohol-free beverages. This is definitely one brewery to keep an eye on in the next few years.

Heineken

Heineken is already a big name in the alcoholic beverage market, but their alcohol-free Heineken 0.0 has quickly made them a big name in the alcohol-free market as well. With some reports suggesting its impressive sales increased by around 8 million pounds in 2019. The Dutch brewing company is certainly promoting Heineken 0.0 a lot so it’s certainly a name to watch.

Alcohol-Free Beverages The General Forecast

So, what does the future look like for the alcohol-free industry? Well, things are looking very good indeed and it has certainly avoided the issues that have befallen many industries in 2020. With more breweries seeing the potential of alcohol-free and low-alcohol beverages the market looks like it will almost definitely be expanding in the next few years.

Greater competition is always a good thing and the alcohol-free beverage industry is in many ways still growing and things could change quite rapidly. But alcohol-free and low-alcohol beverages aren’t really niche drinks anymore they have been accepted by the general public and are here to stay. So, from now on the market can only get bigger.

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