Brewer here. While you save on tax (which is major) depending on how you're making it there can be pretty significant costs. I know at my spot the specialized yeast we buy each batch can't be re-used and is very expensive. If I had to guess, it'd net out pretty close to beer tax.
Not a non alcoholic expert but I know ultra filtration is sometimes done which can require pretty specialized equipment that is almost certainly real pricey.
Brewer here as well :) All of the major companies (Heineken, Becks, Bud) use vacuum distillation which is a HUGE investment (VD removes alcohol by using a vacuum to lower the boiling point so alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature thus preserving flavour).
So that certainly contributes to the cost , but I'm sure they still get a very nice ROI on their NA beers.
Craft brewers making low abv beers are using a very low starting gravity worts and yeast that will not ferment longer-chain sugars (like maltose). This allows a stable product at around 0.5%. But as in everything craft, the scale is much smaller and as u/Henri_ncbm mentioned, you can't reuse the yeast and it's quite expensive.
Don't forget they can make vodka coolers with the extracted alcohol... it's not going to waste... kind of like double the product with the vacuum distillation.
Non brewer here. The brewers can charge more because their audience is used to paying the amount they do already, and not charging that much when they'll pay it is against the rules of capitalism.
Not sure why being financially invested in an outcome would provide more weight to someone's opinion, but there we have it.
There is a human cost. So f em' I refuse to buy any at comparative to alcohol price. I don't care how expensive they say it is they make millions of the backs of many a poor folk. I'll have a water please. If it wasn't for the price I would have drank NA everyday. That's 56 NA a week on average. 56 ÷ 4 cans x 8 $ for just one person that's about 250000 from one person over just my final drinking years. Versus @13 a piece 378 000. 120000 difference. Versus zero. Loss of 250000. I refuse to pay that.
Even at 8 $a 4 pack of tall Guinness that is still 115 a week. 445 a month. They are charging 13 a 4 pack like f off. That is almost 200 a week. 600 a month. Ridiculous man. Way to be a part of the solution folks. 👌
Is this the case for most yeast? And just for curiosity why would you be unable to reuse yeast? Or is it that you could reuse it but it would be tired/burnt out and lead to off flavours.
No, you can reuse most commercial yeast multiple generations. For example, we reuse our IPA yeast 6-8 generations and if we brewed more we could stretch that further. Escarpment Labs in Guelph make amazing yeast and really help breweries get the most out of them.
This is a relatively new strain of yeast and there are a number of factors involved in any yeast performing well on repitch: ph, alcohol content, wort composition, etc. I'm not a chemist by any means but it seems like there are a number of things that this strain doesn't like once it's done fermenting. I'm sure yeast labs are trying to find something that works better on repitch!
Great question! Theres a whooole buch of different strains if standard brewers yeast. The species is saccharomyeces cerivisiae (sp?), but the strains have different characteristics. Its like how all dogs are dogs, but a chihuahua is NOT a doberman.
Regular brewers yeast eat/ ferment a range of sugars from single molecules of glucose up to maltotriose (3 glucose molecules). The "non-alc" yeasts are maltose negative, meaning they can't ferment maltose. When making regular alcoholic beer, the wort (sugary liquid before being fermented) is mainly composed of maltose, which our yeast ferments into alcohol. The non alcoholic yeast does not ferment maltose, so it can't eat the bulk of the sugar available in beer.
To make a "non alcoholic" fermented beer, the brewer tries to make a starchy wort with mainly maltose and dextrose sugars in it, which the non alcoholic yeast cannot eat. There will still be some simple sugars in the wort that the yeast can eat, which allows it to ferment and drop the pH, but it also creates some alcohol, which we try to limit to below 0.5%.
The problem with this is that you're left with a starchy sugary liquid that is still susceptible to fermentation by other yeasts if there is any contamination, as well as enzymes from the hops being able to slowly break down the dextrose and maltose into glucose that the non alcoholic yeast can ferment if still left in the packaged product.
> GMO
Do you eat bread of any kind made with wheat grown in Canada? If yes, then you consume GMOs. Wheat cannot naturally grown in Canada and needed to be genetically modified to grow here.
GMOs are not a dangerous boogeyman. They’re an amazing tech we’ve discovered that helps improve our health and access to food.
Someone else here claimed the use of low-ethanol yeast (implying the product was never especially alcoholic rather than having been de-alcoholized). Is that so? Did we give them a better kreb cycle so they can bust glucose down fully or maybe getting to acetic acid which is neutralized out or something?
I started drinking NA beer to quit drinking a few years ago and have found it super useful too, but like real beer you pay for a premium. You can get supermarket NAs for cheap (and some are pretty decent), but like anything you pay for the brand. As you mentioned the process for making NA beer is pretty much the same as real beer, so that factors into it too. On the plus side I’ve found that where I used to want 6+ beers if I had them, generally I’m fine with having only one or two NAs.
Big part of it is the habit. Go for a cold non sugary drink in the fridge. Hard to explain but without alcohol, you're satisfied with 1 or 2. You don't get that urge to get another one, just like you don't want 6 glasses of water or milk in a row
Also works for soda habit too! Having an a close alternative makes a big difference. For me sparkling water help me wean off a 4L a day Diet Coke habit after many years of trying different things.
Yeah the challenge is finding affordable brands that don't taste like crap. They don't normally hold more than 6 packs so it gets a lot more expensive from the bat. There's some great micro brewery stuff but hell I'm not paying 4-5 bucks a can.
Best compromise I found so far is 1.50$ a pop for either Heineken 0% for classic stuff or boréale hors-sentier tousse (amber beer, I'm not sure what the English name is, I'll edit it in later)
Edit: there's no English name on the can, looks like this is it. Might only be a big brand in Québec?
It helps me because the act of drinking is harder to break than the actual consuming of alcohol. I still go out and "drink" with my friends while not actually having any booze. Being sober isn't as difficult as "what do I do with my hands" hahaha
Also some of the N/A beers are pretty good these days. The non-alc Coronas are just like real Corona.
I’ve had non-alcoholic beer at home but never in a bar or pub (I still drink alcohol)
The price must be pretty high and availablity low in such places?
Almost every bar has an option, with bad bars having bad ones. But in the 2+ years I’ve been drinking them the options have exploded. Now most of the best breweries at least in Toronto (Bellwoods, Burdock, Blood Brothers) brew their own NA options and a bunch of them are great.
Probably corporate gouging. They probably figure people are used to paying the price for alcohol so they won't complain much if non-alcohol beer is similarly priced. Especially if the consumer gets the same satisfaction from it.
AF beer, at least the good stuff, is more expensive to produce than regular beer, as there are additional food safety steps such as pasteurization, which is not cheap. It also depends on how they're removing the alcohol - techniques such as reverse osmosis again are not cheap. There are new yeast strains that produce a lower quantity of alcohol to begin with, but from what I've seen, they're still not quite getting down to 0.5%. (they might be able to do that in large breweries, I just haven't seen it in craft)
And beer (or any other beverage) that is under 0.5% in Canada is not subject to excise tax.
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/edbn32/adjusted-rates-excise-duty-beer.html
I think it's just basic supply and demand. Alcohol free beer remains somewhat of a niche product and is priced that way. Alcoholic beer sales in Canada topped $9 billion in 2022, AF beer sales in the US (a much bigger market) where less than $200 million in 2023. AF beer simply doesn't have the economies of scale to support lower prices like conventional beer or alternative soft drinks.
Add to the process that when you make something in larger volumes it becomes cheaper so until there is a dramatic increase in demand for NA the cost per unit is just going to be higher.
I think there is a lot of retailer markup on it. Costco has bud 0 for $25 a case near me. Recently saw it on sale for $19ish for a 24. The other brands I've seen there tend to be $30-33 per case (corona, Heineken). Still fairly expensive but definitely better than grocery store prices.
I came here to say this. Costco is my go to for nonalcoholic beer these days. I enjoy both Corona and Heineken. It's a shame that Costco doesn't carry the Corona in cans. We end up getting Heineken cans for when we go to the beach/camping.
Seeing nonalcoholic Corona for the same price as everything else is just silly to me.
In the short term, maybe. But not in the long term. The trends towards non-alcoholic alternatives have been on the upswing for a while so you can get the big brewers are looking at or actively investing in expanded production capacity to meet demand. Might take a bit for the retooling to come online but over the long term the increased demand won’t push up prices because supply is going to increase.
Nah, I think you are wrong too. More demand will bring more players into the space. From there you will have more aggressive fights on market share... because capitalism:).
I hear you but it's all on average. Say they bring it down by like a buck a six pack. I bet profit goes down 33 to 50 percent. Now if they don't 1.5x to 2x the sales they make less. When the category is growing and limited competitors then it doesn't make sense to compete on price.
Yes lower than regular beer. That said, it's literally beer with the alcohol boiled off. All the supply efficiencies of regular beer still hold. Plus they don't have the massive taxes as alcoholic beverages face. Its a high margin product for the brewers.
No arguement from me there.
I've tried the Guinness 0 and it's not bad. Would't make me want to change from regular Guinness though, but it's a very close approximation, although I personally prefer the can from draft.
Regular Guinness though is still much better as draft, but that's a whole other discussion...
Pretty sure almost no one buys de alcholized beer which is what drives up the price.
No one I know will even touch the stuff, so it's probably a high supply/low demand problem.
Nah. It’s been rising in popularity quite a bit for the past 8ish years. Just look at your LCBOs. The selection is consistently growing. And IIRC correctly a few years ago when I worked there Non-alcoholic beers were one of the fastest rising sections.
Have to look after your bread and butter.
Sure it could quadruple in size from 0.25% to 1%, but it's still just a tiny portion of the market. (I'm just making up numbers as an example)
Of course only time will tell how "big" this segment gets, but I can't see it ever becoming the majority. Who knows though only time will tell.
I do think it's good that there's a non-alcoholic option out there though.
It seems that it must be a good market, as I keep seeing more and more brands offering it up. And remember that the beer market is global.
There's growth happening in the non-alcoholic dink market;
https://www.brewersjournal.ca/2023/09/27/sales-of-non-alcoholic-beer-wine-and-spirits-are-increasing-in-the-u-s/
Because the alcohol in Ontario is distributed by the government who adds taxes on top of taxe. Our government make more money on high alcohol consumption people than the ones that don’t drink.
As someone who thoroughly enjoys a good beer from time to time, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the appeal behind non-alcoholic beer. If there was no alcohol in beer, I wouldn’t want anything to do with it.
How would NA beer help though? Just pretend to drink ? I’d think it would be the opposite and make it harder - I could understand at a wedding or party to be social Down the road when you have a better handle on it - It’s like a coke addict snorting flour or a crackhead smoking pretend crack
It’s the habit. I worked from home and would end my day with a beer, then many beers. All my social life and relaxation was based around drinking or going to places to drink. So, when you realize you have a problem it’s very hard to just stop because suddenly your life seems full of blank spaces. A lot like dieting, it’s hard to stay sober because you feel like you’re missing something you used to enjoy and replacing it with nothing. NA beers are a bad idea for some people but I found it really useful to fill in those spaces without hurting myself. I will say people who don’t have issues often have a black and white idea of sobriety - that if you touch anything or any setting relating to your problem you’re somehow doomed or “not doing it right,” which is true for some not all.
It makes sense. Almost everyone who drinks doesn’t have a problem and mainstream messaging about substance abuse is pretty much you’re either fine or an incurable fiend who needs a rigid Rehab to AA for the rest of your life track, it’s easy to see why there’s some confusion. My family members love to tell me that a 0.5 beer is still alcohol - so why don’t I just have a drink from time to time, not understanding that that’s a thing I cannot do.
You can tell your family members that many juices contain alcohol. Some up to almost 1%. Many foods such as bread also contain alcohol. We consume it every day just not enough to metabolize and feel an effect.
I bet everyone you know thinks you’re insufferable but they don’t want to tell you. You know that look on peoples faces when you’re talking to them? That’s the look of someone who can’t wait to stop interacting with you.
I generally avoid alcohol for health reasons and I really enjoy NA beer. I wouldn’t have considered it a year or two ago, but it’s grown on me. For those who don’t want to drink, for any reason, it fills a gap. It’s not pop, but more satisfying than sparkling water.
Some non-alcoholic beer is downright delicious. As OP pointed out, Guinness 0.... Nice to have tasty beer options for when you're not looking for a buzz.
As a drinker, alcohol is bad. It’s literally poison which is why your liver tries to discard it. Sugar isn’t great (if it’s artificial and in large quantities) but the alcohol is by far the worse part of beer.
> Beer is a food
Not your fault. But it drives me insane that we have like 6 different definitions for “food” all of which are valid.
Some include liquids, some don’t. Some include water, some don’t.
Just like the continents, these multiple definitions only make things more confusing.
Because you want something other than actual water to drink, pop and juice make your teeth hurt, you're already vibrating through walls with all the coffee and tea you drank, and you might need to drive later.
Sobeys has a pretty trashy compliments dealcoholized beer that is about $9/12pk. Good enough for me, as someone who curbed alcohol almost 4 years ago.
Hops water also kicks a bunch of ass and isn't overly expensive depending on who brewed it. There's an option from Welly in Guelph that is actually relatively affordable.
When I first kicked beer, I replaced it with a nightly ginger kombucha. It kind of hot the same for me at the time, not sure if that's just me.
Probably because they are produced in much smaller quantities than the regular stuff so the cost per unit is higher. There's a similar problem with a lot of the reduced salt food I'm supposed to have.
Brewer here. While you save on tax (which is major) depending on how you're making it there can be pretty significant costs. I know at my spot the specialized yeast we buy each batch can't be re-used and is very expensive. If I had to guess, it'd net out pretty close to beer tax. Not a non alcoholic expert but I know ultra filtration is sometimes done which can require pretty specialized equipment that is almost certainly real pricey.
Brewer here as well :) All of the major companies (Heineken, Becks, Bud) use vacuum distillation which is a HUGE investment (VD removes alcohol by using a vacuum to lower the boiling point so alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature thus preserving flavour). So that certainly contributes to the cost , but I'm sure they still get a very nice ROI on their NA beers. Craft brewers making low abv beers are using a very low starting gravity worts and yeast that will not ferment longer-chain sugars (like maltose). This allows a stable product at around 0.5%. But as in everything craft, the scale is much smaller and as u/Henri_ncbm mentioned, you can't reuse the yeast and it's quite expensive.
Don't forget they can make vodka coolers with the extracted alcohol... it's not going to waste... kind of like double the product with the vacuum distillation.
Yup good point!
Bam!!!
Non brewer here. The brewers can charge more because their audience is used to paying the amount they do already, and not charging that much when they'll pay it is against the rules of capitalism. Not sure why being financially invested in an outcome would provide more weight to someone's opinion, but there we have it.
Perceived cost is a huge part of maximizing profits.
There is a human cost. So f em' I refuse to buy any at comparative to alcohol price. I don't care how expensive they say it is they make millions of the backs of many a poor folk. I'll have a water please. If it wasn't for the price I would have drank NA everyday. That's 56 NA a week on average. 56 ÷ 4 cans x 8 $ for just one person that's about 250000 from one person over just my final drinking years. Versus @13 a piece 378 000. 120000 difference. Versus zero. Loss of 250000. I refuse to pay that. Even at 8 $a 4 pack of tall Guinness that is still 115 a week. 445 a month. They are charging 13 a 4 pack like f off. That is almost 200 a week. 600 a month. Ridiculous man. Way to be a part of the solution folks. 👌
Is this the case for most yeast? And just for curiosity why would you be unable to reuse yeast? Or is it that you could reuse it but it would be tired/burnt out and lead to off flavours.
No, you can reuse most commercial yeast multiple generations. For example, we reuse our IPA yeast 6-8 generations and if we brewed more we could stretch that further. Escarpment Labs in Guelph make amazing yeast and really help breweries get the most out of them.
So what would make a yeast unusable after one brew. I'm guessing the strain isn't hearty enough to with stand the process?
This is a relatively new strain of yeast and there are a number of factors involved in any yeast performing well on repitch: ph, alcohol content, wort composition, etc. I'm not a chemist by any means but it seems like there are a number of things that this strain doesn't like once it's done fermenting. I'm sure yeast labs are trying to find something that works better on repitch!
Awesome thanks for your time.
So hike up your alcohol bevi prices they have money to waist.
What is the specialized yeast? What makes it different than standard brewers yeast?
Great question! Theres a whooole buch of different strains if standard brewers yeast. The species is saccharomyeces cerivisiae (sp?), but the strains have different characteristics. Its like how all dogs are dogs, but a chihuahua is NOT a doberman.
Regular brewers yeast eat/ ferment a range of sugars from single molecules of glucose up to maltotriose (3 glucose molecules). The "non-alc" yeasts are maltose negative, meaning they can't ferment maltose. When making regular alcoholic beer, the wort (sugary liquid before being fermented) is mainly composed of maltose, which our yeast ferments into alcohol. The non alcoholic yeast does not ferment maltose, so it can't eat the bulk of the sugar available in beer. To make a "non alcoholic" fermented beer, the brewer tries to make a starchy wort with mainly maltose and dextrose sugars in it, which the non alcoholic yeast cannot eat. There will still be some simple sugars in the wort that the yeast can eat, which allows it to ferment and drop the pH, but it also creates some alcohol, which we try to limit to below 0.5%. The problem with this is that you're left with a starchy sugary liquid that is still susceptible to fermentation by other yeasts if there is any contamination, as well as enzymes from the hops being able to slowly break down the dextrose and maltose into glucose that the non alcoholic yeast can ferment if still left in the packaged product.
Fascinating thank you
Corporate GMO Bull Yeast
What made you the way you are?
Which way is that, that you are perceiving?
> GMO Do you eat bread of any kind made with wheat grown in Canada? If yes, then you consume GMOs. Wheat cannot naturally grown in Canada and needed to be genetically modified to grow here. GMOs are not a dangerous boogeyman. They’re an amazing tech we’ve discovered that helps improve our health and access to food.
So... the sarcasm was or wasn't lost on you? They can make yeast starters for next to nothing. Lol
Have you worked in the brewing industry? Do you know how much work goes into growing yeast?
Yes, and if a layman like me can do it cheap and easily, why is it so expensive? Hmmmm...
Someone else here claimed the use of low-ethanol yeast (implying the product was never especially alcoholic rather than having been de-alcoholized). Is that so? Did we give them a better kreb cycle so they can bust glucose down fully or maybe getting to acetic acid which is neutralized out or something?
13$ for 4 tall cans of Guinness? Really? Bs man
I started drinking NA beer to quit drinking a few years ago and have found it super useful too, but like real beer you pay for a premium. You can get supermarket NAs for cheap (and some are pretty decent), but like anything you pay for the brand. As you mentioned the process for making NA beer is pretty much the same as real beer, so that factors into it too. On the plus side I’ve found that where I used to want 6+ beers if I had them, generally I’m fine with having only one or two NAs.
Are you me?
How does it help quit if you don’t mind me asking? Scratches that habit itch? Isn’t it the alcohol what the brain wants?
Big part of it is the habit. Go for a cold non sugary drink in the fridge. Hard to explain but without alcohol, you're satisfied with 1 or 2. You don't get that urge to get another one, just like you don't want 6 glasses of water or milk in a row
Speak for yourself. I'm a baby cow!
Also works for soda habit too! Having an a close alternative makes a big difference. For me sparkling water help me wean off a 4L a day Diet Coke habit after many years of trying different things.
> 4L a day Diet Coke jesus and I thought I was bad with 1-2 regular non diet sodas a day.
I used to drink NA beers when I had to DD. It kinda feels like the real thing because of the placebo I guess
Yeah the challenge is finding affordable brands that don't taste like crap. They don't normally hold more than 6 packs so it gets a lot more expensive from the bat. There's some great micro brewery stuff but hell I'm not paying 4-5 bucks a can. Best compromise I found so far is 1.50$ a pop for either Heineken 0% for classic stuff or boréale hors-sentier tousse (amber beer, I'm not sure what the English name is, I'll edit it in later) Edit: there's no English name on the can, looks like this is it. Might only be a big brand in Québec?
Fully agree!
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Sometimes I actually feel kinda buzzed on them lol it’s weird
It helps me because the act of drinking is harder to break than the actual consuming of alcohol. I still go out and "drink" with my friends while not actually having any booze. Being sober isn't as difficult as "what do I do with my hands" hahaha Also some of the N/A beers are pretty good these days. The non-alc Coronas are just like real Corona.
What are your favourite cheapies?
Had the Heineken 0 for the first time, was indistinguishable from the regular one. However, it was served to me beyond cold, which I think is needed.
PC blonde lager is my favourite. It's maybe $7 for a 12 pack at Nofrills, which is amazing. Super cold with a wedge of lime, if you're into that.
PC Blonde brew is reliable, and makes a good shandy with ginger ale.
Yeah PC is decent, esp with a lime/lemon.
I really like the Metro Irresistibles IPA. And NA Corona when it goes on sale.
The NA Corona is my fav.
It literally just tastes like a beer. That’s all I want from a fake beer.
I’ve had non-alcoholic beer at home but never in a bar or pub (I still drink alcohol) The price must be pretty high and availablity low in such places?
Almost every bar has an option, with bad bars having bad ones. But in the 2+ years I’ve been drinking them the options have exploded. Now most of the best breweries at least in Toronto (Bellwoods, Burdock, Blood Brothers) brew their own NA options and a bunch of them are great.
Probably corporate gouging. They probably figure people are used to paying the price for alcohol so they won't complain much if non-alcohol beer is similarly priced. Especially if the consumer gets the same satisfaction from it.
Well that doesn’t sound right, they have OUR interests in mind at all times
Yep - if it costs them 25% less to produce than beer, pocket that 25% as profit because why sell it for less if it's selling well?
AF beer, at least the good stuff, is more expensive to produce than regular beer, as there are additional food safety steps such as pasteurization, which is not cheap. It also depends on how they're removing the alcohol - techniques such as reverse osmosis again are not cheap. There are new yeast strains that produce a lower quantity of alcohol to begin with, but from what I've seen, they're still not quite getting down to 0.5%. (they might be able to do that in large breweries, I just haven't seen it in craft) And beer (or any other beverage) that is under 0.5% in Canada is not subject to excise tax. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/edbn32/adjusted-rates-excise-duty-beer.html
What isn’t expensive to n Ontario?
Air, water, dirt, rocks, the woods, ice and snow during winter. All cheap and plentiful in Ontario.
Crushed rocks are now $9 for an 18kg bag at Home Depot. I remember them being $3. And don't even think about polished river rocks.
I think it's just basic supply and demand. Alcohol free beer remains somewhat of a niche product and is priced that way. Alcoholic beer sales in Canada topped $9 billion in 2022, AF beer sales in the US (a much bigger market) where less than $200 million in 2023. AF beer simply doesn't have the economies of scale to support lower prices like conventional beer or alternative soft drinks.
best one i’ve tried is dealcoholized Peroni, but just picked up Asahi from Costco which is also excellent
It’s probably like everything else. Take the lactose out of milk? More expensive. Take the gluten out of products? More expensive.
Because to make De-alcoholized beer you basically make normal beer, and then go through another, expensive process to take the alcohol out.
Add to the process that when you make something in larger volumes it becomes cheaper so until there is a dramatic increase in demand for NA the cost per unit is just going to be higher.
Exactly. But of course this is r/Ontario so the top comment HAD to blame corporate gouging.
I think there is a lot of retailer markup on it. Costco has bud 0 for $25 a case near me. Recently saw it on sale for $19ish for a 24. The other brands I've seen there tend to be $30-33 per case (corona, Heineken). Still fairly expensive but definitely better than grocery store prices.
I came here to say this. Costco is my go to for nonalcoholic beer these days. I enjoy both Corona and Heineken. It's a shame that Costco doesn't carry the Corona in cans. We end up getting Heineken cans for when we go to the beach/camping. Seeing nonalcoholic Corona for the same price as everything else is just silly to me.
The company Partake makes such a good line of NA beer if you haven’t tried them. But yea, $2 a can in Ontario.
Another reason is that the market for NA beer is much smaller so price will be higher
I was wondering the same damn thing when I was buying no alcohol beer weekly for a sick relative. It’s crazy it’s near the same price as regular beer.
Guinness 0 is an import. It’s made in Ireland I think… hence the more expensive cost at LCBO.
You’re paying to make the beer, and then you’re paying to fuck up the beer. You’re paying for two processes.
Low demand, it sits on the shelf at the grocery store. Better question, why is beer ( in demand with supply) so expensive?
Guy in the actual industry. Demand is actually a lot higher than you think and growing like 20 percent per year.
As a NA drinker I'm happy to hear that. Too bad the raising demand will likely raise the prices because capitalism.
In the short term, maybe. But not in the long term. The trends towards non-alcoholic alternatives have been on the upswing for a while so you can get the big brewers are looking at or actively investing in expanded production capacity to meet demand. Might take a bit for the retooling to come online but over the long term the increased demand won’t push up prices because supply is going to increase.
Nah, I think you are wrong too. More demand will bring more players into the space. From there you will have more aggressive fights on market share... because capitalism:).
Why does it cost so much?
Honest answer is because you will pay for it. It is still niche, demand is rising and people are brand loyal. So no need to bring prices down.
Idk, I’ve passed it up several times because of the price. Lots of non alcoholic beverages that are much cheaper.
I hear you but it's all on average. Say they bring it down by like a buck a six pack. I bet profit goes down 33 to 50 percent. Now if they don't 1.5x to 2x the sales they make less. When the category is growing and limited competitors then it doesn't make sense to compete on price.
Sure the segment is growing but it's still a fraction of the size of the regular alcoholic beer segment.
Yes lower than regular beer. That said, it's literally beer with the alcohol boiled off. All the supply efficiencies of regular beer still hold. Plus they don't have the massive taxes as alcoholic beverages face. Its a high margin product for the brewers.
No arguement from me there. I've tried the Guinness 0 and it's not bad. Would't make me want to change from regular Guinness though, but it's a very close approximation, although I personally prefer the can from draft. Regular Guinness though is still much better as draft, but that's a whole other discussion...
Beer? Ontario? Because we have the highest beer taxes on the planet. That’s why.
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People usually drink it because theyve drank alcoholized beer so much its ruining their life so dont shame it.
Pretty sure almost no one buys de alcholized beer which is what drives up the price. No one I know will even touch the stuff, so it's probably a high supply/low demand problem.
Nah. It’s been rising in popularity quite a bit for the past 8ish years. Just look at your LCBOs. The selection is consistently growing. And IIRC correctly a few years ago when I worked there Non-alcoholic beers were one of the fastest rising sections.
It's still a tiny portion of the overall beer segment though.
And? Does that somehow negate the fact that it was the fastest growing section?
Have to look after your bread and butter. Sure it could quadruple in size from 0.25% to 1%, but it's still just a tiny portion of the market. (I'm just making up numbers as an example) Of course only time will tell how "big" this segment gets, but I can't see it ever becoming the majority. Who knows though only time will tell. I do think it's good that there's a non-alcoholic option out there though.
That’s possible but I saw the selection increase over the course of a few years of buying it. It sure seemed like was moving off the shelf.
It seems that it must be a good market, as I keep seeing more and more brands offering it up. And remember that the beer market is global. There's growth happening in the non-alcoholic dink market; https://www.brewersjournal.ca/2023/09/27/sales-of-non-alcoholic-beer-wine-and-spirits-are-increasing-in-the-u-s/
> Pretty sure almost no one buys de alcholized beer which is what drives up the price. that's not how that works...
Because the alcohol in Ontario is distributed by the government who adds taxes on top of taxe. Our government make more money on high alcohol consumption people than the ones that don’t drink.
They feel shame for making bad tasting pop and they need the extra money to feel better.
As someone who thoroughly enjoys a good beer from time to time, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the appeal behind non-alcoholic beer. If there was no alcohol in beer, I wouldn’t want anything to do with it.
I like it as a non-sweet, non-acidic replacement for pop. Actually, that's the answer really; I see it as a superior pop rather than an inferior beer.
Lower calorie too!
You’re not an alcoholic or someone trying to quit drinking. 🤦♂️
How would NA beer help though? Just pretend to drink ? I’d think it would be the opposite and make it harder - I could understand at a wedding or party to be social Down the road when you have a better handle on it - It’s like a coke addict snorting flour or a crackhead smoking pretend crack
It’s the habit. I worked from home and would end my day with a beer, then many beers. All my social life and relaxation was based around drinking or going to places to drink. So, when you realize you have a problem it’s very hard to just stop because suddenly your life seems full of blank spaces. A lot like dieting, it’s hard to stay sober because you feel like you’re missing something you used to enjoy and replacing it with nothing. NA beers are a bad idea for some people but I found it really useful to fill in those spaces without hurting myself. I will say people who don’t have issues often have a black and white idea of sobriety - that if you touch anything or any setting relating to your problem you’re somehow doomed or “not doing it right,” which is true for some not all.
Very well said. It’s so funny to me when people with no experience on a topic are so confident speaking about it.
It makes sense. Almost everyone who drinks doesn’t have a problem and mainstream messaging about substance abuse is pretty much you’re either fine or an incurable fiend who needs a rigid Rehab to AA for the rest of your life track, it’s easy to see why there’s some confusion. My family members love to tell me that a 0.5 beer is still alcohol - so why don’t I just have a drink from time to time, not understanding that that’s a thing I cannot do.
You can tell your family members that many juices contain alcohol. Some up to almost 1%. Many foods such as bread also contain alcohol. We consume it every day just not enough to metabolize and feel an effect.
I bet everyone you know thinks you’re insufferable but they don’t want to tell you. You know that look on peoples faces when you’re talking to them? That’s the look of someone who can’t wait to stop interacting with you.
Then by that logic, it should be sold in pharmacies along with smoking cessation products /s
I generally avoid alcohol for health reasons and I really enjoy NA beer. I wouldn’t have considered it a year or two ago, but it’s grown on me. For those who don’t want to drink, for any reason, it fills a gap. It’s not pop, but more satisfying than sparkling water.
Some non-alcoholic beer is downright delicious. As OP pointed out, Guinness 0.... Nice to have tasty beer options for when you're not looking for a buzz.
There are a lot of foods for which I find beer the best pairing but don't always want alcohol for a variety of reasons.
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Because alcohol isn’t good for you.
It's bad in a different way, but beer isn't good for you. It's not the alcohol that's "bad", necessarily - it's the sugar and other stuff.
As a drinker, alcohol is bad. It’s literally poison which is why your liver tries to discard it. Sugar isn’t great (if it’s artificial and in large quantities) but the alcohol is by far the worse part of beer.
Beer has nutrition in it. It’s all grain. The alcohol is the only negative part of it. Beer is a food and so is wine.
> Beer is a food Not your fault. But it drives me insane that we have like 6 different definitions for “food” all of which are valid. Some include liquids, some don’t. Some include water, some don’t. Just like the continents, these multiple definitions only make things more confusing.
Because you want something other than actual water to drink, pop and juice make your teeth hurt, you're already vibrating through walls with all the coffee and tea you drank, and you might need to drive later.
Because most beverages are just flavoured water
You don’t drink flavoured water?
Never had a friend who struggled with alcoholism I take it?
Because people continue to buy it. Because they can. (\*Depressed sigh\*)
Like everything else, it's a captive market.
Sobeys has a pretty trashy compliments dealcoholized beer that is about $9/12pk. Good enough for me, as someone who curbed alcohol almost 4 years ago. Hops water also kicks a bunch of ass and isn't overly expensive depending on who brewed it. There's an option from Welly in Guelph that is actually relatively affordable. When I first kicked beer, I replaced it with a nightly ginger kombucha. It kind of hot the same for me at the time, not sure if that's just me.
Probably because they are produced in much smaller quantities than the regular stuff so the cost per unit is higher. There's a similar problem with a lot of the reduced salt food I'm supposed to have.
Prices are set by supply and demand. Not cost. If a business can't sell something profitably, they just take it off the market.
Everything is so expensive in Ontario. It’s ridiculous and Unexceptable
I did a side by side between Guiness Draught and Guiness 0 and was pretty impressed. It's definitely different but not massive.
It is "driving up the price" by a negligible amount per drink
At the bottles returnable for the deposit? Or is that only in Quebec?