No and low alcohol beer sales surged to over 120 million pints in 2023 and were forcasted to hit a record 140 million pints in 2024.
Booming sales and an expanding range of options make pubs more inclusive than ever.
Why the Growth?
The shift towards moderate alcohol consumption reflects a broader trend of health-conscious consumers reassessing their habits to align with healthier lifestyles. NABLAB offers the flexibility to enjoy beer during non-traditional occasions like working lunches, brunches, or weeknights, while still providing a social, beer-like experience akin to their peers drinking alcoholic beverages.
How are NABLAB beers produced?
The production of NABLAB beers traditionally relies on methods such as
· dealcoholisation
· reduced fermentability
· limited fermentation
However, a new enzyme technology has emerged as an innovative approach for achieving reduced fermentability. This new enzyme should be added during mashing to create unfermentable IsoMalto-Oligosaccharides (IMO) to reduce fermentability.
This enzyme technology allows brewers to create worts with extremely low fermentability. When combined with optimised raw material selection and mash regimes, brewers can achieve a real degree of fermentation (RDF) below 40%. This innovation enables breweries to produce beers with conventional flavours and aromas, without change to special yeasts (e.g. maltose negative) or increased mashing temperatures.
1. Alcohol free beer: Opportunities WITH the use of a Dealcoholisation plant
– Reducing alcohol content, minimizing the need for dealcoholisation and reducing energy needs
– Up to 60% more beer can be produced
– Les raw materials are required to produce the same amount of beer
– Higher aroma recovery
– Unfermentable IMOs will remain in beer and provide more mouthfeel to the beer.
– No further CAPEX required
2. Low and sessionable beer opportunities WITHOUT the use of a Dealcoholisation Plant
– No need for high mash-in temperatures to reduce fermentability.
– Minimal need to dilute your beer back to target strength, with up to 1.5% lower ABV in finished beers
– Retain your house yeast strain—no requirement (and potentially counterproductive) to use specialty strains like maltose-negative yeasts, offering potential cost savings.
– Better aroma with reduced worty off-flavors, ensuring a cleaner beer profile.
– Unfermentable IMOs will remain in beer and provide more mouthfeel to the beer
– No CAPEX required
Want to see proof?
Wort was made using a 65°C isothermal mash for one hour, the resulting wort was fermented using four different yeast strains:
Plzen Control +enzyme % difference
ABV % 4.41 3.08 -30.2
PG 7.28 19.25 62.2
Nottingham Ale Control +enzyme % difference
ABV % 4.42 2.54 -42.5
PG 7.5 17.08 56.1
Blank Canvas English Ale Control +enzyme % difference
ABV % 4.3 3.18 -26.0
PG 7.86 17.36 54.7
The resulting beers had up to 40% less ABV compared to the control beers (no enzyme addition) when using standard brewing yeasts.
Want to try? Get in touch with our technical team for further information and a sample technical@murphyandson.co.uk
APPENDIX
https://beerandpub.com/news/no-and-low-beer-sales-grow-as-2024-looks-to-sell-a-record-140-million-pints/ accessed 05.12.202
