色色啦

The self-professed indie beer fan quit drinking alcohol six years ago after deciding he was consuming too much of the stuff. He switched to seltzers and kombucha at home and stopped going to bars, but missed the social aspect of being able to nerd out on beer facts at a pub, like a coffee lover would at a local third-wave cafe.

Alcohol-free beer has long been an afterthought in beer circles, often a watered-down alternative that can taste more like second-rate swill than something that could be enjoyed on its own. But lately, the city鈥檚 craft brewers have been coming out with fantastic options to keep up with changing drinking patterns (the rising popularity of Dry January and Canada鈥檚 new alcohol guidelines, for example). On the larger scale, at last week鈥檚 Super Bowl, one of the most-watched television events every year with ads that are as anticipated as the game and halftime show.

The new non-alcoholic beers have the bitter and hoppy flavours of beer and, for people like Seljak, provide something less sugary than pop or juice to pair with food, letting him enjoy the social aspect of going out without having to consume alcohol.

鈥淭here鈥檚 Dry January, February and Sober October,鈥� Ren Navarro, a beer expert and consultant from 色色啦, said. 鈥淎nd beyond those three months there are people who can鈥檛 drink because of allergies, recovery, doctors鈥� orders, a lot of reasons.

鈥淏reweries have already started coming out with lower (alcohol) percentage beers in the two per cent range, so why not make the jump and make a tasty, non-alcoholic product?鈥� she said, adding that she recently attended a sold-out class on making in Guelph.

Navarro notes that a number of factors have led to the rise of non-alcoholic beers in recent years (the beer with less than 0.5 per cent alcohol as non-alcoholic).

Alcohol sales have been dropping as people are now more mindful of their health, especially after the first year of the pandemic, when many overindulged on alcohol. Younger people have also developed a different relationship with alcohol than previous generations, she said, as self-care and the negative effects of alcohol are more openly discussed. Millennials and Gen Z still like to go out, but alcohol pays a smaller role in socializing.

The nature of breweries in the city is also changing, Navarro said, as many double as restaurants and event spaces, drawing a wider crowd that might not consume alcohol but is still willing to pay for a premium product that鈥檚 more interesting than a Coke.

Back at Bellwoods Brewery, Seljak tried another beer on tap, a booze-free version the bestselling fruity sour beer. He gave it a thumbs up.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one of our most challenging beers to produce,鈥� said co-founder Luke Pestl, explaining that it requires precise control over how much alcohol is produced during the fermentation process without losing flavour. 鈥淚鈥檇 say our non-alcoholic Jelly King is our favourite beer we produced last year, so we want it on the forefront.鈥�

A week earlier, he hosted Bellwoods鈥� first non-alcoholic beer tasting at his brewery at 124 Ossington Ave., to showcase the new brews to customers and beer industry folk.

Elsewhere in the province, more non-alcoholic options have popped up. has a line of hop-flavoured sparkling waters; Kingston鈥檚 brewery has one too; Leslieville鈥檚 . launched an alcohol-free IPA; and in Hamilton has non-alcoholic stout, IPA and pale ale in addition to seltzers. 色色啦鈥檚 is perhaps the most widely known, popping up in supermarkets and restaurants.

To make non-alcoholic beer, you have to understand how beer is made. In a nutshell, beer is made by putting a grain, typically barley, through a process called malting, which involves soaking and heating it and forcing the grain to germinate. This allows the starch to be converted into sugar. Yeast is then added to feed on the sugar, creating alcohol and carbon dioxide as a byproduct.

For it to be booze-free, one of the older methods is boiling regular beer until all of the alcohol evaporates. Another method is through an expensive filtration and distillation process.

Bellwoods makes its non-alcoholic beer the same way as regular beer but, instead of boiling the alcohol out, the brewers adjust the fermentation process so the yeast doesn鈥檛 produce enough alcohol to make it boozy. The challenge is maintaining the desired flavour and consistency that eluded earlier iterations of mass produced alcohol-free beers, which made them synonymous with a drink that tasted flat and one-note.

鈥淚 always described it like someone ran water through a newspaper and poured it into a can,鈥� said Steve Abrams, who co-founded Mill Street Brewing back when it started in the Distillery District in 2002 (it was acquired by Labatt in 2015). 鈥淚t was awful. It didn鈥檛 have hop flavour. It was just a mess that you gave to someone who鈥檚 the designated driver or pregnant.鈥�

Abrams has since left Mill Street and, in 2021, launched a non-alcoholic, organic brewing company called with former Mill Street brewmaster and current Niagara College brewing instructor Rob Doyle, as well as Mike Cuch, who is in charge of marketing.

The idea for 贬补谤尘辞苍鈥檚 started when Abrams was taking a break from alcohol consumption. Impressed by the non-alcoholic craft beer options while on vacation in California in 2019, he thought Ontario needed to catch up.

鈥淕lobally, Canada is a bit behind,鈥� said Cuch. 鈥淚f you look at countries like Spain, Germany, Italy 鈥� countries you鈥檇 associate with high alcohol consumption 鈥� there鈥檚 also high non-alcoholic beer consumption and you can see that with the large brewers. We鈥檙e seeing growth in those mature markets, which is the opposite of what you鈥檇 see in a trendy drink.鈥�

With a relatively younger craft beer scene than its international counterparts, Ontario鈥檚 brewers are still navigating what it takes to get their non-alcoholic beers onto shelves.

But whether the increasing popularity of non-alcoholic beers will lead to every craft brewery in the city making their own remains to be seen. For one thing, it鈥檚 a costly and technical undertaking that could take years to perfect, and Pestl says many small breweries don鈥檛 have the infrastructure and finances for that. Instead, he鈥檚 been getting calls from breweries and restaurants that want to carry his non-alcoholic beer.

Beer consultant Navarro sees this as a permanent shift.

鈥淥ver the last year, people are putting in real effort and there are companies that just do non-alcoholic beer,鈥� she said, noting that 贬补谤尘辞苍鈥檚 was started by craft beer heavyweights, and breweries have created separate companies focusing on seltzers and hop-flavoured waters. 鈥淚n the past, a bartender would reach into a fridge to get a can of non-alcoholic beer, but now you can get it on tap and it鈥檚 part of the permanent rotation.

鈥淎nd because the flavours are getting better, you can have non-alcoholic food pairings and get the same tasting notes as someone drinking something with alcohol. This also takes away the stigma (of not drinking) and the industry shows you can still have a good tasting beverage 鈥� There鈥檚 a shift in mentality.鈥�