Welcome to Part 1  of our new 3-part series on the alcohol-free craft beer landscape in 2026!

Over the next few posts, we’re taking an honest look behind the scenes at Shiny Brewery, dissecting the real economics of brewing non-alcoholic beer, how yeast science shapes flavour, and who is actually drinking it.

 

Phew! From our perspective in the brewery, the ‘lo-no scene’ in the recent past has felt a bit over-done...

Suppliers and producers of product, raw material, process aids and everyone adjacent were somewhat breathlessly touting for business with the justification of stunning percentage growth in category. You simply couldn’t afford to miss your slice of this exponentially expanding pie! Customers weren’t just choosing a drink, they were joining a new movement that would topple dinosaurs of industry and fill the pub with droves of young, vibrant and health conscious customers.

While at times it seemed obviously optimistic if not outright forced by industry, there is still a lot worthwhile sticking around as we head through 2026. For the consumer there is now genuine choice, with many small producers trying out interesting things away from the priorities of multinational distribution and ambient shelf lives measured in years. No longer a niche experiment, low and no alcohol beer has become a natural and sensible part of a modern, inclusive craft beer line up. Industry analysis suggests the UK no and low sector could reach around £800m by 2028.

From our position the audience is now broad and familiar. Everyday beer fans want choice across the ABV range. Mindful drinkers choosing moderation still want the ritual of a pint, but maybe space out their consumption. Social occasions are often built around spaces which serve alcohol, so where inclusivity matters everyone can still join in—which is exactly why we created Chill (0.3% ABV), our crisp, refreshing alcohol-free Hazy Pale Ale.

Independent beer drinkers have largely rolled with it, but we still get the same questions popping up online: Is alcohol-free beer worth the price, and is non-alcoholic beer actually cheaper to make?

Is Alcohol-Free Beer Cheaper to Make?

Long story short, no. Short story long, it can depend.

A large part of the cost of a pint of beer can be beer duty. Because the majority of low and no alcohol beer contains alcohol levels comparable to those found naturally in some everyday foods, including ripe bananas, there is significantly less duty to pay. This reduction does come off the cost of the product, but it primarily benefits large macro producers, where economies of scale and low ingredient spend mean tax makes up a higher proportion of the final price.

As a small independent craft brewery, the largest proportions of what make up our price are ingredients and overhead. These remain broadly the same whether we brew a low alcohol beer or a regular one. In practice, a low alcohol beer like Chill can often be more expensive to make:

• More Grain for Body: They contain more grain than you might expect because we still need body and mouthfeel.

 

• Higher Hop Charges: They often contain more hops, and different, more expensive hop products (like the Citra and Sabro in Chill), for similar reasons

 

• Thermal Pasteurisation: We incur additional costs for pasteurisation to ensure microbiological stability without the preservative benefit of alcohol.

 

• Rigorous Lab Analysis: We incur extra lab costs to ensure the beer is and remains low alcohol, which we take seriously and cannot spread across millions of units.

 

• Specialist Yeast & Storage: We use proprietary yeast strains that must be purchased specifically for this purpose. We store the beer colder, accept a shorter shelf life and brew smaller batch sizes.

 

• The difference in duty works out at roughly 30p per pint, and that saving is quickly absorbed by the additional costs involved.

The Decaf Coffee Analogy

No shade, but we really hope people are not choosing drinks purely based on price per unit of alcohol.

Our favourite analogy remains decaffeinated coffee. Coffee shops cannot heavily discount decaf, because although it has undergone an extra step to remove caffeine, it still costs the same to run a coffee shop to serve it. Non-alcoholic craft beer operates on the exact same logic.

What's Next in Part 2?

Now that you know the real economics behind pricing alcohol-free beer, how is it actually produced in a craft brewhouse?

👉 Coming Up in Part 2: How Alcohol-Free Beer Is Made at Craft Breweries, where we look at yeast science, controlled fermentation, and why lo-no beer requires more technical skill than standard brewing.

Want to taste what proper lo-no craft pale ale is all about? [Grab a 12-pack of Chill (0.3% ABV) directly from the Shiny Brewery shop].