"It has awesome aroma, taste and colour, and the marketing is really smart too. "It's become my beer of choice for drinking at home," says Beer Cartel director Richard Kelsey. Heaps Normal Quiet XPA is fermented with a special yeast resulting in a final alcohol content of less than 0.5 per cent – about the same content found in orange juice or kombucha and legally classified as non-alcoholic.īlackhearts & Sparrows bottle shop manger Dan Blume.Non-alcoholic beer is now outselling may standard lagers and pales at the Brunswick store. "Something that didn't scream 'zero-alcohol' or 'I'm sober'." "We wanted to create a non-alcoholic beer that our other friends could feel proud of taking to a barbecue or drinking at a gig," says Miller. Miller launched Heaps Normal with fellow liquor industry mates Ben Holdstock, Peter Brennan and Jordy Smith in July. "Now the challenge is to make sure we have enough stock in the shop because it just sells so quickly." "We thought sales would slow down after the initial spike that comes with a new brand, but the popularity just keeps growing," says Walsh. UK-based brand Big Drop launched in Australia last year and brews non-alcoholic beer out of Melbourne. "Post-COVID, it seems like more people than usual are looking to cut back on the booze." (Indeed, an Australian Institute of Health and Welfare survey revealed 14 per cent of people increased their alcohol intake during the pandemic.) "It's really taken off in the past few months with New Year resolutions and FebFast," he says. He says the store now sells more Heaps Normal than any other product, including wine and food. "A lot of people will buy a full-strength six-pack and few Heaps Normals at the same time, so they can have a bit of a session then switch to non-alcoholic beer halfway through."Ĭameron Walsh is the co-owner of Winona artisan bottle shop in Manly. Noble says the skyrocketing popularity of non-alcoholic beers (plus booze-free wine and spirits) is due to multiple reasons, such as overall improvement in product quality and a cultural shift in attitudes towards drinking. Now I have eight and most are outselling our standard lagers and pale ales." "A year ago, I stocked maybe two non-alcoholic beers.
"I'm always trying to predict beer trends, but this one caught me off guard," says Blackhearts & Sparrows beer buyer Cherry Noble. The Sobah rainbow of non-alcoholic beer launched in 2017. In Sydney it is the highest selling beer at P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants in Newtown and Paddington, the best selling product at Porter's Balgowlah, and the most popular tinned beer at Forrester's hotel in Surry Hills.Īt McCoppins bottle shop in Abbotsford, Melbourne, Heaps Normal is the 10th highest best-seller out of more than 500 beers, and hugely popular at Blackhearts & Sparrows boutique liquor stores in Brunswick, Fitzroy, Kensington and Prahran. Heaps Normal's Quiet XPA is now online store Beer Cartel's best-selling product nationally out of more than 1000 beers. "We knew there was consumer demand for more non-alcoholic beer options, but the popularity of the brand has completely exceeded all of our wildest expectations."Ĭo-founder of Heaps Normal, Andy Miller, says he wanted to make alcohol-free beer mates felt proud taking to gigs and barbies. "A non-alcoholic counter culture has been simmering away in Australia for some time now, but there weren't many products on the market for people who like drinking beer," says Heaps Normal chief executive Andy Miller.
Nine months after its launch, however, Canberra brewing company Heaps Normal has the best-selling beer at many bottle shops and bars across the country. Incredibly, the beer is also booze-free. In a drinks market more saturated than a public-bar beer mat, it has become increasingly difficult for a new brand to find success.