ANHEUSER-BUSCH InBev, which will soon make almost 30 percent of the world’s beer, wants to serve more low and alcohol-free brews to drinkers trying to live a healthier lifestyle.

    The Belgium-based brewer, on the verge of buying its largest rival SABMiller, has forecast lower and zero strength beer will grow from a small base to make up 20 percent of its sales by the end of 2025.

    That is a bold target. Industry monitor Plato Logic says beer of up to 2.8 percent alcohol by volume had only a modest 2.5 percent share in 2014, although annual growth was 4-6 percent versus just 1 percent for beer as a whole.

    Brewers pioneered non-alcoholic beer in the 1980s and 1990s, with only limited success. This time they believe they have two game-changers — sustainable consumer demand and a product that actually tastes like regular beer.

    AB InBev, best known for its Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona brands, has committed US$1 billion to reducing alcohol abuse, with pilot projects to start in six cities later this year. It will spend far more than that on developing new low alcohol products of up to 3.5 percent, or “no-alcohol” products of 0.5 percent and lower.

    Its latest, 0.0 percent Budweiser Prohibition Beer, launched in Canada in May as a possible prelude to its sale in larger markets.

    Faced with the rising challenge from smaller craft brewers and limited growth of mature markets, major brewers hope weak beer is a sector where they can rapidly expand.

    “The higher alcohol segment is largely covered by craft,” said Euromonitor senior drinks analyst Spiros Malandrakis. “The mainstream boys have decided to go to a segment that is less saturated.”

    The attraction is clear, with potentially stronger growth and fatter margins as brewers sell non-alcoholic products at the same price or more than a regular beer, but pay far lower or no excise tax.

    Chief executive Carlos Brito said in April AB InBev was following consumer trends, with appealing drinks that were also low calorie and made from natural ingredients. “You have an ocean of opportunity, all these soft drinks, water, juices, energy drinks that today we don’t tackle,” he said.

    Brito is not alone. Carlsberg chief Cees ’t Hart said in March the Danish firm wanted to be a leader in non-alcoholic beverages, noting more rapid growth in that niche.

    Charles Nouwen, AB InBev’s global director for product development, says the new Prohibition Beer is the result of radical changes to the production process.

    Previously, brewers had tended to stop fermentation at an early stage, resulting in a sweet malty brew. Or they would take a regular beer and heat it up to evaporate the alcohol, effectively cooking it and risking an oxidized or stale taste.

    Nouwen said his firm, wanting to produce a non-alcoholic beer as close as possible to Budweiser, had made a base beer that was rounder and richer than a normal Bud, knowing it would undergo a change when the alcohol was drawn out. Then, by sharply reducing the pressure, it removed the alcohol at a far lower temperature, while also capturing compounds such as esters and other flavourings that might have escaped, pushing them back into the brew. (SD-Agencies)