Word: alcohol
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Boozeless beer isn't a new idea. During Prohibition in the 1920s and '30s, American breweries pumped out "near beers": malt beverages with little or no alcohol. And in the 1980s and '90s, brewers including Guinness and Anheuser-Busch attempted to revitalize stagnant beer sectors in Europe, Australia and the U.S. with low-strength lagers. But their products often flopped because of one big problem. "They frankly didn't taste like beer," says Anand Gandesha, head of marketing at Britain's Cobra Beer...
Improved production methods are now helping win back drinkers. Traditionally, brewers made nonalcoholic beer by evaporating or filtering out alcohol from the real thing. Jeff Evans, author of the Good Bottled Beer Guide, says this process often resulted in beers with a distinct "industrial accent." Today, producers like Cobra - sales of its nonalcoholic brand Cobra Zero rose 21% in the U.K. in the year to March - lightly ferment their beer mix, creating only a tiny amount of alcohol. "Beers brewed this way tend to be sweeter and a little fuller-bodied," says Evans, "because nothing has been stripped...
These better-tasting beers have found a receptive audience among Europe's middle-aged drinkers, thanks in part to government health campaigns. "People today are more informed about health risks," says Julio Cuesta, spokesman for Heineken Spain, which owns the country's best-selling alcohol-free beers, Buckler and Kaliber. Those trying to tame their beer guts also like that many nonalcoholic beers contain half the calories of their intoxicating cousins...
...Middle East and Africa, the drinks appeal to a different demographic: young Muslims who want to copy Western trends but can't drink alcohol. "They can consume brands that appear in TV shows from the other side of the world," says Spiros Malandrakis, a drinks analyst with Euromonitor, "and at the same time not indulge in something haram [forbidden...
Government crackdowns on drink driving are also helping sales. Spain is now the largest consumer of nonalcoholic beer in Western Europe - 8% of the beer sold there last year was alcohol-free - thanks in part to drink-driving legislation implemented...