How it is made

How alcohol-free beer is made: three methods

Remove the alcohol after brewing, stop it forming, or use a yeast that barely makes any. Each method changes how the beer tastes.

Updated 8 November 2026Tasted and written by the AF Lager team

How alcohol-free beer is made: three methods — Photo: Envato Elements

1. Brew it, then take the alcohol out

Most big-brand alcohol-free lagers start as normal beer. Budweiser Budvar's new 0.0% uses the same ingredients and maturation as its Original Czech Lager, including Saaz hops from Zatec, then removes the alcohol with cold membrane filtration and reverse osmosis. Low heat matters: boiling alcohol off can leave the beer tasting cooked.

2. Change the recipe so less alcohol forms

Damm's Daura 0.0%, now in Tesco at £5 for four cans, uses an enzyme process to break down the gluten and then removes the alcohol, so the same beer is both gluten-free and alcohol-free.

3. Use a yeast that makes very little alcohol

Cervezas Arriaca's IPA Sin, which won gold at the 2026 World Beer Awards, is brewed with a yeast that produces very little alcohol in the first place. Nothing has to be stripped out afterwards, so more of the hop aroma survives.

Which tastes best?

There is no single answer, which is why we taste and rank them. Our lager ranking lists every one with its ABV, calories and price.

Our pick

IMPOSSIBREW Enhanced Lager

IMPOSSIBREW takes the third route: alcohol is never made in the first place. Its Enhanced Lager won UK's Best Tasting Alcohol-Free Lager at the World Beer Awards, and it is gluten-free and vegan.

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