PODCAST: Decoding The Dry Beer Movement; Launching An N/A Brand Around The Consumer
With new non-alcoholic beer brands continuing to enter the category, it’s important to understand the consumer who will be drinking them, and the macro trends surrounding the industry.
We sit down with Momentum Brewery and ProofNoMore’s Lars Dahlhaus to better understand the non-alcoholic beer category, where it may be headed, and how he’s working to build a brand around the ‘why’ and ‘where’ a consumer may be drinking the product. As the category continues to mature, understanding these motivations will be critical to finding success, and creating more brands for N/A drinkers to enjoy.
In our conversation Lars talks about some of the differences between the German and U.S. markets, and how that might impact what sort of numbers N/A beer might reach here. We also wanted to get his thoughts on branding and packaging - if you've seen either of Momentum's initial two N/A beers, you know the IPA comes in a sleek, thin dark can, while the golden comes in a traditional, brighter-colored one. He talks about those choices and how they wanted to focus on the "place of consumption". As consumers continue to evaluate when and where to drink non-alcoholic beverages, it's a really smart way to think about the category from the perspective of the consumer.
Lastly, we finish our conversation with a discussion about smaller, local breweries, and Lars talks about wanting to partner with some to help them offer an N/A beer in their taprooms, which, could be part of a broader opportunity for N/A only breweries to grow and extend their own reach.
Those getting a shout-out in this episode include: