Independent Scottish craft brewer BrewDog has announced a new take on craft beer and spirits – its first bar dedicated to alcohol-free ale.
The BrewDog AF Bar will be the world’s first alcohol free beer bar and will offer 15 taps of draft alcohol-free craft beer. The bar opens today (Monday 6th January) in central London and will be the first of the company’s global bars to feature a line-up solely devoted to drinks without alcohol.
In addition to this, BrewDog will be running ‘Drink All You Can Jan’ across all bars. The initiative offers drinkers unlimited refills of BrewDog alcohol-free beers in all bars for the entire month.
And with 24% of beer drinkers choosing more low or no-alcohol options*, the brewery are piloting a new concept for their bar division, with a view to rolling it out across the UK and into Europe.
James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog, said: “Drinkers opting for low or no alcohol are in danger of compromising on quality, taste and experience. And that’s just the beer – forget about places in which to enjoy it. We are going to change that. We exist to be a point of difference, and our first BrewDog AF Bar is just that. It is a beacon for anyone in London after an alcohol-free alternative.”
The BrewDog AF Bar is located in the Mews Unit of the Bower Development at 211 Old Street and will be open 12pm-11pm Sunday to Thursday and 12pm-11:30pm Friday and Saturday.
The demand for and popularity of alcohol-free beer is increasing; Mintel have reported 28% of beer drinkers are cutting back on consumption because of health concerns * and recent analysis by EeBria Trade has noted sales of low and no-alcohol beers have risen 381% since 2017. **
BrewDog pioneered low-alcohol beers in the UK with the release of Nanny State in August 2009, which is the UK’s best-selling alcohol-free craft beer. The brewery has since followed it up with the alcohol-free version of their flagship Punk IPA, Punk AF, and is also expanding its core range of alcohol-free beers with two new additions: Wake Up Call, a Coffee Stout and Hazy AF, an alcohol-free take on its existing New England IPA, Hazy Jane.
* Mintel, UK Beer Market Report, 2018
** EeBriaTrade Craft Beer Trends, 2019
Blog
Blog
Blog
Blog
