The five most exciting AF brewers in the UK right now.
With an influx of alcohol free brands, brewers and beers in the last couple of years, there’s never been a better time to enjoy AF. To help you navigate the waters, I’ve put together my five hot picks of who to look out for — brewers that push style, innovation and creativity in every new beer they release.
Only With Love
Sussex based OWL brew a ton of different strength beers but have found the perfect little niche of alcohol free drinks, debuting with a banging juicy pale ale, followed by a sour and stout. They also produce a number of different flavoured kombuchas, including a collaboration with The Big Issue. An innovative brewery with a genuine commitment to AF.
Mash Gang
I saw a tweet recently that asked, “Are Mash Gang making no/low better or worse?”. Whichever side you fall on, there’s no denying they’re ridiculously exciting, dropping collaborations every other week and brewing with an array of adjuncts. Their art and design is also something to behold; regularly paying homage to their favourite brands or just going full-on bonkers.
Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing
Similar to Only With Love, SIWC are a relatively new brand committed to brewing fantastic beer across a range of ABV. Their debut Lager Day Saints got people talking, before following up with a lovely orange hefeweizen, always presented in striking can art. On top of that, founder Matty has pushed for draught AF beer and is a huge advocate for open conversations about mental health.
Good Karma
London based head brewer Steve Sailopal is one of the original guard in the AF beer world. Starting out in the early days at Nirvana brewery, Steve headed to India returning with an ambition and box of flavours to really stand out in the AF market, with every beer promising something new and unique. Good Karma are currently the only brand to be included alongside full strength beer in a supermarket mixed-pack, appearing in last year’s Cloudwater collaboration mixed pack.
Jump Ship
Sonja and her team in Scotland have quietly created a fantastic brand in Jump Ship, mastering a range of four core beers to which drinkers regularly return. On top of that, Jump Ship have now gone into the world of one-offs and collaborations; their recent “anti-imperial stout” made in support of Ukraine was a fantastic example of AF stout, using beetroot in their recipe.
Honourable mentions to Big Drop, Nirvana and Ridgeside for the amazing work they did long before anyone else, Lowtide and Brulo for their advances in pale ales, and Impossibrew and Fungtn for their work in the functional sphere.
So who am I missing? Who deserves a mention?