Finding N/A Success Through The Craft Beer Playbook

Florida’s Leader Brewing is proving that craft beer festivals can be more than just a playground for “leaded” breweries.

One of many outcroppings from the U.S. craft beer boom in the late 90’s and early aughts, local beer festivals have become synonymous with beer culture and celebrating the world’s favorite malt beverage. With a tried and true formula that typically features some combination of music, entertainment, food trucks, and a tent village of brewery purveyors pouring samples of their wares, the beer fest has become an integral part of the communities that host them. Some even have a philanthropic purpose, such as Decatur, Georgia’s S.U.D.S. Festival (Simply Us Doing Our Share), which benefits local non-profits in their Atlanta-area community. While festive and inclusive, these events can also have a party atmosphere, with plenty of younger revelers who may value the all-you-can-drink aspect more than an opportunity to conduct an afternoon-long study in hazy IPAs.

So where does N/A fit into the beer festival model? It’s a question we posed to Max Green, owner and brewmaster of Palm Bay, Florida’s Leader Brewing, which officially released their first two non-alcoholic brews on the state’s Space Coast in early 2022. Green estimates his brewery has participated in a couple dozen beer festivals since their inception, and while it took time for some attendees to get comfortable with an N/A, the tactic has evolved into a successful way to reach new audiences and educate consumers. “In the early days we occasionally saw someone pull a friend back who was headed to our tent, as if to ‘save’ them,” says Green. “But since that time we’ve been able to really open people’s eyes to N/A beer. Attendees see our slogan, Cause You Got S#!t To Do, and they get it immediately. They love the beer taste, but without the alcohol.”

It’s worth noting that in a growing N/A beer sector where many new entrants are focusing on the health and wellness angle, including sponsorships and sampling at road races, health expos and the like, that’s not a place where Leader is positioning themselves. Instead, they want consumers to see them as any other brewer in the space, albeit one that is without the booze. “This isn’t health, this isn’t wellness,” continued Green. “We approach it as this (Leader) is for beer drinkers that like craft beer.” Judging by the reception they’ve been getting, it’s a philosophy that seems to be working. Green says his brewery often receives votes for best beer at the festivals they go to, and for however many people who may have tried to ‘save’ friends from that N/A tent in the beginning, the opposite is now happening – attendees showing up who have been sent by others insisting they try one of Leader’s festival beers, some of whom are surprised to discover that N/A comes in various craft styles. It’s an educational process that plays out at each new event the brewery is involved in. And as generally the sole non-alcoholic brewer at these festivals, a side benefit has been rubbing shoulders with ‘leaded’ brewers in the same region, many who now carry Leader’s brews in their own taprooms.

So with things going well at the traditional beer festivals, what about the N/A only events that have begun to pop up, both on a national and regional level? It’s a learning process for everyone involved, particularly as the industry continues to understand who is buying the product and for what reasons, which, can be as varied as the styles of near beers themselves. For his part, Green sees opportunity in both types of events, adding, “I think it’s important that (regular) beer and N/A not be mutually exclusive. People want to go where everybody’s already at, and America is still trying to figure out what this N/A thing means.” The latter point is a good reminder of where we are, and how much there remains to figure out. As Green and I discussed in wrapping up our conversation, much of that lies in activity outside of beer festivals, such as bars and restaurants that ultimately set trends and will create a mainstream for the category. Some day soon Leader Brewing won’t be the only primarily-N/A brewer at the events they go to, nor will N/A options be quite as rare on bar and restaurant menus, and that’s a good thing for everybody involved in the non-alcoholic movement.