How Many Nonalcoholic Beers Does It Take to Get Drunk?

In the last few years, there’s been a lot of hype around the rise of nonalcoholic beer. While global beer consumption is down, the nonalcoholic (NA) beer category is growing and is projected to reach $4 billion by 2028.

The interest in NA beers, fueled by Millennials and Gen Z, has grown beyond Dry January and a strictly sober audience. Sober-curious drinkers and even regular consumers of alcohol are reaching for NA beers more frequently, as the quality of the category rises.

Technically, some NA beers may contain trace amounts of alcohol, even if they say “less than 0.5% ABV.” So, how alcohol free are these beers? If there’s no alcohol, can they still be called beer? And, how much can you drink before you can actually get drunk from an NA beer?

Near beer

Nonalcoholic beverages have been around far longer than Dry January, the U.K.-born campaign to abstain from alcohol, conceived in the early 2000s.

“We can go as far back as Ancient Egypt, where workers drank watered-down, lightly fermented beer for calories and hydration,” says Tomas Josasbeer historian and 2023 Lithuanian Beer Sommelier Champion. “The nonalcoholic beer movement [really kicked off] in the United States during the Prohibition era.”

Following the Volstead Act in 1920, alcohol was illegal for 13 years in the U.S. American brewers responded by creating low-ABV drinks: Mega-brands such as Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Company produced what they called “near beer,” either by watering down regular beer or cooking off the alcohol — methods that resulted in a compromised, mealy-tasting brew.

Elsewhere, alcohol-free beer emerged not from prohibition but necessity, as large commercial breweries sought to bypass restrictive laws. In the 1950s, Switzerland saw low-ABV beer become highly marketable when drunk-driving penalties increased, a trend Germany followed in the 1970s.

Switzerland was ahead of the curve: Gurten and Cardinal recruited race-car drivers as nonalcoholic-beer ambassadors, while Zürich-based Hürlimann released Birell, brewed with a special yeast that limited alcohol production.

Both boutique and commercial brands have stepped up their game over the years to meet demands.

Though there’s a lot more labor and expense involved when brewing a decent bottle of non-alcoholic beer, Anton Hirschfield, of Weihenstephan Brewery, says the category isn’t going away anytime soon.

Brands like Germany’s Weihenstephan, Heineken, and Carlsberg each have a non-alcoholic beer expression. “In the last five years, we have seen a 45% increase in sales, and will continue to push forward our alcohol-free beers, which stand for about 10% of our total volume,” says Hirschfield.

Can you get drunk on non-alcoholic beer?

“While they are often referred to as ‘nonalcoholic,’ they are not always 0% ABV,” says a spokesperson from the research lab at Danish beer brand Carlsberg. “Trace amounts can stem from the natural fermentation process.”

In the U.S., an NA drink may legally contain up to 0.5% ABV, and every state handles regulation differently. In New Mexico, Montana, and Louisiana, NA beer is exempt from alcohol laws; in Delaware, Alabama, and Nebraska, it’s treated as an alcoholic beverage, and an open container in a vehicle is illegal.

So, can you actually get drunk? Studies at Germany’s University of Freiburg indicate that consuming more than 50 ounces of NA beer in an hour does not significantly affect blood-alcohol levels. Dr. Volker Auwärter, who gave subjects 0.5-liter bottles of Erdinger Alcohol-Free beer, reports, “In the mental and physical tests we conducted, there was no measurable impairment.”

In other words, “alcohol-free” doesn’t mean zero alcohol—but it does mean no “alcoholizing effect.”

How do you make non-alcoholic beer?

“Alcohol is a flavor carrier, so by removing it, you affect the overall mouthfeel, intensity, and the beer can feel thinner, flatter, and less complex,” says Steven van Klaveren, food and beverage manager of Fotografiska Berlin.

There are two primary production methods: either remove alcohol from a normally fermented beer, or halt fermentation before substantial alcohol develops, says Thomas Tyrell of BrauKunst Brewery in Berlin.

Many of the world’s top beer companies adopt both methods to achieve the same aromas and flavors of alcoholic beer. Unlike the practices used during Prohibition, which produced a mealy and overly sweet drink, a low-and-slow approach is typically used now to perfect the brew.

Today’s top brewers often combine techniques to replicate the aromas and flavors of regular beer. Weihenstephan Brewery, which debuted its NA beer in 1993, removes alcohol under vacuum at a controlled temperature rather than aggressively boiling it off.

“We do not stop the fermentation like other breweries, which would leave a rather sweet and malty beer,” says Tobias Zollo, head brewmaster at Weihenstephan. “We keep most of the aroma of the beer until dealcoholization, then we take out the alcohol.”

“Each method has its pros and cons,” says Josas, and if executed poorly, can leave beer tasting “sweet, flat, or soulless.” But decades of innovation mean there’s little reason to shy away from NA beers today.

“Ten years ago, nonalcoholic beers were what you drank when you had no other choice,” says Josas. “Today? It’s often something I actually recommend, not as a substitute, but as a legit beer in its own right.”