After 261 years, Guinness gives in to the sirens of non-alcoholic beer

It’s a small revolution in the beer market. The Guinness brand is about to launch an alcohol-free version of Stout, its famous marbled-looking beer, details CNN. For the first time in 261 years, the Irish brewery will therefore abandon alcohol. The new product will go on sale first in the UK and Ireland on Monday 26 October. Other countries are expected to follow by the end of next year. British pubs will also be able to offer it to their customers from spring 2021.

This drink is not the exact opposite of the original Guinness. It is made using a similar process and using the same ingredients as the staple marbled beer. Once the water, hops, barley and yeast have been mixed, the alcohol is then removed through a cold filtration process, said Diageo, the parent company of Guinness in a statement, relayed by CNN. The company explains that this alcohol-free beer should allow people to enjoy Guinness and its usual flavors, without necessarily drinking alcohol. Guinness without alcohol is also much less caloric than its big sister.

Non-alcoholic beer is democratizing

As stated in Guardian, even before confinement, many brewers were already offering beers without alcohol or with a reduced alcohol level. Diageo is not his first attempt. The Guinness parent company bought the Seedlip brand in 2019, which only offers non-alcoholic spirits. For its part, Guinness has also launched a new range called Pure Brew, a lager with 0.5% alcohol content. Its competitors, including Heineken and Carlsberg, have also entered the non-alcoholic beer market. At the St James’s Gate production site in Dublin, 2.5 million Guinness is produced every day.