Maine craft brewery looks to change the nonalcoholic landscape
Kit NA Brewing is the first craft brewer in Maine to make only nonalcoholic beers
Updated: 7:44 PM EST Nov 23, 2022
A craft beer company in Portland is setting itself apart in a crowded field. Kit NA Brewing is the first and only craft beer company in Maine to brew only non-alcoholic beers.”When Rob and I started, the problem we were trying to solve basically was making NA beer taste better,” said Will Fisher, founder of Kit NA Brewing.Fisher says he believes that, after two years of testing, he and business partner Rob Barrett have solved that problem and that their beers taste like any regular beer.”Our actual process is very much like regular strength beer. So, it’s the same ingredients, it’s really the same process just a little more control of time and temperature and fermentation but generally, it’s the same principle,” said Fisher.Fisher is well-versed in the beer-making process. His company also owns Portland’s Austin Street Brewery and produces more than four dozen varieties of alcoholic beer. Kit is his first venture into nonalcoholic drinks, but he says the market is huge.Fisher and Barrett decided to get into the nonalcoholic business after making personal choices to cut back on their own alcohol consumption. Barrett says he actually gave it up completely in 2019, though both still enjoy the taste of a good beer. And they say research shows a lot of people in the same position.”There’s folks who abstain from drinking completely so they choose nonalcoholic products. There are people that switch back and forth — the term is called ‘striping’ which is drinking regular beer sometimes, sometimes drink an NA beer — and I fall into that category myself,” said Fisher.Kit currently sells two beers, an American Blonde along with an IPA. They are set to release a third in spring 2023.Though categorized as nonalcoholic, since Kit’s brewing process does not include removing alcohol, it still contains a scant 0.5%. Many standard craft beers can have an alcohol content as high as 15%.Nonalcoholic beer is certainly not new, but Fisher says he hopes that by creating this first-in-the-state craft brewery and tackling the taste problem, they can brew a better beer and a different kind of attitude.”And so the mindset we think of is having an NA beer, not that you have to drink but want to drink it,” said Fisher.Fisher says the process to reduce the alcohol requires equipment he does not have in Maine, so the actual brewing takes place in New York, but the company headquarters, along with marketing and packaging, all happens in Portland.Kit currently serves about 6,000 different accounts.
A craft beer company in Portland is setting itself apart in a crowded field. Kit NA Brewing is the first and only craft beer company in Maine to brew only non-alcoholic beers.
“When Rob and I started, the problem we were trying to solve basically was making NA beer taste better,” said Will Fisher, founder of Kit NA Brewing.
Fisher says he believes that, after two years of testing, he and business partner Rob Barrett have solved that problem and that their beers taste like any regular beer.
“Our actual process is very much like regular strength beer. So, it’s the same ingredients, it’s really the same process just a little more control of time and temperature and fermentation but generally, it’s the same principle,” said Fisher.
Fisher is well-versed in the beer-making process. His company also owns Portland’s Austin Street Brewery and produces more than four dozen varieties of alcoholic beer. Kit is his first venture into nonalcoholic drinks, but he says the market is huge.
Fisher and Barrett decided to get into the nonalcoholic business after making personal choices to cut back on their own alcohol consumption. Barrett says he actually gave it up completely in 2019, though both still enjoy the taste of a good beer. And they say research shows a lot of people in the same position.
“There’s folks who abstain from drinking completely so they choose nonalcoholic products. There are people that switch back and forth — the term is called ‘striping’ which is drinking regular beer sometimes, sometimes drink an NA beer — and I fall into that category myself,” said Fisher.
Kit currently sells two beers, an American Blonde along with an IPA. They are set to release a third in spring 2023.
Though categorized as nonalcoholic, since Kit’s brewing process does not include removing alcohol, it still contains a scant 0.5%. Many standard craft beers can have an alcohol content as high as 15%.
Nonalcoholic beer is certainly not new, but Fisher says he hopes that by creating this first-in-the-state craft brewery and tackling the taste problem, they can brew a better beer and a different kind of attitude.
“And so the mindset we think of is having an NA beer, not that you have to drink but want to drink it,” said Fisher.
Fisher says the process to reduce the alcohol requires equipment he does not have in Maine, so the actual brewing takes place in New York, but the company headquarters, along with marketing and packaging, all happens in Portland.
Kit currently serves about 6,000 different accounts.