The Brewing Process: How We Make UNLTD. Non-Alcoholic Beer
alcohol free drinks alcohol-free behind the scenes brewing craft guides ipa lager
5 min read

The Brewing Process: How We Make UNLTD. Non-Alcoholic Beer

The Brewing Process: How We Make UNLTD. Non-Alcoholic Beer

It's the question we get asked more than any other: how do you make beer without the alcohol? And the follow-up is usually some version of: if there's no alcohol, is it even real beer?

The answer to the second question is yes - emphatically. And the answer to the first is more interesting than you might think. Here's how non-alcoholic beer is made, and specifically how we brew UNLTD. to taste the way it does.

First Things First: It Is Real Beer

Non-alcoholic beer isn't a soft drink pretending to be beer. It's brewed using the same core ingredients as any beer: water, malt, hops and yeast. The brewing process involves mashing, boiling, hopping, fermenting - all the same steps that have been making beer for thousands of years.

The difference is in how the alcohol is managed. There are several ways to do this, and the method a brewery chooses has a huge impact on the final taste.

The Three Main Methods

Not all non-alcoholic beers are made the same way. Here are the three most common approaches:

  • Dealcoholisation: Brew a full-strength beer first, then remove the alcohol afterwards using methods like vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis. The beer is gently heated under reduced pressure (so it doesn't cook) and the alcohol evaporates off. The challenge is preserving the delicate hop aromas and flavour compounds that can be lost in the process.
  • Arrested fermentation: Start the brewing process as normal but stop fermentation early, before the yeast converts all the sugars to alcohol. This keeps the ABV low but often leaves residual sweetness - which is why some non-alc beers taste noticeably sweet compared to their full-strength equivalents.
  • Controlled fermentation: Use specialised yeast strains, adjusted grain bills and precise brewing parameters to produce a beer that reaches low ABV naturally, without needing to remove alcohol after the fact. This gives the brewer maximum control over flavour from start to finish.

Each method has trade-offs. The best results come from breweries that have invested time in getting the balance right - because making great non-alcoholic beer is, in many ways, harder than making the regular kind.

Why Non-Alc Beer Is Harder to Brew

This might sound counterintuitive, but bear with us. In regular beer, alcohol does a lot of heavy lifting. It carries flavour compounds, adds body and mouthfeel, and masks minor imperfections in the brew. Remove the alcohol and you remove that safety net.

Every flaw is exposed. If the hop balance is slightly off, you'll taste it. If there's residual sweetness where there shouldn't be, you'll notice. If the mouthfeel is thin, there's nowhere to hide.

That's why the best non-alcoholic beers in 2026 are made by brewers who've obsessed over the details. It's precision brewing, and it demands more skill, not less.

How We Brew UNLTD.

We can't give away every detail of our process - our brewers would have strong words - but here's what we can share about how UNLTD. Lager and UNLTD. IPA are made:

  • Real brewing, real ingredients: Water, malt, hops, yeast. No artificial flavourings, no sweeteners, no shortcuts.
  • Zero sugar: Both beers contain 0g of sugar. That's not common in the non-alc category, where many brands retain or add sugar to compensate for the flavour lost when alcohol is removed. We've found ways to achieve full flavour without it.
  • Hop character preserved: Our IPA uses a generous hop bill that delivers citrus and tropical notes with proper bitterness. Preserving those volatile hop aromas through a low-ABV brewing process is one of the hardest things to get right, and it's where we've invested most of our development time.
  • Fortified with B vitamins: We add B vitamins to support energy metabolism and recovery - a genuine functional benefit that makes UNLTD. more than just a drink.
  • Gluten-free: Both beers are brewed to be gluten-free, tested below 20ppm, and safe for coeliacs. You can read more about this in our gluten-free beer guide.

What About the Taste?

The proof is in the drinking. UNLTD. has won 15 industry awards, many of them in blind tastings where judges didn't know the ABV. When your beer can stand alongside full-strength competitors and win without anyone knowing it's 0.5%, the brewing process is doing its job.

Our Lager is clean, crisp and genuinely refreshing - the kind of easy-drinking beer that works on any occasion. Our IPA is hop-forward with citrus and tropical character and a dry, bitter finish. Neither tastes like a compromise, because neither is one.

The Future of Non-Alc Brewing

The non-alcoholic beer category is evolving rapidly. Brewing techniques are improving every year, new hop varieties are being developed specifically for low-ABV beers, and consumer expectations are higher than ever.

That's good for everyone. Better brewing means better beer, and better beer means more people discovering that cutting alcohol doesn't mean cutting flavour. We're committed to pushing the boundaries of what non-alcoholic beer can taste like - because we believe this category is just getting started.

Try the Result

We could talk about brewing all day, but the best way to understand what we do is to taste it. UNLTD. Lager (23 cal) and UNLTD. IPA (13 cal) are both gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free and B-Corp certified.

Real beer, real brewing, real flavour. Just without the alcohol.

Explore the full range at unltd.beer.

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