Below Brew Co: Alcohol-Free Craft Beers

Below Brew Co

Below Brew Co is an independent alcohol-free brewing company, offering a small range of drinks in beautifully designed cans. You can buy in local shops, or shop online (including mixed cases and taster packs.

The range includes:

Brune DMC brown ale

  • Brune DMC (Belgian brown ale – supports local economies unlike Newcastle Brown Ale, owned by Heineken)
  • Neipa Cosmic Turtle (New England IPA)
  • Wild Juice Chase (juicy pale ale)
  • Heaven & Helles (gluten-free lager)
  • Forgot to Take My Pils (hoppy Pilsner)
  • All Hopped Up (IPA)
  • Unruly AF (pale ale)

What is Alcohol-Free Beer?

No alcohol can really be 0% booze, as even fruit and bread contains a little alcohol. But 0.5% is as low as you can get. It’s officially safe to drive (but still best to avoid for pregnancy/nursing).

Do You Drink Too Much Booze?!

If you like to drink boozy beer, and are wondering whether you need to cut down (and perhaps sub with a few alcohol-free beers through the week), here is a simple guide (none of that confusing ‘unit’ stuff):

For a normal sized adult, NHS recommendations are (these are either/or – not all together!):

  • 6 pints of beer a week (not all on the same day!)
  • 6 glasses of wine a week
  • 12 measures of spirits

So in plain English, if you drink 14 pints of beer a week (way over recommended limits) but still wanted to drink beer, you would cut down to one beer a day for six days (and the other one could be alcohol-free, plus go booze-free one day a week). Or mix and match if you also drink wine or spirits.

How to Recycle Beer Cans

You don’t need to crush cans before recycling. But do just pop the ring-pulls back over the holes beforehand, as this stops curious wildlife (like hedgehogs or snails/slugs) getting trapped.

Set up a can recycling program to raise money for your community!

These beers are packed in cardboard. But never buy brands wrapped in those plastic beer rings, as they harm wildlife (they are invisible in water, even though they are ‘biodegradable’). Some shops now ban their sale. If the big brands (like Stella Artois) can pack in cardboard, so can the others.

Why Choose Vegan Beers?

Many beers (especially cask beers) are filtered through gelatine (animal bones) or isinglass (fish bladder). So look for vegan beers. These use natural methods that take a little longer, but result in better taste.

Below Brew Co Vegan Stout 

Below Brew pastry stout

The Pastry Stout is like ‘liquid chocolate’, with flavours of chocolate and honeycomb (sounds like a Crunchie bar!)

Despite now being vegan (thanks to campaigns), Guinness is not local – it’s owned by a big multi-national. Guinness is not even Irish (founded by an anti-Catholic entrepreneur, though to be fair, he did use profits to donate to peace organisations).

But when the newly-formed Irish government wanted to use the harp as its symbol, Mr Guinness wouldn’t let them (he held the copyright). So the government got creative, and used the harp anyway, just facing the other way! If you look closely, you’ll notice that the Irish government’s harp symbol and the Guinness harp, do indeed face different directions.

Belhaven stout is not vegan, as it’s filtered with isinglass (fish gelatine).

Are Wholesale Orders Available?

Yes. If you run a shop, off license, pub, restaurant or hotel, get in touch for trade order queries. The portal is simple to use with discount tiers set up, live stock counts, clear shipping info and costs, and the opportunity for online direct payments.

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