Where does the 0% beer alcohol go? From the beer pump to the gas pump

Non-alcoholic beers are attracting more and more consumers. Between those who don’t appreciate the effects of alcohol, those who want to have a drink and then drive, and countries where the consumption of alcoholic beverages is prohibited or unwelcome, the opportunities are promising. All brands are getting into it. At the world leader, AB InBev, we have believed in it for a long time, almost all the group’s products are available at 0%, even Corona will soon be there.

How to produce these alcohol-free beers? As explained Frederic Marchanttechnical director of AB InBev’s Leuven site, the method has evolved: “At first, we interrupted the fermentation of the future beer just before it produced alcohol, but frankly the result was not very satisfactory, we didn’t taste like beer. We then chose to leave the process to take place to the end, we obtain a real beer but we then submit it to a process which consists in removing its alcohol content.We pass the alcoholic beer through a stainless steel column in which we inject steam under pressure, this vapor is charged with ethanol and the beer that emerges is 0%.The alcohol collected is then condensed and stored in an external silo where it is cooled.It is then available for other uses that no longer fall under of the craft of brewing.”