USA, ME: KITna Brewing to be dedicated to non-alcoholic beer only

Maine already has at least 150 craft breweries, but a new one, launching this summer will offer a different choice, the Maine Public reported on July 29.

"So this brewery will be dedicated to non-alcoholic beer only — so 0.5% or less," says Will Fisher, co-founder of KITna Brewing.

Fisher already makes regular craft beer at Portland's Austin Street Brewery, but he says there was clearly a gap in the market. He and KITna's co-founder, Rob Barrett, noticed that very few non-alcoholic beer options were available at all, and none of them tasted good.

"Where we got the idea for the brewery was like, we have to be able to make a great NA beer. There has to be a way to do it, and not do it in an odd way with weird ingredients and things to alter the beer," says Fisher.

The company's flagship NA beer is an American Blond Ale containing just water, hops, yeast, and grain, but the plan is to make a full complement of beer styles from pale ales to stouts, and seasonal specials. The idea is to have a delicious and practical replacement for the brews craft beer lovers want to drink.

"You have a drink on a week night and you want to have one more, but you want to make sure you're feeling good in the morning or you've got to drive home. You replace it with this." says Fisher. "Or maybe you don't drink any alcohol at all, but you miss having a beer or you miss having a beverage in a social situation, so you grab one of these. Or maybe it's just Dry January."

Plus, Fisher says non-alcoholic beer is easier to distribute, and can be delivered with little trouble to people's homes.

Fisher says he expects KITna's first non-alcoholic brews to go on sale around Thanksgiving.

29 July, 2021