Eastern Market Brewing

DETROIT, Michigan – Eastern Market Brewing Co. is launching its non-alcoholic beer line just in time for Dry January. The Detroit-based brewery has been experimenting with draft versions of their NA beer for much of 2022, but this is the first time the near beer is available in cans to take home.

Non-Alcoholic Grapefruit Sour and Non-Alcoholic Tangerine Sour are the first two flavors to hit shelves this week including Busch’s, Total Wine, and independent retailers across Metro Detroit. The four-pack of 12oz cans will also be available at their Eastern Market taproom as well as their sister locations (Ferndale Project in Ferndale, MI, and Lincoln Tap in Royal Oak, MI).

The non-alcoholic beer segment continues to show significant growth across the United States. In 2021, Eastern Market Brewing Co. made the decision to begin testing the NA market and partnered with Minnesota-based ABV Technology to install an Equalizer machine at their production facility. It uses dual-stage vacuum separation to take one input, a beer with alcohol, and turn it into two outputs: a clear hard seltzer at the same ABV as the input product, and also, a near beer with most of the flavor of the input beer but with less than .5% alcohol by volume.

“When we began contemplating the NA market and learned about ABV Technology’s machine, my first reaction was that it sounded too good to be true. We could take any of our beers, run it through the machine, and not only get an NA version of the beer, but also a hard seltzer output,” said Dayne Bartcht, Managing Partner of Eastern Market Brewing Co. “So we loaded up a car with kegs, drove to Minnesota, and sure enough, it worked. It was the best NA beer I’ve tasted.”

As the team experimented with NA beers, it became clear that sours provided the most flavor, so the decision was to start with gose-style sours. Eastern Market Brewing Co. had already mastered this type of beer in an alcoholic form including their popular flagship, Raspberry Gose. The German-style beer is light-bodied, tart, and refreshing, making it approachable to most.

Eastern Market Brewing Co.’s campaign is titled “Get Sh¡t Done,” an ode to the fact that NA beers pack the same flavor customers have grown to love, but without the associated buzz.

“As January approached and we were confident in the quality of the NA beers coming out, it was important the product fit within our family of brands, but also had a unique personality. Internally, our NA sours have become the go-to beer when we’re working late into the evening. That’s when it clicked. This is the beer for people that want to get shit done, but on their terms,” said Pauline Knighton-Prueter, Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “People who love beer and expect that level of flavor, but have hobbies, passions, or work that they need to focus on.”

Knighton-Prueter continues, “Detroit is a hard-working city made up of countless movers and shakers that always have to be ‘on.’ Through the campaign, we want to highlight these people. It is exciting to offer a new market-fresh beer that all can enjoy during any occasion.”

About Eastern Market Brewing Company

Eastern Market Brewing Co. is a community-focused craft brewery and taproom in the heart of Eastern Market, an area of Detroit long known for its brewing history. Mixing tradition with experimentation has led to their rapid growth including Elephant Juice, their flagship NEIPA, and an easy-drinking Wunderboi Kolsch. Their family of companies includes Ferndale Project in Ferndale, Lincoln Tap in Royal Oak, Dooped Donuts in Detroit, and ASHE Coffee in Detroit. Their taproom is located at 2515 Riopelle Street, Detroit, MI.

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