Devon’s Utopian Brewing have today announced the launch of their first alcohol free lager following a 12 month intensive development program. 

Commenting on the launch of AF Pilsner, founder and MD Rich Archer said: “Like all brewers we have been contemplating our approach to AF for many years now but the overarching principle was always that we weren’t willing to compromise our reputation for quality merely to get a beer to market more quickly. 

“We were not going to have access to the £1m or so of capital needed to remove alcohol from a post production beer so the team had to work with traditional brewing techniques. 

“Jeremy and his team have done a truly outstanding job with that, and we are all very excited to be releasing this great new beer into this fast growing segment.”

According to the brewery, they add: “At Utopian we believe everyone deserves a great pint of beer, no matter the occasion. Our AF Pilsner is crafted with the same British grown barley and hops and fermented cold with authentic lager yeast. It’s the same uncompromising, crisp, clean and refreshing unfiltered lager, just without the alcohol.”

Easy to say but hard to do as head brewer Jeremy Swainson explained: “It was important to us that our AF Pilsner was an authentic lager, fermented cold with bottom fermenting yeast, whilst retaining as much body and mouthfeel as possible to ensure a genuine beer drinking experience. This required a reimagining of much of the brewing process, and we are excited about the results.“

The beer is available in 440ml cans and a limited number of 20l kegs either direct from the brewery or via a variety of distribution channels. 

The new AF Pilsner release follows hot on the heels of the recent re-release of ‘Small Pils’ a refreshing pilsner at 3.4% abv and Mystic IPA cask also at 3.4% .  

Having an increasing range of low and no beers in the portfolio is very much part or Utopian’s forward looking strategy but as Rich Archer commented they still plan to have a wide range of beers available at higher abv’s too. 

“We are very aware and supportive of the desire of drinkers to consume less alcohol. We see that as a positive thing but equally think it’s important to continue to give consumers access to some of the great beer styles at the higher end of the abv bracket. 

“Having this combination we think is pivotal to enabling drinkers to continue to enjoy all the beers styles they have come to love, or haven’t yet tried, whilst reducing overall alcohol consumption.  Balance is the key.”