Non-Alcoholic Beer 101
What non-alcoholic beer is, how it is made, which style to start with, and what the numbers on the label mean.
What Counts as Non-Alcoholic?
In India, the food regulations count a drink as an alcoholic beverage when it has more than 0.5% ABV, and the Bureau of Indian Standards defines non-alcoholic beer as under 0.5%. Other countries draw the line in other places, from 0.05% in some Gulf figures to 1% in Japan and South Korea. Our page on non-alcoholic beer rules by country sets them out with sources.
Under 0.5% is a trace. A 500ml can holds at most 2.5ml of alcohol, a tenth of what a regular 5% beer of the same size holds. Ripe fruit, kombucha and some fruit juices also carry trace amounts of alcohol. A label that says 0.0% is making a stricter claim than one that says under 0.5%.
A trace is still not zero. If you avoid alcohol completely for medical, religious or personal reasons, check the label and make the choice that is right for you.
Two Ways to Make It
Fermented beer
A fermented non-alcoholic beer is brewed like any beer, with malt, hops and a real fermentation. Some producers ferment it to full strength and then separate the alcohol out, by vacuum distillation or membrane filtration. Others, SOMA included, ferment with a maltose-negative yeast that builds the flavour of a fermented beer and leaves the alcohol under 0.5% ABV. Both routes cost more than a malt drink, and both give you a beer.
Malt drink
A malt drink skips fermentation, or barely starts it, and mixes a malt base with sugar and flavouring instead. It is cheaper to make, but fermentation is where most of a beer's flavour comes from, so these drinks often taste sweet and syrupy.
Beer Styles, Decoded
“Beer” is a category, not a flavor. Here is the map, with a starting point for each.
| Style | Character | Start Here | From SOMA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blonde Ale / Lager | Golden, crisp, clean, gently malty | If you drink mass-market lagers | SOMA Lager |
| Hazy IPA | Cloudy, juicy, tropical, soft-bodied | If you love craft IPAs | SOMA IPA |
| Stout / Porter | Dark, roasty, chocolate and coffee notes | If you drink dark beer or love filter coffee | SOMA Stout |
| Wheat / Fruit Beer | Soft, hazy, often with fruit character | If you like wheat beers or sweet-leaning drinks | SOMA Belgian Wit |
| Coffee Stout | A stout brewed with coffee — roast on roast, and the only style here that carries caffeine | If you drink cold brew and wish it were a beer | SOMA Caffeinated Stout |
The Numbers
The calories
Alcohol carries 7 kcal per gram, nearly twice as much as carbohydrate, so a beer with very little alcohol has far fewer calories than a regular one. Our post on non-alcoholic beer calories gives the figures.
The trace
A 500ml can at 0.5% ABV holds at most 2.5ml of alcohol. A regular 5% beer of the same size holds 25ml. The trace is small, but it is not zero.
Still an adult drink
Non-alcoholic beer is brewed and sold as beer, so SOMA sells only to adults aged 18 and over. If you avoid alcohol completely, ask your doctor whether a trace matters for you.
What NA beer is not
Non-alcoholic beer is not a health food, a sports supplement or a cure for anything. It is a beer for the times you want a beer and would rather not drink alcohol. Water is still the better drink, and we drink both.
How to Pick a Good One
Check the method
Fermented beers and malt drinks are both sold as non-alcoholic beer. A good label says how the beer was made, whether with a special yeast or by separating the alcohol out afterwards.
Read the sugar line
Read the sugar line on the label. Radler-style drinks add fruit syrup, and they taste closer to a soda than to a beer.
Look for a style
A label that names a style, such as non-alcoholic hazy IPA, tells you what to expect. A label that only says non-alcoholic beer tells you very little.
Check freshness
Hop character fades with time, so a fresh can tastes better than one that has spent months in storage.
The Glossary
- ABV
- ABV means alcohol by volume, the share of a drink that is alcohol, given as a percentage. Regular beer is usually 4 to 8% ABV. In India, a drink above 0.5% ABV counts as an alcoholic beverage, and other countries draw the line in other places.
- Alcohol-free beer
- In India's food regulations, "alcohol free beer" means a beer at 0.0% ABV. SOMA is under 0.5% ABV, so we call it non-alcoholic, not alcohol-free.
- Dealcoholization
- Dealcoholization means separating the alcohol out of a fully fermented beer, usually by vacuum distillation or membrane filtration. It is one of two ways to make a fermented non-alcoholic beer; the other is to ferment with a yeast that keeps the alcohol under 0.5% from the start.
- Vacuum distillation
- Vacuum distillation evaporates alcohol at low pressure, at about 35 to 40°C instead of 78°C, which protects the beer's flavour. SOMA does not use it: we ferment with a maltose-negative yeast so that the alcohol stays under 0.5% from the start.
- Maltose-negative yeast
- A maltose-negative yeast is a brewer's yeast that cannot eat maltose, the main sugar in beer wort. It ferments the simpler sugars, builds the flavour of a fermented beer and leaves the alcohol under 0.5% ABV. It is the method SOMA uses.
- Limited fermentation
- Limited fermentation means stopping a normal fermentation early, or barely starting it, so that little alcohol forms. It is cheaper, but it often leaves a sweet, unfinished taste. A maltose-negative yeast is different: it ferments everything it can eat and then stops on its own.
- Malt drink
- A malt drink is a soft drink made by mixing malt extract with water, sugar and flavouring, without a full beer fermentation. In India, malt drinks are often sold next to non-alcoholic beer, and the label is the way to tell them apart.
- Wort
- Wort is the sweet liquid made by steeping malted grain in hot water. Yeast turns wort into beer.
- Dry hopping
- Dry hopping means adding hops after the boil, usually in the fermenter, for aroma without extra bitterness. Hazy IPAs depend on it.
Common questions
Can non-alcoholic beer get you drunk?
For a healthy adult drinking a few cans over an evening, the practical answer is no. A 500ml can at 0.5% ABV holds at most 2.5ml of alcohol, a tenth of what a regular 5% beer of the same size holds and about a quarter of what an average adult processes in an hour. A trace is still not zero, so if you avoid alcohol completely for medical, religious or personal reasons, make the choice that is right for you.
What does under 0.5% ABV mean?
It means less than half a percent of the drink is alcohol. India's food regulations count a drink as an alcoholic beverage when it has more than 0.5% ABV (regulation 1.2.3), and the Bureau of Indian Standards defines non-alcoholic beer as under 0.5% (IS 12544). Other countries draw the line in other places: Japan and South Korea at 1%, and some Gulf figures at 0.05%.
How is non-alcoholic beer made?
There are two common methods. Some producers ferment a beer to full strength and then separate the alcohol out afterwards, which is how most mass-market 0.0% lagers are made. Others ferment the beer so that the alcohol never goes above 0.5% in the first place. SOMA uses the second method, with a maltose-negative yeast that cannot eat maltose, the main sugar in beer wort.
Is non-alcoholic beer the same as a malt drink?
No. A malt-based soft drink is mixed rather than fermented, from malt extract, water, carbonation and sweeteners. A brewed non-alcoholic beer goes through a real fermentation, which creates the esters, depth and roundness that make beer taste like beer.
The 0.5% line is not the same in every country. For how countries across Asia and the Middle East define, label and sell non-alcoholic beer, with the law behind each rule, see Non-Alcoholic Beer Rules in Asia and the Middle East.
Pre-order SOMA
SOMA makes five non-alcoholic craft beers under 0.5% ABV, from ₹119 a can. Production starts after December 2026, and nothing ships before then.
Pre-order SOMA