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Taranaki Beer Festival 2022
July is a busy month for us! In and amongst running our biggest annual ‘Survive July’ sale and helping supply delicious non-alcoholic drinks to those undertaking the various alcohol-free challenges that are going on, we also took a road trip up to the Taranaki Beer Festival on the 1st and 2nd of July. This was the first beer festival held in the region, and we were well impressed by the success of the event.
With a friendly, relaxed vibe, beer enthusiasts were treated to tasting a wide selection of craft beers from locally and nationally based breweries. Loaded with their pre-paid wrist bands, attendees could choose to ‘taste’ any of the beers on offer or purchase full-sized brews from the extensive line up, including our range of non-alcoholic craft beers.
Growing interest for non-alcoholic beers
We noticed a big shift in the interest and attitudes towards non-alcoholic beers compared with when we attended Beervana last year. We went into this festival expecting not to be very busy, but we ended up having a steady flow of people coming and chatting to us throughout the event.
It was great to see such a positive shift in the openness towards, and perception of non-alcoholic drinks. People shared their stories of why they are looking to cut back on drinking or talked about friends who have gone alcohol-free. We even had a few come through who were wanting a non-alcoholic beer to have between alcoholic drinks so they could pace themselves or straighten up a bit after downing a particularly strong brew!
Non-alcoholic beers well received
We mixed it up and had a bit of fun with our customers, sometimes not telling them the beers were alcohol-free. It was great to see their reactions when we’d say afterwards that it was less than 0.5% ABV, many were very surprised and said they wouldn’t have known it. Some didn’t even believe us when we said they were non-alcoholic, so it’s safe to say the feedback was pretty good!
The top favourites over the weekend were the tried and true Lucky Saint Lager, Lowtide and Drop Bear Beer Co range as well as our new line up from One For The Road - the Espresso Stout in particular was very popular ☕️
We also snuck in some Gruvi sparkling wines and Altina to have something for the non-beer lovers, which went down well too.
More locally made non-alcoholic beers coming
It was interesting to hear that many of the breweries are working on a non-alcoholic option to bring to the market, which is great! Until recently, the non-alcoholic space has been dominated by overseas breweries that have been in this game a long time. Times are changing though and we’re lucky to have so many local breweries getting into crafting tasty non-alcoholic beers, some of which are already standing up to the tough international competition. We are looking forward to seeing what comes next and bringing more local products to you soon.