A big test of non-alcoholic beers sold in the Czech Republic: Quality and growth! And interest too

Do you like beer? Need to quench your thirst on hot summer days, but still have to get behind the wheel? Try it non-alcoholic. We tried twenty samples for you, including flavored drinks.

The Czechs are a nation of beer drinkers, and for most of us drinking the golden liquid is a kind of national sport. But alcohol does not go well with driving a motor vehicle. So if we want to quench our thirst with a bitter drink, we usually reach for non-alcoholic beer. The selection is really rich and it is difficult to add up the exact number of products, especially when we add flavored variants to them.

The popularity of non-alcoholic beers (including flavored) is evidenced by the trend of recent years. According to statistics, their production and consumption in the Czech Republic is constantly growing, and in 2022, exhibitions (production) reached 172% compared to 2013. Even more interesting is the ratio of non-alcoholic beers to alcoholic ones. In 2018, it accounted for only 4.5% of the total beer display in the Czech Republic, in 2022 it was 8.3%. So the market trend is clear. “It’s not just a soft drink for drivers anymore. Consumers enjoy it during an active life, cycling, skiing, but increasingly also as a draft alternative in the pub when sitting with friends. In addition, we also see a clear trend of a more open society, when people have stopped condemning non-drinkers and everyone is having fun at one table, with classic beer or non-alcoholic beer,” says Roman Trzaskalik, commercial director of Pilsenský Prazdroj. “In the summer months, the sale of flavored non-alcoholic beers clearly prevails,” adds Denisa Mylbachrová, press spokesperson for Staropramen Breweries.