Press
Non-alcoholic beer has developed from an additional portfolio option into an independent growth and future category in the beer market. While traditional beer sales are under pressure, non-alcoholic beers continue to gain importance in production, retail and consumer perception. For breweries, beverage producers, bottlers and hospitality businesses, this creates a clear opportunity: not simply to make non-alcoholic beer available, but to manage it professionally as a high-quality draught experience in reusable stainless steel KEGs.
The beverage market is showing clear momentum: In Germany, around 750 million litres of non-alcoholic beer were produced in 2025, corresponding to an increase of 7.6 percent compared with the previous year. This means production has more than doubled over the past two decades. Non-alcoholic beers and beer-based mixed drinks now account for around 11 percent of total beer consumption. Every ninth litre of beer drunk in Germany is non-alcoholic. The category is also continuing to grow in retail: in 2025, non-alcoholic beers and beer-based mixed drinks exceeded the 10-percent mark in revenue for the first time.1 At the same time, the traditional beer market remains under pressure. Non-alcoholic beer is therefore no longer a nice-to-have, but a key growth driver for the industry.
[1] Press release “German Brewers Association reviews developments for German Beer Day”, 22.4.2026
“Today, non-alcoholic beer is much more than a mandatory item on the drinks menu. It stands for freedom of choice, variety and contemporary beer enjoyment. The key now is to take a professional approach to developing this category further in draught service as well,” says Oliver Evering, Sales Director at SCHÄFER Container Systems. “With our reusable stainless steel KEGs, we offer a proven infrastructure for quality, circular economy and practical container logistics.”
Download the “Non-alcoholic Beer in KEGs” white paper now
For breweries and bottlers, non-alcoholic beer in KEGs opens up additional sales and brand spaces. The category transfers existing brewing expertise, brand strength and perceived quality to non-alcoholic ranges. This makes strong beer brands visible in new consumption occasions. Non-alcoholic beer therefore becomes a strategic component for broadening the portfolio and responding to changing consumption habits.
Getting started does not present a fundamental infrastructure hurdle. In many cases, existing filling lines and established processes can continue to be used. What matters is a clear portfolio strategy, binding quality standards and convincing market communication. Non-alcoholic beer should not be presented defensively as an alternative, but as a stand-alone offer for modern, self-determined beer enjoyment.
In reusable stainless steel KEGs, non-alcoholic beer also becomes visible for breweries and bottlers in the out-of-home market. Draught beer service creates a premium perception that goes beyond mere availability. This allows brands to expand their presence in hospitality, the events business and other draught concepts, and to integrate non-alcoholic ranges more strongly into tangible consumption occasions.
At the same time, KEG branding supports a professional brand presence: individually designed KEGs make brands visible and also make it easier to distinguish clearly between alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. Colours, markings, logos or designs support the allocation of individual product lines in logistics, storage and draught service. Clear branding therefore reduces the risk of confusion while strengthening brand presence throughout the entire beverage cycle.
Non-alcoholic beer is also becoming increasingly relevant for hospitality. Guests today expect choice, conscious enjoyment and equivalent non-alcoholic options. Non-alcoholic beer is therefore no longer just an addition to the drinks menu, but a visible expression of modern hospitality.
Freshly tapped non-alcoholic beer offers clearly perceptible added value compared with the bottle: it appears higher quality, fresher and more closely integrated into the hospitality experience. Particularly in a market environment in which value for money is increasingly being questioned, availability alone is not what counts, but the value in the glass. Draught service from KEGs makes quality, freshness and experience immediately visible to guests.
Non-alcoholic beer on draught therefore enhances the drinks menu, creates additional consumption occasions and makes conscious enjoyment readily available. For businesses that want to appeal to younger target groups, diverse beverage concepts and modern visit occasions, non-alcoholic beer in KEGs thus becomes a differentiating feature. It enables freedom of choice without excluding guests from the shared beer moment.
At the same time, the offer can be integrated into existing operating logic. Suitable container sizes, clear rotation planning, continuous cooling and reliable hygiene routines are decisive. In this way, non-alcoholic beer on draught becomes a plannable, high-quality option on the drinks menu.
Practical implementation in draught service remains a central challenge. Many market participants still associate non-alcoholic beer on draught with questions relating to hygiene, shelf life, cooling and rotation. However, these aspects are not counterarguments, but practical issues that can be resolved. With suitable container sizes, clear routines and professional draught logistics, non-alcoholic beer in KEGs can be handled safely and to a high standard.
Smaller containers in particular can help to align rotation, shelf life and freshness more effectively. Through SCHÄFER Container Systems’ KEG service, existing reusable stainless steel KEGs can be converted to smaller volumes independently of the manufacturer, for example from 50 litres to 30 or 20 litres. This enables breweries and bottlers to continue using part of their existing KEG stock instead of investing entirely in new purchases.
This gives breweries and bottlers a pragmatic way to build up non-alcoholic ranges on draught while keeping stocks, processes and sustainability targets in view. For hospitality businesses, smaller containers make it easier to integrate the offer into existing operational processes, as they support faster rotation, reduce standing times and help to manage freshness and hygiene safety in draught service more effectively.
For practical implementation, SCHÄFER Container Systems provides a hygiene guide for serving non-alcoholic beer on draught. It brings together relevant factors such as cooling, shelf life, cleaning, sensitive contact points, documentation and operating routines. The aim is to provide a clear framework for safe, high-quality draught service and a professional answer to the widespread concern that non-alcoholic beer in KEGs does not work reliably.
“The real hurdle is often not demand, but confidence in draught suitability,” says Oliver Evering. “Anyone wishing to establish non-alcoholic beer in KEGs successfully needs market understanding, suitable container logic and clearly defined operating standards. That is exactly where we provide experience, service and durable reusable solutions.”
Non-alcoholic beer is an example of a broader development in the beverage market. The boundaries between classic beer segments on the one hand and non-alcoholic beverages, soft drinks, water, cider, tea, coffee and other draught concepts on the other are becoming more permeable. This creates additional opportunities for breweries, non-alcoholic beverage producers, beverage bottlers, caterers and event providers to offer beverages professionally, sustainably and to a high standard in a reusable system.
Reusable stainless steel KEGs provide a robust container basis for this. They support circular economy, beverage safety, hygiene, efficient logistics and individual brand presentation. Compared with glass bottles, stainless steel KEGs offer additional advantages in transport and handling: they are robust, shatterproof, stackable and suitable for transport, making them particularly well suited to professional logistics processes in the out-of-home market. In addition, KEGs can be efficiently cleaned, refilled and returned to the beverage cycle. This supports short cycles, standardised processes and a practical reusable logic.
At the same time, the reusability of beverage containers is becoming more important both in regulatory and strategic terms. The European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is increasing pressure on the industry to assess packaging and container solutions more strongly from the perspectives of reuse, recyclability, resource conservation and circular economy. Durable, reusable and fully recyclable reusable stainless steel KEGs provide a future-proof basis for professional draught concepts.
The white paper “Non-alcoholic Beer in KEGs”, including a hygiene and operating guide, shows how breweries, bottlers and hospitality businesses can classify non-alcoholic beer strategically, develop suitable container concepts and implement draught service safely with clear standards for cooling, cleaning, shelf life, rotation and quality.
In addition, the white paper “Pressure in the Container” classifies the key requirements for modern beverage containers. It considers container logic, product safety, reusability and professional draught processes, also with regard to the PPWR.
Non-alcoholic beer in KEGs.zip