This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
If moderation tastes better, it has found remarkable ambassadors among light or totally alcohol-free drinks. Wines, ready-to-drink, seltzers and non-alcoholic beers have in fact experienced rapid growth in recent years. Few microbreweries in Quebec do not have a brew or two proudly displaying 0 to 0.5% alcohol content. But where does this growing interest of Quebecers for these drinks come from, and what level of pleasure do they derive from it?
Non-alcoholic beers are now common in the fridges and on the shelves of our shops. There are all kinds: blondes, whites, redheads, blacks, or sours. However, even five years ago, products of this type could be counted on the fingers of one hand, all (or almost!) came from abroad and, according to many, most often corresponded to tasteless and sweet blondes.
Like many trends, that of producing alcohol-free microbrewed beers in Quebec was born thanks to pioneers like Carl Fleury, at the head of the La Voie maltée brewery for more than 20 years. “I thought about it as soon as we built a production plant in 2014 alongside our establishments in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and Quebec City,” he says. Given that young people were not allowed to drink and drive until the age of 21 and that they might later adopt new consumption habits, I said to myself that we had to create products for them. »
Create non-alcoholic beer
Carl Fleury’s personal project did not materialize immediately, because there was not yet any workable equipment to produce non-alcoholic beers. He therefore began a long journey through the desert, made up of research, trial and error, which culminated in 2018 with the launch of the Raisonnable range, which includes a rousse, a wheat beer (
Today, 300,000 of these beers are sold each year through 1,200 points of sale, which represents 5% of the brewery’s turnover. We can therefore say that the idea of the brewer has borne fruit. But how did he go about designing them? Easier than you might think, it seems.
“We first produce a beer, then we dealcoholize it using different processes, such as distillation by evaporation,” he explains. And since the central risk associated with the production of non-alcoholic beers is related to the proliferation of bacteria and micro-organisms that alcohol ordinarily prevents from procreating, there are now yeasts adapted to non-alcoholic beers. »
Variety… and taste!
The rapid evolution of technologies and the arrival of specific ingredients have therefore allowed the emergence, then the multiplication of non-alcoholic beers on the Quebec market. But what about the taste and vision that we have of this kind of product?
Michael Jean, founder and CEO of Le BockAle brewery, established in Drummondville and known for its specialization in non-alcoholic beers, is formal: “To think that the aromas of non-alcoholic beers are less present and more volatile than those of traditional is linked to a false perception. In fact, they have just as many and lend themselves just as well to tasting as to the preparation of mocktails or savory or sweet recipes. The entrepreneur has also created sorbets with his IPA La Découverte, and he uses his Persévérance rousse to deglaze sauces.
BockAle’s seven non-alcoholic beers, which account for 85% of its turnover and of which more than a million are sold each year, therefore appeal to a much wider audience than those forced to go without alcohol. “Everyone drinks these beers today, even lovers of traditional beers,” explains Michaël Jean. Young people, but also athletes, workers, parents, anyone who wants to have the pleasure of drinking beer without the harmful effects and calories of alcohol. »
An opinion shared by his colleague Carl Fleury, who believes that “education and awareness campaigns on healthy lifestyles relayed by social networks” will continue to contribute to the popularity of non-alcoholic beers. “And thanks to the vast choice of quality products that now exists on the market, consumers no longer have any excuses for not being interested in them!” he adds.
The latest scientific findings announced by the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction recommending less than two alcohol consumptions per week will not prove him wrong.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, relating to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.