Overview: Numerous San Diego County craft brewing operations now produce non-alcoholic beers, and an upcoming segment entrant is looking to not only brew virgin products under its own flag but also for other companies wishing to wade into the non-alcoholic market. The non-alcoholic beer segment grew by over 22% in 2025, surpassing $1 billion in U.S. sales, and accounting for roughly 87% of all non-alcoholic beverage sales in the country.
The Full Story
The introduction of the modern-day West Coast IPA, the haze craze and a lager renaissance represent turning points for the American craft brewing industry. Each captured the hearts, minds and palates of consumers during their respective eras, enough that all of the above represent today’s most popular beer styles in terms of sales and production. But there is another trend that came about during the turn of the decade: non-alcoholic craft beer. It goes beyond beer styles and has picked up steam over the past six years.
San Diego is home to the larger of two bicoastal production headquarters for the nation’s largest non-alcoholic beer producer, Athletic Brewing, which took over a pair of Miramar facilities previously operated by Ballast Point Brewing. As a company, Athletic brewed 480,000 barrels of non-alcoholic beer in 2025, making it the sixth-largest craft brewing company in the U.S. and the 15th-largest overall beer producer. Numerous San Diego County craft brewing operations now produce non-alcoholic beers, and an upcoming segment entrant is looking to not only brew virgin products under its own flag, but also for other companies wishing to wade into the non-alcoholic market.
AleSmith Brewing began experimenting with non-alcoholic beer in 2020. Rather than dabble, the award-winning Miramar outfit’s brewing team committed well over a year to research and development, investing in pricey pasteurization equipment and working diligently to nail down process controls before releasing AleSmith Non-Alcoholic IPA in 2022. Vista-based Pure Project Brewing joined Athletic and AleSmith, introducing its first pair of non-alcoholic beers: a Noble-hopped blonde ale dubbed Sunsip and a West Coast IPA called Grounded. Karl Strauss Brewing holds the distinction of being San Diego’s longest continuously operating post-Prohibition brewery. It is also the first local company to take a swipe at the non-alcoholic beer market, then decide not to pursue it.
In 2025, the 37-year-old business produced a non-alcoholic version of its longtime best-selling beer, Red Trolley Ale. Offered as a special for Dry January, it performed decently at the company’s nine Southern California brewpubs, but customers overwhelmingly preferred the normal, alcoholic version of the Irish-style red ale. Zane Curtis has also seen non-alcoholic beer fly off the shelves at his pair of Monday Morning Bottle Shop locations in Ocean Beach and Pacific Beach. Business has been so good over the past two years that Curtis recently purchased the San Marcos production facility, which previously belonged to Creative Creature Brewing.
Production & Profile
AleSmith Non-Alcoholic IPA is hoppy and registers just 75 calories per 12-ounce can. It was followed in 2024 by a de-alcoholized coffee-infused beer called N/A Speedway that was loosely based on AleSmith’s popular Speedway Stout. Pure Project Brewing brewer Winslow Sawyer and his team focused on matching the vibrant flavors of their traditional beers with Sunsip and Grounded. The company’s dominance in the market is well documented, but the 8-year-old juggernaut isn’t the only local player.
Zane Curtis plans to produce several non-alcoholic beers under the Monday Morning label and offer them at his bottle shops as well as a taproom at his brewery. He also plans to take his project a step further than other local contemporaries by producing white-label beverages for restaurants and contract-brewing for other craft beer companies. This represents an evolution in the story of San Diego’s sans-alcohol suds scene.
Brand & Industry History
AleSmith Brewing began experimenting with non-alcoholic beer in 2020, releasing AleSmith Non-Alcoholic IPA in 2022. Karl Strauss Brewing holds the distinction of being San Diego’s longest continuously operating post-Prohibition brewery and is a 37-year-old business that produced a non-alcoholic version of its longtime best-selling beer, Red Trolley Ale, in 2025. Monday Morning launched his business in 2024, and Curtis recently purchased the San Marcos production facility previously belonging to Creative Creature Brewing.
What This Means
Curtis says non-alcoholic beer has been one of Monday Morning’s strongest and fastest-growing categories since he launched his business in 2024. Over the next decade, N/A beer will become a standard category expectation at every serious bar, restaurant, and bottle shop, not a specialty item. As production quality keeps improving and more craft players enter the space, the category will mirror what happened with craft beer itself: fragmentation, premiumization and a loyal consumer base that takes it seriously.
Consumer Takeaway
Designated drivers, guests who are pregnant, and people who just want to moderate that day can still be part of the experience and enjoy something worth drinking rather than defaulting to water or soda. Customers are using N/A beers as a spacer between alcoholic beers, or as the final beer of the night when they want one more without the effects of alcohol. Long-term, N/A will become a permanent part of the craft beer landscape. The craft beer drinker is getting older, taking on more responsibilities, thinking more about health. Whatever the reason someone reaches for an N/A beer, that behavior isn’t going away.
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