After nearly three decades in the craft beer business, Allagash Brewing Co. is entering the hop water niche with its first non-alcoholic beverage.

Allagash Hop Water, which is currently available in six-packs of 12-ounce cans at the brewery's Portland tasting room, is brewed with water from Sebago Lake, along with sweet orange peel, coriander and two types of hops. The water is then chilled, carbonated and bottled.

“Consumer trends are constantly changing and we are part of that movement,” Josh Fruchtman, the company’s sales director, told Mainebiz.

“Statistics show that more and more people – even those who normally drink alcohol – are looking for non-alcoholic alternatives,” he added.

“In our own experience, many people like to order non-alcoholic drinks when they are out with friends, so we are happy to be able to offer an option for such occasions.”

With more than 120,000 barrels of beer brewed in 2022, Allagash is considered Maine's largest brewery in the 2024 Mainebiz Book of Lists.

The brewery, led by founder Rob Tod, employs around 140 people plus 10 tasting room staff who are paid daily.

Although Allagash is starting with a small push for the new Hop Water, Fruchtman said that if demand increases, it would be ready to make the product available to a much larger audience.

Category “Hopping”

While non-alcoholic beer is traditionally brewed beer from which the alcohol has been removed, hop water is produced using a different process that does not produce any alcohol. Since it is made without grains, hop water is also gluten-free.

Data released by NielsenIQ in October 2022 shows that annual sales of non-alcoholic hop water in the U.S. are $5.5 million, up 143% from two years earlier.

Additionally, from January to October of that year, sales increased 44%, making hop water the fifth fastest-growing craft beverage in the country, while craft beer sales fell 7%.

In Maine, “more and more non-alcoholic alternatives are entering the market to meet consumer demand. At the same time, the professional beverage industry is developing a new approach to its existing mastery of hops, its talent for flavor combinations and its existing equipment,” Sarah Bryan, executive director of the Maine Brewers' Guild, told Mainebiz.

“Many of our Maine breweries have already produced or are in the process of producing a range of non-alcoholic products: hop water from breweries like Cushnoc, Orono Brewing and now Allagash; non-alcoholic beers from 1820, Woodland Farms and Austin Street; Bryant's Brewing and Side by Each use their facilities for coffee roasting,” she added.

Others are “working on producing a full range of homemade lemonades, mocktails and sparkling teas,” she said.

For Allagash, the debut of the hop water product coincides with the launch of its rotating seasonal house series, which begins with Surf House earlier this summer.

This is followed by a dark, hoppy ale called Haunted House and a winter wheat beer called Ski House.