Asahi Group's Innovative Journey to Deliver Great Taste that Exceeds Expectations in Non-Alcohol Beer Development Technologies

The beverage industry is undergoing a major societal shift. As consumers increasingly prioritize health and wellness, non-alcohol and low-alcohol beverages are making a significant impact worldwide. These beverages are not just a passing trend but a response to a growing global call for responsible drinking and a reduction in harmful alcohol use.

Leading the charge in this rapidly evolving market is the Asahi Group, a company that has quickly adapted to these changes and accelerated the global introduction of non-alcohol beer. The company began a worldwide rollout of its premium beer brands, which it defines as global brands, by launching "Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%" in 2022. "Asahi Super Dry 0.0%" and "Kozel 0,0%" soon followed in 2023, providing consumers with a wider range of responsible drinking options. These innovative beers, brewed in Europe, employ new non-alcohol beer development technologies that significantly differ from traditional methods.

Driving this innovation within the Asahi Group is Jun Kubota, a key figure in the company's development of non-alcohol beer technologies. In an exclusive interview, Kubota unveils the untold story behind the development of these groundbreaking non-alcohol beers. He offers insights into Asahi's approach to non-alcohol beverages, the unique challenges they faced, and the pioneering technologies that have set them apart in this burgeoning market.

Asahi Group Holdings Supply Chain
Jun Kubota, Global Chief Brewer
Joined Asahi Breweries in 2006. After working in the brewing department at a brewery, he joined the Development Laboratories for Alcohol Beverages, where he was in charge of developing new beer products. He went to Germany to study in 2014 and obtained a Brew Master qualification. After returning to Japan in 2015, he was in charge of proposing innovation seeds and innovating non-alcohol beer development technologies. In 2019, as a brewing technology manager for Asahi Group Holdings, his responsibilities expanded to include global new product development, enhancing the quality of Asahi Super Dry, and advancing non-alcohol beer technologies. Currently, as Global Chief Brewer, he is involved in new development projects for Asahi Super Dry at breweries around the world, global renewal of the brand, the creation of synergies between brewing technologies, the promotion of innovation across the Group, and the development of new global brand products. (As of April 2024)

Kubota:
Asahi Group’s mission is to “deliver on our great taste promise and bring more fun to life.”

I’m sure that many people associate the name Asahi with beer, but we do not see beer as the sole product for achieving our mission. We are able to reach more people with our products by having a range of options beyond just beer. Offering the products that will be needed in the future will bring us closer to achieving our mission.

We strive to offer the same value with our non-alcohol beverages as we do with our beer. In other words, we aim to offer products that unite people and enhance enjoyment during various occasions.

In addition, similar to how the term “sober curious*1” has become more commonplace, the existence of non-alcohol beverages has been gaining in value in recent years as they provide people with a wider variety of choices. This trend also presents a business opportunity for us. In the context of catering to global needs, we believe there is immense value in developing and offering non-alcohol beverages.

*1 A new trend, prevalent in various age groups, especially among young people, who consciously decide not to consume alcohol, driven by increasing health awareness and evolving lifestyles.

Kubota:
That we are open to taking on new challenges. A recent example of this is our joint development project with a Group company in Europe. It's our belief that our unique advantage as a group lies in our ability to create fresh value by integrating diverse areas of knowledge and technologies within the group.

Furthermore, when viewed against the backdrop of beer's history, which spans thousands of years, the production of non-alcohol beer is a relatively modern innovation. Despite its recent emergence, there is a vast potential in the production of non-alcohol beer, from developing new technologies to discovering exciting flavors. For those of us involved in its development, this is the most exhilarating aspect of our work.

Kubota:
Historically, non-alcohol beer development projects haven't capitalized on beer yeast, the key ingredient that gives beer its distinctive taste, and they've not gone through the alcohol fermentation process. For instance, "Asahi Dry Zero," sold in Japan, employs a blending technology that combines various raw materials to mimic a beer-like flavor.

Yeast is a tricky component to substitute regardless of the technology applied. Even now, with beer production technologies having greatly evolved, there are still some mysteries to how yeast works that have not been fully unraveled.

In this development project, we introduced a dealcoholization technology that removes alcohol from fermented beer.
At the same time, we also applied beer development technologies that we have honed in Japan for many years. The fermentation process in beer production needs to be regulated according to the desired flavor profiles. In Japan, there is an especially wide variety of products that are unlike anything elsewhere in the world, including beers with reduced sugar content, and we have developed proprietary technologies to achieve great taste. Specifically, we control the degree of fermentation by adjusting temperatures, durations, raw materials, and the timing of raw material input during the beer wort preparation process. Generally speaking, beer with a low degree of fermentation retains a high wort extract content, which ensures a satisfying taste and full-bodied flavor.

Over recent years, the technology for dealcoholization has become more commonplace in the development of non-alcohol beer, but simply removing the alcohol makes it difficult to preserve the beer-like flavor. By merging dealcoholization technology with our fermentation control technology developed in Japan, we were able to create an innovative development technology*2 unique to Asahi Group ,that allows us to recreate a more authentic beer-like flavor.
*2 International patent pending (as of April 2024)

Kubota:
While Asahi Group's R&D base is located in Japan, the non-alcohol beer products developed through this project are produced in Europe. This initiative has truly exemplified our commitment to delivering more delicious products to consumers globally by challenging ourselves to create unique technologies across the Group.

That being said, however, I believe that there is still more that we can do through product development to build connections among people and contribute to a brighter world, both today and in the future.

In developing non-alcohol beer, the most important thing at our current stage is how closely we can make it taste like beer. Moving forward, I would like to continue contributing via the technical side of things to the goal of making delicious non-alcohol beer, and I hope to deliver to the world a great taste that exceeds expectations.