<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When Andy Miller and his mates set out to brew a non-alcoholic beer in 2018, hardly anyone in Australia drank the stuff.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Now we buy an estimated 150 million litres every year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That number is set to nearly double by 2028 according to </span><a href="https://www.anz.com.au/newsroom/media/2024/august/consumption-of-non-alcoholic-beverages-set-to-accelerate/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="ANZ's 2024 Food For Thought Report"><span>ANZ's 2024 Food For Thought Report</span></a><span>, which also predicted the non-alcoholic beverage market will be worth more than $69 billion by 2027.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/los-angeles-fires-2025-live-updates/e49ede15-05b5-45af-913d-c400decd05d5" target="_blank"><strong><span>LA fire most destructive in city's history with over 1000 buildings lost</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's good news for Miller and his mates Ben Holdstock and Jordy Smith, who co-founded alcohol-free beer brand Heaps Normal in 2020 and have since turned in into an empire worth more than $60 million.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The trio had the idea for a zero-alcohol beer when they realised they had "forgotten why we drink," Miller told 9news.com.au.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><em><strong><span>Have you got a story? Contact</span></strong></em><span> </span><strong><em><span>reporter Maddison Leach at</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="mailto:mleach@nine.com.au" target="_blank" title="mleach@nine.com.au"><strong><em><span>mleach@nine.com.au</span></em></strong></a></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/heaps-normal-non-alcoholic-beer-gabs-hottest-100/2f7c6850-7ed0-4c49-ae15-9f3a3073448f" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We realized it wasn't alcohol that we were craving, it was the social connection, the opportunity to relax, sometimes celebrate, sometimes commiserate," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Alcohol didn't necessarily need to be a part of it."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Their beers had to taste as good as the real thing without any booze, which posed a few problems for longtime brewer Holdstock.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Fortunately, he's never backed down from a challenge.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It took nearly two years to perfect the recipe for Heaps Normal's first alcohol-free beer and Holdstock had to resort to brewing beer in a home made kettle during COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>When he and Miller finally landed on a brew they were happy with, they scraped together a few thousand dollars to produce a few cases of the beer in blank cans and sent it out to their mates in the booze industry.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>They didn't reveal it was totally alcohol-free until after the fact.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/los-angeles-palisades-wildfires-police-academy-actor-steve-guttenberg-helps-firefighters/c5824357-5888-4b26-aca2-41e29249ca72" target="_blank"><strong><span>Hollywood icon puts life on the line to save homes in LA</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Nine out of 10 of those mates said 'we like it, it probably tastes like a three or four per cent beer,'" Miller said of the experiment.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"It was at that point that we knew we were onto something."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Heaps Normal launched in 2020 with a bit of financial support from pro surfer Smith and by 2022 it was valued at $63 million. That figure has only grown since.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2021, its Quiet XPA snagged 20th place on the GABS Craft Beer Festival Hottest 100 Craft Beer people's choice poll and became the first non-alcoholic brand to land a beer in the top 20.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It placed again in 2022 and 2023, and is expected to earn a top spot again on the 2024 list (which is currently being voted on </span><a href="https://gabshottest100.com/au-vote/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="here"><span>here</span></a><span>).</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The brand's financial success and many accolades is proof of the growing popularity of alcohol-free alternatives in Australia as Millennials and Gen Z's push back against the country's potentially dangerous drinking culture.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/missing-hiker-hadi-nazari-found-alive-kosciuszko-national-park/7a36a170-4303-44ce-895e-6452c5d40797" target="_blank"><strong><span>Hiker survives 13 days lost in the bush with two muesli bars</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The </span><a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/alcohol/alcohol-tobacco-other-drugs-australia/contents/drug-types/alcohol" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="Australian Institute of Health and Welfare"><span>Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</span></a><span> shows that alcohol accounted for over half of all drug-related hospitalisations in Australia 2022-2023 and was the most common drug of concern for which Aussies were treated in the same period.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>But almost 40 per cent of Aussies aged 25 to 34 reported drinking less alcohol in 2022 compared to the previous 12 months, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>DrinkWise research from 2023 showed that more than two thirds of Australians aged 18 to 24 liked to socialise in ways that don't involve consuming alcohol.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Those who do are increasingly going for zero-alcohol options.</span></div></div><div class="styles__Wrapper-sc-2o34ro-0 cmwkBV"><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><a href="/content/2022/10/13/10/54/greatest-health-freedoms-study-where-australia-ranks-in-the-world-in-pictures"><img alt="NH" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 636px, (min-width: 768px) 396px, 100vw" src="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/zfzFq2-DFmpy-tJ9NqpkSsUIaX0=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fa79a91ae-1867-4061-8ca1-5c8ac88a1c3f" srcset="https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/zfzFq2-DFmpy-tJ9NqpkSsUIaX0=/396x223/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fa79a91ae-1867-4061-8ca1-5c8ac88a1c3f 396w, https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/0nFlwhyTQbk8gKMPSQslyY5cpec=/636x358/https%3A%2F%2Fprod.static9.net.au%2Ffs%2Fa79a91ae-1867-4061-8ca1-5c8ac88a1c3f 636w"/></a></div><div class="styles__Column-sc-2o34ro-3 jJDKrX"><div class="styles__Headline-sc-2o34ro-4 hpbOlz">Where Australia ranks in countries with the greatest health freedoms</div><div class="styles__Button-sc-2o34ro-1 eBjlmW"><a class="styles__ButtonLink-sc-2o34ro-2 hqpklJ" href="/content/2022/10/13/10/54/greatest-health-freedoms-study-where-australia-ranks-in-the-world-in-pictures">View Gallery</a></div></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Non-alcohol beer accounts for about 10 per cent of total beer sales in Australia, according to ANZ's report, and almost half of all non-alcoholic beverage sales.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"When we started this we thought there might be a few people like us who didn't see themselves necessarily as being completely sober, but wanted to cut back," Miller said of the trend.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"But we were blown away by just how many people, it turned out, felt like that."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Reduced alcohol consumption can also have health benefits like improving sleep quality and energy levels, as well as reducing the risk of some cancers.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a 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