1. Which Big Drop is your favourite?

My regular go-to Big Drop has to be the Citrus IPA. When I was still drinking full-strength beer, I’d enjoy the hoppier, fruitier pale ales, and it fits the bill perfectly — with the added benefit of no booze.

2. What is your favourite album?

Mastodon’s Crack the Skye is up there. It’s insanely heavy, and the concept behind it is mind-bending: astral planes, Rasputin and more. If I’m looking for something a bit more laid back, Ben Howard’s debut album will be one of the first I’ll reach for.

3. If you were stranded on a desert island, what one thing would you want to have with you?

An acoustic guitar. I’m a bit of a fidget, darting around between things, but if I need to relax I’ll grab my guitar and play a few songs — or just noodle around a bit.

4. What’s the best thing about owning a beer company?

The variety of challenges. Having been a graphic designer for over twenty years, I’ve never really worked on the entire cross-section of what’s required for a single brand, and there’s a lot to cover for a beer brand.

5. What three bits of advice would you give your younger self?

Relax, trust your gut, get some sleep.

6. If you could drink a Big Drop with anyone — dead, alive or fictional — who would it be?

It’d have to be Dimebag Darrell from Pantera. The guy was a serious party animal but also seemed like a straight-up, genuine, friendly bloke. I’m not sure how Big Drop would have fit into his daily routine, but I’d raise a couple of glasses of Black Tooth Grin with him for sure.

7. If you had a racehorse, what would you call it?

Clive.

8. What is your favourite quote?

A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor.

9. What is your go-to karaoke song?

You never want to hear me sing. I’m pretty sure ships have been wrecked because of better sounds. I can yell in key — that’s about as far as my singing skills go.

10. What is the best present you have ever received?

In 2021, just before he passed away, my father-in-law gave me his Fender acoustic guitar. It’s a lovely guitar, and its sentimental value is priceless.

11. If time machines were real, what year or era would you go to?

Any time after penicillin and before social media would be nice to visit.

12. What is your favourite book?

Hellraisers, which is about the life and inebriated times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O’Toole and Oliver Reed.

Beer is traditionally made using water, hops, yeast and barley: a grain that contains gluten.

People with gluten intolerances, including coeliac disease, should avoid gluten, as it can damage the lining of the small intestine and prevent it from absorbing nutrients.

Since 2012, food and drink manufacturers have had to comply with laws which stipulate that a “gluten free” label can only be used on products containing less than 20 parts per million of gluten. This is also the level considered safe by Coeliac UK.

In our brewing process we use over twenty speciality grains to give our beer extra body and flavour, including barley, rye, wheat and oats. However, thanks to our top-secret brewing techniques, the gluten level is reduced to a certified safe level.

One of the reasons we can brew our beers naturally to 0.5% ABV, without removing the alcohol afterwards, is that we use a lot less grain in our recipes than other beers do. So there’s simply a lot less grain to start with.

Most of our beers are gluten free and therefore coeliac safe, at under 20 parts per million. Please check the relevant packaging to confirm — each can states its own dietary status, and every beer page here carries the full ingredient list with allergens in bold, exactly as they appear on the label.

We are committed to producing an amazing variety of beers for everyone to enjoy, no matter what their circumstance.

Shop the range.

Ingredients

• 500ml water
• 300g whole rye or barley grains
• 100g sunflower seeds
• 100g pumpkin seeds
• 50g linseed or flaxseed
• 30g salt

Method

1. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Boil the water, pour it over the mix and stir properly.
3. Cover the bowl tightly and leave the grain mix in the fridge overnight.

Day Two

Ingredients

• 330ml Big Drop Milk Stout
• 170ml water
• 20g dry yeast
• 300ml dark syrup (corn or other)
• 600g rye flour
• 250g wheat flour
• The grain mix from Day One

Method

1. Mix the beer and water and warm to approximately 37°C. Mix the yeast and liquid in a big bowl.
2. Add the dark syrup, then the flour.
3. Add the grain mix from Day One and mix it all for 15–20 minutes.
4. Heat the oven to 210°C.
5. Take one or two rectangular baking tins. Line with butter and breadcrumbs.
6. Fill each tin so that it is two thirds full.
7. Place the tin into the middle of the oven and bake for approximately 60 minutes.
8. Take the tin out of the oven and let the bread rest for a day before eating.

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 50g cocoa powder
• 400g dark sugar
• 250g self-raising flour
• 250ml Big Drop Milk Stout
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 eggs

Method

1. Melt the butter with the stout over a medium heat.
2. Take it off the heat and add in the brown sugar.
3. Mix in the cocoa powder and give it a good whisk.
4. Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract in a separate bowl.
5. Add into the chocolate stout mix and give it a good stir.
6. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda together. Add in half and fold it.
7. Add in the other half and give it a whisk and a fold. It should look like a

rich, thick cake mix.

1. Pop a couple of tablespoons of the mix into cupcake cases and bake for 20

minutes at 200°C.

1. After 20 minutes, stick a cocktail stick into the middle of one. If it comes

out clean, they’re done.

Icing

Ingredients

• 70g butter
• 150g icing sugar
• 25g cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp Big Drop Milk Stout
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Method

1. Beat the butter and half the icing sugar.
2. Add the cocoa powder and vanilla and keep whisking.
3. Pop in a good glug of stout.
4. Add the milk and give it a further whisk.
5. Make a little makeshift piping bag and start icing them cakes.

• Vegetable oil
• 200g plain flour
• 550g wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 can of Big Drop Milk Stout
• 220ml buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 230°C and grease a loaf tin with the vegetable oil.
2. Add the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt to a mixing bowl. Stir through the wholemeal flour and sugar.
3. Pour in the stout and buttermilk.
4. Mix to form a wet dough.
5. Flour your surface and tip the dough onto it. Roll and fold, roll and fold, roll and fold.
6. Mix gently until it forms a rectangle — enough to fit the tin.
7. Place the dough into the greased loaf tin and neaten up the edges.
8. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
9. Bake for 10 minutes at 230°C, then reduce the oven to 180°C.
10. Bake for another 25 minutes.
11. Let it cool in the tin, then place on a cooling rack.
12. Get the butter out of the fridge.

• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 900g boneless beef
• 300ml chicken stock
• 3 large carrots
• 1 celery stick
• 1 large onion
• 2 handfuls of chestnut mushrooms
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 can of Big Drop Milk Stout
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Puff pastry (however much you need for your pie dish)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
2. Heat up a large frying pan with the oil.
3. Sear the beef until it browns evenly.
4. Add in the chopped carrots, celery and onions.
5. Once soft, transfer to a large ovenproof casserole.
6. Add the chopped mushrooms, minced garlic, thyme and bay leaves.
7. Pour in enough stock so it just covers the ingredients — there should be some left over in case you need to add more.
8. Stir in the stout.
9. Pop in the oven and cook for 2–2½ hours until the beef is tender.
10. Have a little taste and add seasoning if needed.
11. Remove the thyme twigs and bay leaves and set aside to cool.
12. Once cooled, transfer the filling to a pastry-lined pie dish and add just enough sauce to cover. Use the remaining sauce for gravy.
13. Roll out the puff pastry on a well-floured surface until roughly 5mm thick and 5cm larger than your pie dish.
14. Cut some strips about 1cm wider than the rim of the dish from around the edge.
15. Brush the rim of the pie dish with beaten egg, fix the strips in place and brush with more egg.
16. Careful now — place the pastry lid over the filling, trim off the excess and brush the top with the beaten egg.
17. Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes until puffed up and golden brown.
18. Prep your accompanying veg, reheat the gravy, and bam. Sunday night sorted.

“Your beers contain wheat, rye and barley. How can they be gluten free?”

Since 2012, food and drink manufacturers have had to comply with laws which stipulate that a “gluten free” label can only be used on products containing less than 20 parts per million of gluten. This is also the level considered safe by Coeliac UK.

We use over twenty speciality grains to create our selection of beers, which poses the question — how can they be gluten free?

The answer lies in our brewing technique. One of the reasons we can brew our beers naturally to 0.5% ABV, without removing the alcohol afterwards, is that we use a lot less grain in our recipes than other beers do. So there’s simply a lot less grain to start with.

The bottom line: yes, our beers do contain grains that contain gluten, but it is reduced during brewing. Each beer states its own dietary status on the can, and every beer page carries the full ingredient list with allergens in bold, exactly as they appear on the label. That’s the version to trust.

“Is 0.5% alcohol-free?”

This is the big one. And the answer is: it depends where you are.

Whether something can be called “alcohol-free” depends on which country you’re selling the beer in. In most of Europe, a beer of 0.5% ABV is considered alcohol-free. In Canada, it needs to be less than 0.4% to be called “non-alcoholic”. In the US, the rules put 0.5% under “non-alcoholic”. In Australia, our beer would be classed as “Ultra Low Alcohol”. In the UK, guidance on which descriptor applies at 0.5% has changed over the years and has been under review.

The bottom line: the beer is the same everywhere. The word on the front of it isn’t.

Which begs the next question. If there’s a teeny tiny bit of alcohol in Big Drop — although not much more than an overripe banana — then…

“Can I get drunk on Big Drop?”

No. You can’t get drunk on 0.5% drinks.

The amount of alcohol is so small that your body processes it faster than you can drink it, even if you drank twelve bottles back to back.

For context: a very ripe banana contains up to 0.4g of alcohol per 100g, which is 0.4% ABV. A burger roll can contain up to 1.28g per 100g. Kombucha can come in anywhere between 0.5% and 2.5%.

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Back in 2012, a medical institute at the University of Freiburg released a study into the effects of alcohol-free beer — and you’re in safe hands when it comes to beer studies with German institutes. Its summary covers it pretty well:

The results of the study suggest that even after consumption of unrealistically high amounts of non-alcoholic beer, negative forensic implications are not to be expected.

“What’s the point of alcohol-free beer?”

There is actually a lot of point.

Not everybody drinks alcohol all the time. But just because you’re not drinking, for whatever reason, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to have a great beer.

You’re still entitled to that “ahhh” feeling of having a pint at the end of a long day. And sometimes you don’t want the foggy head the next morning, especially when you’ve got a lot on.

That’s why Big Drop is here. Our founder, Rob Fink, realised that while the craft beer revolution had completely changed the landscape of beer in the UK, alcohol-free beer had been ignored — the options were the same uninspiring offerings from twenty years earlier.

The bottom line: there is a point.

We want to give real choice to beer lovers on every occasion, with no compromise. And that’s what we’re about — giving people beer that actually tastes great.

• 5g dry yeast
• 330g Big Drop Lager
• 120g water
• 500g wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 50g honey
• 5g olive oil

Method

1. Mix the beer and water and warm to 37°C.
2. Mix the yeast and liquid in a big bowl.
3. Mix in the flour and the salt.
4. Finally, mix in the honey and the olive oil. The dough should be quite sticky.
5. Let the dough rise for one hour at room temperature under a cloth.
6. Put a plastic film over the bowl and leave the dough in the fridge overnight.
7. Tip the dough out onto a floured table and knead lightly for two minutes into a ball. The dough should be slightly sticky.
8. Put a cloth over the dough and let it rest at room temperature for two hours.
9. Heat the oven to 230°C and heat up a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven.
10. Put some flour in the bottom of the pot, then put the dough in and bake for 30 minutes with the lid on.
11. Take off the lid and let the bread bake another 30 minutes.
12. Take the bread out of the cast iron pot and let it cool down on a rack.
13. Devour it.

Rob — founder and CEO

I first started mulling over the idea of a brewing company dedicated solely to alcohol-free beer in 2015. It took a while to put the pieces in place, but the first beer was launched in November 2016.

Broadly speaking, they said I was mad. Who wants to drink alcohol-free beer? Turns out that lots of people want to drink alcohol-free beer. They were just disappointed — as was I in 2015 — at the woeful lack of choice and quality in the sector.

Three years later, pub companies are finally starting to see that there is a benefit in providing alcohol-free beer on draught, and we’re hitting more and more taps around the country.

And this is all down to you, the drinker. So thank you. Thank you for helping me change perceptions, increase choice and push boundaries. And if you keep asking for it, then we’ll keep brewing it.

Less really is more.

James — co-founder

Rob and I have been friends for longer than we can remember. We’ve been in bands, Rob performed my wedding ceremony, we lived together in our very early twenties in a poorly built house and ate nothing but tuna and pasta.

When Rob approached me about a “new business idea”, it’s safe to say I was a little sceptical — in the past he’d mooted ideas of snail farms and taxidermy. But once he’d explained this idea to me, I was all in.

All great ideas are born out of necessity. We both enjoyed beer, but we both had businesses to run and growing families. There was considerably less room for sore heads, but still a desire to enjoy a quality craft beer.

We had to find a brewer: someone with not only the skills to make the beer, but also the bravery — or insanity — to take the challenge on. On the first meeting with Johnny, we knew he was the man for it.

Rob: “We want to make a 0.5% beer.”

Johnny: “No, you want to make a great beer that just so happens to be 0.5%.”

Our first tasting evening was with a small group of people. Three versions of the stout were tested, and the Big Drop journey had officially begun.

Three years down the line, I can’t believe how far Big Drop — and the low and no sector as a whole — has come.

Johnny — head of production

When Big Drop started I was working as a brewing consultant and was progressing well. I was contacted by many people wanting to start up a brewery. And often these people’s experience in the brewing industry was minimal, even if their intentions were good. So when Rob approached me, he was amongst many willing visionaries. I wasn’t sure how far it would go.

However, at my first meeting with Rob and James it became plain to me that they had a clear vision and a plan for how to achieve it. The foundation we agreed upon was one of quality, flavour being priority.

We still take the time to develop our recipes with care and use all our brewing knowledge and skills to create them. We nurture the development of our beers and demand that they have to be the best available. This is the ethos established at that very first meeting, and we stick to it still.

I don’t think I could ever have expected Big Drop to erupt as it has. To be part of a team considered the leader in the field is something I am honoured to be a part of.

Having seen what we have achieved in such a short period, I look forward to the challenges ahead, and to seeing where we are in a further three years’ time.

We sent out a short survey to our mailing list subscribers and on our social media channels to ask what we’re doing well, what we’re doing badly and what we could improve. The (hundreds and hundreds of) results are in, and a couple of things popped up more than a few times.

“Can you please get Big Drop stocked in my local?”

When we started Big Drop back in 2016, I was completely naive about the challenges involved in getting our beer into people’s hands — I had absolutely no experience of the beer industry. And with the benefit of hindsight, if I’d have known how difficult it was going to be, I might not have started. Which is why ignorance is sometimes a blessing.

At the time, I held the simple notion that I would walk into a pub, ask the manager to compare their mass-produced alcohol-free lager with a Big Drop pale ale — and boom! The scales would fall from their eyes and Big Drop would immediately be stocked in their fridge. Job done. Next pub. Onwards!

As it turns out, it’s not quite as easy as that.

I won’t bore you with the complexities of buying teams, range reviews, retros, discounts, supply chain logistics and any number of things I’m still not sure I fully understand.

But the headline is this: whatever they might say to the contrary, most places — and I include pubs, supermarkets, beer shops and anywhere else which might think about listing a beer brand — will not stock a product unless they are pretty sure someone is going to buy it.

Which gives rise to the wonderful chicken-and-egg scenario: how do you convince a beer buyer that people will buy your beer if there isn’t anywhere for people to buy the beer in the first place?

It’s difficult

We’ve worked really (really) hard to make sure that if a pub, shop, restaurant, bar or club wants to stock Big Drop then we can get it to them. This was also a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Another story, for another day.

And of course, our sales team also work really (really) hard going around as many places as they can sampling Big Drop, talking to people who work in these places selling our own brand.

But our biggest brand ambassadors are you. The easiest, quickest and most simple way for you to get Big Drop in the place you want to buy it from is to ask them to stock it. If a place knows that you will buy Big Drop, then it will sell it to you.

It gets a bit more complicated if the place you want to sell Big Drop is a pub which, although you may consider it your “local”, is actually owned by a massive pubco with 500 sites across the country. If it is truly an independent then it will be a lot easier — just tell them to contact us. If it is one pub in 500, the chances are that there is one person, somewhere, in that company who is in charge of deciding whether their 500 pubs (including yours) can sell Big Drop. But if you ask the landlord to pass the request up the chain, they may well do so.

The same goes for supermarkets. We can, and do, talk to beer buyers about listing Big Drop. We talk to them all the time. We show them our new beers, we tell them how great we are and we tell them (nicely) that we think they should put us on their shelves so that you can find us more easily. But unless they know you’re going to buy Big Drop, they won’t.

“Can you please get on draught in my pub?”

This is the big one.

In theory: yes. We have the beer in kegs and we can (probably) get it to your pub.

But the same applies as to the first point — the chances are that your pub is one of a group of many, whether dozens or hundreds, and the person in charge of whether your landlord or landlady can put us on tap is likely someone in an office in a different town.

So the same strategy applies. Find out who owns your pub, ask all the same people, jump up and down about wanting to buy lovely pints of Big Drop and see what happens.

Please don’t stop asking. We don’t.

“I’d love you to do a [insert style of beer here]”

The first beer we made was a stout because I’m a stout drinker and I couldn’t find an alcohol-free one. The next beer was a pale ale because the bottle shops told me that’s what would sell and was the most popular style.

But we need to know what you want to drink. Turns out what you’re gasping for, above all else, is wheat beer, porter and fruit-infused beers.

A brief note about sours and fruit infusions, because this is the part people find most surprising. Of all the beers we have tried, tested and sometimes released, our sour has been by far and away the most difficult to produce.

The reason for that is simple. Alcoholic sour beer is produced using a particular strain of bacteria called lactobacillus. Lactobacillus is what’s responsible for creating the sour flavour. However, it is also a monstrously aggressive little b*gger, and converts sugar to alcohol like it’s going out of fashion.

One of the ways Big Drop manages to produce beer of 0.5% ABV without halting the fermentation or artificially extracting the alcohol is to use a “lazy” yeast which is a bit rubbish at converting sugar to alcohol. If you add lactobacillus to our brews, our ABV would go through the roof. And it wouldn’t be a Big Drop.

For that reason, our sour beers are never going to be as sour as traditionally fermented sours. That’s just one of those things.

A similar issue arises with fruit infusions. What does fruit have lots of? Sugar. What does sugar turn into when fermented? That’s right. So if we stick a load of raspberries or grapefruit into our brews, the ABV goes up with it.

Fruit essences are one way round it, but the recipe becomes much more complicated — essences are very concentrated. What we always want to do is innovate, and as it turns out, we’ve gotten pretty good at alcohol-free.

Finally

Thank you for the kind words amongst the, almost universally constructive, criticism. I think we’re doing something right, but we can do it better, and it’s gratifying to hear from you that by and large you think we’re doing it right too.

It’s an epic journey and we’re glad you’re on it with us.

Onward!

Rob