Despite its name, the latest release from Canberra's Heaps Normal is not just another lager.
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The second in Heaps Normal's alcohol-free beer range, Another Lager, was released on Friday, following the release of Quiet XPA in 2020.
But to say that Another Lager has some big shoes to fill is an understatement. As well as having a dedicated following, last year Quiet XPA picked up the country winner gong in the no and low-alc category of the World Beer Awards, and over the weekend, it cracked the top 20 of the annual GABS Festival Hottest 100 beer countdown.
"Everyone loved the XPA so brewing our second core beer, we wanted to make a beer that was strong," Heaps Normal co-founder head brewer Ben Holdstock says.
"The thought process behind the lager was us brewing beers that we want to drink, and this beer is a perfect beer that can strike a balance between being super approachable for a big audience but can make an impact on drinking culture.
"That's our mission and that drove a lot of thinking behind choosing a lager."
Made in the Pilsner style, the main difference between the Another Lager and the XPA is that this beer is refreshing and highly drinkable. It has a balanced bitterness and there's a subtle hop character, with a crisp finish. As Holdstock says, it's not an overpowering flavour but has floral, spicy characters.
"There's a little bit more to think about than brewing regular alcoholic beers. We've got to think about how the body will balance without the alcohol and the mouthfeel that that contributes," he says.
"We think a lot about the ingredients, the different types of malts and how we use them in the brewing process as well, and how that sort of integrates with the beer to give complete flavour and mouthfeel and body.
"This being a lager we used a different yeast to the XPA, which gives it a clean profile. It's still made in the same way so we still ferment this beer, we don't remove any alcohol or boil it offering like that, it still undergoes the fermentation but a small one to produce less than 0.5 per cent."
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The Heaps Normal team has found that balance not just in flavour, but between offering people a non-alcoholic option, without dictating how much alcohol people should or shouldn't be drinking. As Heaps Normal co-founder and global brand ambassador Jordy Smith at Another Lager's launch event, it's all about providing an alternative for people choosing not to drink for the night or for life - and everything in between.
Times such as next month's FebFast, which in 2021 saw 5000 Aussies abstaining from alcohol, sugar and other vices during February to support disadvantaged youth in Australia.
But even as a whole, the past couple of years have seen more Australians moving away from alcohol than ever before. An October 2021 study by DrinkWise found that 32 per cent of those surveyed who reported that their consumption had decreased since the start of the pandemic attributed the use of lower and zero alcohol products as assisting them to reduce their consumption.
Even at the heart of how Heaps Normal came to be, it was four friends - Holdstock, Smith, head of brand Peter Brennan and chief executive Andy Miller - reflecting on their own alcohol consumption. All four, for different reasons, wanted to make the change. And if the stats are anything to go by, it's evident they are not alone.
"We're fortunate with the timing to be able to launch when we did - when there were few providers," Miller says.
"There was a real appetite for alternatives to beer, for example, and a lot of people were reassessing their relationship with alcohol and other things as well, that whole kind of lifestyle, in and around the lockdowns.
"On the one hand, there's the trend and the rise of the non-alcoholic market, but I think separately to that, we've been quite deliberate and conscious about making it more than that.
"It's really about redefining how our drinking culture and how we relate to those moments, those social moments with friends, or at gigs, or sporting matches, or down at the pub, whatever it is."
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