Since we started our shop, we have entered the world of drinking less or no alcohol at all. That is actually how ONP5 came into being. I love good specialty and craft beer and went without alcohol for about two months every year. During those periods, I started delving into alcohol-free beer. And that eventually led to what ONP5 is today. In the more than six years that we have had the shop, we are regularly ping-ponged back and forth between two groups. On one side are the people who do not drink alcohol at all, with the sober community leading the way. On the other side are people who still drink alcohol, but increasingly alternate it with alcohol-free options. Time to take a closer look at those groups. Among the people who do not drink alcohol at all, there are those who have stopped due to alcohol problems, their health, or age. In addition, we see a striking group of young people who never started drinking. Just as there are people who never started smoking. The second group still drinks alcohol, but consciously chooses alcohol-free at certain times. For example, because they still have to drive, have to work the next day, or want to exercise. But also because they are more interested than average in beer and are curious about what is happening in the alcohol-free field. And beer sommeliers are leading the way in this regard. Stopped due to alcohol problems We all know that alcohol is addictive. Some people are more susceptible to addiction than others, with both predisposition and circumstances playing a role. When someone loses control over their drinking and continues despite the negative consequences, practitioners refer to this as an alcohol use disorder. It exists in different degrees: mild, moderate, and severe. The degree is determined not only by the number of glasses someone drinks, but primarily by the problems the drinking causes. Think of drinking more often than you intended, being unable to cut back, having a strong craving for alcohol, or continuing while your health, work, or relationships suffer. With two or three such characteristics, practitioners refer to a mild alcohol use disorder; with four or five, a moderate one; and with six or more, a severe one. 'Mild' might sound harmless, but even then, it already constitutes problematic alcohol use. For many people with an alcohol problem, quitting completely is the safest and clearest choice. For others, cutting back can be part of a treatment. What works varies from person to person and depends, among other things, on the severity of the problem. Opinions regarding alcohol-free beer vary within this group. For some people, it is a great alternative. For others, it actually perpetuates the association with alcohol or can trigger cravings. That, too, is a personal matter. Ultimately, everyone has to discover for themselves what works and what doesn't. Health Being no longer allowed to drink due to your health is, of course, an excellent reason to put the glass down. Sometimes, however, there is simply no other option, for example due to illness, treatment, or medication use. Some people therefore opt exclusively for 0.0. Others are allowed to drink beer with a very low alcohol percentage, for example up to 0.5%. Whether this is medically responsible depends on the condition, treatment, and personal situation. If in doubt, 0.0 is the clearest choice, or it is better to discuss it with a doctor. Getting older By now, I count myself among them too. As you get older, alcohol can hit harder. It makes you sleep worse, you have less energy the next day, and you get a hangover faster. For more and more people, that is a reason to drink less or stop drinking altogether. The interesting thing about this group is that quitting is usually a conscious choice, without necessarily involving an alcohol problem. Dry January or another alcohol-free period can be a great way to experience what not drinking does to you. You might like it so much that you stick with it for another month. Or you might eventually decide to quit completely, just like me. Never started Then there is another group that has never drunk alcohol and possibly never will. Whereas beer and wine used to be practically spoon-fed, not drinking seems to be becoming increasingly normal among young people. Even at my daughter's student association, there are students who don't drink alcohol. That would probably have been a lot more noticeable a generation ago. Now, slowly but surely, it is simply becoming one of the possibilities. And then the people who still drink alcohol In addition to the people who have stopped completely, there is a large group that still drinks alcohol, but increasingly consciously chooses alcohol-free. Experts Non-alcoholic beer is receiving increasing attention from true connoisseurs. This applies to beer and, by now, to wine as well. Making a good non-alcoholic beer is technically quite difficult. Alcohol gives beer body, mouthfeel, and flavor, among other things. If that alcohol is absent, the brewer must ensure the beer remains balanced in another way. In that respect, an alcohol-free beer is quite exposed. Sweetness, a thin mouthfeel, or an off-flavor are immediately noticeable. The brewer has nothing to hide behind. That is why a tremendous amount of attention goes into the recipe, the brewing process, and the choice of ingredients for the best alcohol-free beers. We even find some alcohol-free beers tastier than comparable beers with alcohol. Even beer connoisseurs are increasingly starting to discover this. Alcohol-free is no longer just a weak alternative to 'real' beer, but an interesting beer category in its own right. Functional non-alcoholic drinking Youp van 't Hek once spoke of the 'Buckler dick' who stood drinking a non-alcoholic beer on the bar with his car keys. Fortunately, nowadays you no longer have to demonstratively place those keys next to your glass. If you still have to drive, alcohol-free is a great and by now widely accepted alternative. The same applies when you have to work the next day, get up early, or have a sports match. You will be much fresher the next morning and won't have a hangover. At company drinks and conferences, too, we are seeing more and more people opting for alcohol-free options. Not because they have to, but simply because they feel more like it at that moment. Finally No matter which group you belong to (or groups, as there is naturally plenty of overlap), there is always a good reason to order a tasty alcohol-free beer from us. We are happy to help you choose from the various flavors and beer styles. Because whatever your reason for drinking alcohol-free, the beer should above all simply taste good.

At the end of September, it’s that time again: out with the lederhosen, on with the dirndl, and off to Munich with a few million others. Oktoberfest isn't exactly known as the most alcohol-free event in the world. Nevertheless, nowadays you can attend perfectly well without drinking alcohol. In fact, in all party tents where beer is served, you can now also order an alcohol-free beer. Even at Augustiner, the last major German brewers without alcohol-free beer in their range, you have been able to order an alcohol-free Maß (the well-known liter mug) since 2024. And this is being taken increasingly seriously. In 2025, the demand for alcohol-free beer at Oktoberfest rose around 8 percent compared to the previous year. Approximately one in twenty draft beers at Oktoberfest is now alcohol-free. Alcohol-free, but not alcohol-free Oktoberfest beer The six Munich breweries permitted to serve at Oktoberfest brew their famous Oktoberfest beers for the Wiesn, as the people of Munich call Oktoberfest. Robust, malty lagers that are especially suited to the festival. If you choose alcohol-free, you unfortunately won't get the alcohol-free version of it. Simply because they don't make it (yet). You will receive a regular alcohol-free beer from the brewery in question. Think, for example, of Augustiner Alkoholfrei Hell or an alcohol-free beer from Paulaner , Hacker-Pschorr, or Löwenbräu. Actually quite strange. Alcohol-free beer has become so commonplace that every major tent serves it, but the six official Oktoberfest breweries do not yet produce an alcohol-free version of their Wiesnbier brewed especially for Oktoberfest. That does not mean, however, that alcohol-free Oktoberfest beer does not exist at all. In the US, they are already a step ahead. Athletic Brewing has an alcohol-free Oktoberfest Fest Brew, and Untitled Art also makes an alcohol-free Oktoberfest. We even had the latter in the ONP5 shop for a while. A Maß remains a Maß It is certainly not the size that is the issue. As an alcohol-free drinker, you don't have to sit among all the liter mugs with a measly bottle. Alcohol-free beer is also simply served by the Maß. And don't expect a discount on non-alcoholic beer: at Oktoberfest, a Maß of non-alcoholic beer costs just as much as alcoholic Wiesnbier (about €15). So no alcohol, but the full Oktoberfest experience. Including the bill. And then there is also OkSoberfest If you find Oktoberfest a bit too much alcohol around you, there is now an alternative: OkSoberfest . It will be organized in Berlin on October 10 and 11, 2026, and calls itself Germany's alcohol-free festival. So, not a traditional Oktoberfest copy, but a festival where being alcohol-free is precisely the starting point. There are more than 100 non-alcoholic beers and other drinks to try, complemented by music, food, sports, and even non-alcoholic beer pong. What is particularly striking is that such a festival exists by now. A few years ago, you still had to search for that one alcohol-free beer at a beer festival. Now you can attend a two-day festival that revolves entirely around it. Prost! For the time being, Oktoberfest will simply remain Oktoberfest. Because let's be honest: 5% alcohol-free also means that 95% of the beer served still contains alcohol. But the fact that you can order an alcohol-free Maß in every beer tent these days says something about how fast the beer world is changing. Now we are just waiting for the first German alcohol-free Oktoberfest beer. We would certainly love to taste it. Ein Prosit! 🍺

A few weeks ago, we received an email from Alex Wieland asking if we'd like to include his beer in our selection. And it turns out it's no ordinary beer. You can read more about it below. I need to begin this story with some background information about the foundation Alex belongs to: Historische Gewassen Natuur(lijk) Zeeuws (Historical Grains of Nature Zeeuws). This foundation consists of dedicated and hardworking volunteers who are wholeheartedly committed to preserving heritage grains and crops. It's an enthusiastic team of experts in sustainable agriculture, cultural history, and nature. The foundation's mission is to cultivate and preserve heritage and alternative crops. Through regularly organized excursions and the creation of beautiful products from these plants, they make them accessible to the public. Cultivation is carried out on a large scale, taking sustainability and biodiversity into account. The oldest variety is einkorn, which was the first grain cultivated over 14,000 years ago. The youngest variety is Wilhelmina wheat, which was only widely available in the fields of Zeeland about 100 years ago. For example, herb-rich field margins, native wildflower mixes, hedges, and beetle ridges serve as habitats for insects. These insects contribute to pest control. Such biotopes also provide habitat for farmland birds such as the skylark, partridge, and turtle dove. And they do all this in our beautiful Zeeland. And what does that have to do with (non-alcoholic) beer, I hear you ask. To finance the foundation's activities, the idea arose to produce goods from the harvested crops. For example, there are noodles made from Risweit (wheat) and noodles made from Johannis rye. Another obvious product is, of course, beer. After brewing two alcoholic beers, the idea also emerged to brew non-alcoholic beer (under 0.5%). De Zomertortel (European Turtledove) is no ordinary non-alcoholic beer. It is brewed entirely from the Foundation's unmalted grain and thus falls under the innovative MaltLess concept. This unique concept originated from the MaltLess research project at Ghent University, where an innovative process was developed to produce a Belgian low-alcohol alternative based on unmalted grain. This process was applied to the same traditional grain blend as in the Foundation's existing Saison, Leeuwerik, resulting in De Zomertortel Alcoholarm. De Zomertortel is brewed at Jopens Waarderpolder Brewery : a modern, highly flexible brewery where technology and quality are paramount. It's the ideal place to develop new techniques and recipes on a small scale and then scale them up . For pasteurization, they collaborated with their partner, Brouwerij Gulpener , known for its sustainable and environmentally friendly approach. Gulpener handled the pasteurization process and are also involved in the MaltLess project. Finally, a word about the name of the European Turtle Dove: This bird was once a familiar sight in the Dutch countryside, especially in Zeeland-Flanders. However, since the 1980s, its population in the Netherlands has declined by more than 97%. This makes it the fastest-disappearing breeding bird in our country. Thanks in part to the foundation's initiative, we hope to preserve this species. You can listen to the call of the European turtle dove here . And for true beer connoisseurs, a few more details about the ingredients: Zomertortel is brewed with a selection of heritage grains: March barley, white emmer, Zeeland brown emmer, and St. John's rye. Each of these grains contributes to the full, complex character of this summery beverage, which is deeply rooted in Zeeland's agricultural history. The bitterness is based on Magnum hops. This robust hop variety gives the beer its solid body without disrupting the balance. Cascade hops were added later for extra flavor and a more intense aroma. This aromatic hop contributes fresh citrus and floral notes, giving the beer a lively and inviting character.