More people want to celebrate without alcohol
Doing Zero's IPA Hazu Lazy gets top marks from the reviewers. In 2024, the beer has been highlighted by both Jyllands-Posten and Børsen's food critics. Most recently, Doing Zero has been named one of three food treasures by the supermarket chain MENY.
In the New Year, more people will raise their beer glasses without alcohol.
Everyone who loves food and drink can do so with their full senses, is the message from Denmark’s only completely alcohol-free beer brand Doing Zero. It has succeeded in brewing a very tasty beer for the ever-growing crowd who want to enjoy life without a hangover.
The New Year 2025 will be the start of a year in which Danes will probably turn down their blood alcohol levels even more when it comes to partying, the brand notes.
As ethnologist and trend researcher Julia Lahme told in the Evening Show on DR when she was a guest in December, the more alcohol-free lifestyle she has chosen herself is a new trend of the time that more people are seeking.
This inspired beer enthusiast and entrepreneur Kim Christensen.
Because that’s exactly what has driven him in his mission to spread his beer brand Doing Zero since the launch of the good beer in 2022.
Doing Zero has just been named by the grocery chain MENY as one of this year’s three Danish food treasures: a great conclusion after a year of starry rain from the reviewers in both Børsen and Jyllandsposten.
It’s not about being holy
“Then I saw the Evening Show on DR, where Julia Lahme talked about the trend of more people choosing non-alcoholic drinks,” says Kim Christensen, who particularly noticed a formulation from the trend researcher: “It’s not about doing without, but about choosing something else. That was the core of her message, and I very much agree with that. We should choose to drink what we enjoy because it tastes good and at the same time keep our full senses,” says Kim Christensen.
“It also made me think of our motto in Doing Zero ApS: “I’m no hero – I’m just doing zero. Because it is not about being holy and making great sacrifices. It’s small choices that make a difference: For example, cutting down on alcohol to be a little more present and remember the small breaks in everyday life,” says the beer entrepreneur.
Kim Christensen can also feel that Danes are turning up the purchase of non-alcoholic beers. Since the first Doing Zero was put on the market in 2022, sales have increased tenfold.
And according to figures from the Danish Brewers’ Association, sales of non-alcoholic beers are generally booming: The members of the Danish Brewers’ Association now sell at least four times as many non-alcoholic beers as they did 10 years ago.
The delicious choice
Kim Christensen, who has a background in the restaurant industry, got the idea to develop an alcohol-free beer in 2018, where he started from scratch and spent the first three years finding the right recipe in collaboration with several different brewmasters: “I work to make it easy and delicious to choose alcohol-free. We don’t have to compromise on taste when we have a New Year’s party or celebrate a birthday in a white month of January.”
In 2013, it was decided that the non-alcoholic beer had to have a blood alcohol level of a maximum of 0.5 – slightly higher than the limit value before, which has provided new opportunities to create good taste in beer brewing:
“However, it is important to remember when we talk about blood alcohol levels in beer that, for example, blood alcohol levels of that size can be measured in everything from chocolate turtles to fruit. Just so you understand that the chemical content is still very low,” Kim Christensen explains.
Mental breaks
But Doing Zero is more than just a beer. The brand is also a philosophy of relaxation without intoxication, Kim Christensen explains:
“I’ve given the beer this name because we have to remember to do nothing. This is especially true at Christmas and New Year’s that we have to take mental breaks where we just enjoy life,” says Kim Christensen and continues:
“And as Julie Lahme points out, we don’t need to drink MORE alcohol. It’s not that I’m going to preach total abstinence in the new year. The point is that many people right now feel the need for a new focus on balance, enjoyment and awareness,” says Kim Christensen:
“This is the wave we are part of. Away from the drinking culture and into a culture of enjoyment with a focus on the importance of the break and the presence during that break.”
Praised beer
In 2023, Kim Christensen won an award for best beverage in the chef and food competition “Sol over Gudhjem” on Bornholm, and when Ane Cortzen sits down to taste the beer in the podcast “Alcohol-Free Brothers” in a clip shared on social media, she also ends up giving the blue IPA Hazy Lazy from Doing Zero 6 out of 6 stars.
Because everyone can taste that it is a beer that the brewers have really chosen: “We know how it should taste. We care about quality. We are not going to make niche beers like so many other microbreweries. We stand for making refreshing and uncomplicated beer that just tastes good. So you choose it for, and not others from,” says Kim Christensen.
