Best Day’s Tate Huffard on Fitting Into Non-Alc Beer’s ‘Belonging’ Phase

Best Day Brewing founder and CEO Tate Huffard believes the modern non-alcoholic (NA) beer movement is now in its second wave – one characterized by “belonging.”

“What we see now is that non-alcoholic beer belongs on menus, it belongs in beer sets,” Huffard said on the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast. 

Best Day was made for NA beer’s second wave in which coolers on boats in the summer are stocked with NA and alcoholic beer and fridges at parties also include both options, Huffard said. 

“All of these beer occasions warrant a great non-alcoholic beer and yet part of the magic is unpacking and uncovering these new occasions that deserve a beer,” Huffard said. “Case in point for me is a lunch beer.”

The first wave – driven by the rise of Athletic Brewing Company – helped normalize NA beer and remove the penalty box elements of old-school offerings, Huffard explained. 

“I give those guys an incredible amount of praise for creating an environment where people could participate in the category and it wasn’t weird,” he said. “And the concept of non-alcoholic craft beer was born in that first wave.”

The second wave is about growing the pie, expanding grocery baskets and taking NA beer’s share upward from 2% to 10% and beyond, Huffard said. 

In the episode, Huffard discusses Best Day’s 30% distribution growth this year and retail expansion, finding luck in craft brewery taprooms, navigating the disruption caused by the launch of Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Michelob Ultra Zero and much more. 

But first, the Brewbound team also catches up on the latest news, including July 4 scans, exec moves at New Belgium and a Jersey banner plane and patio tent update.