Kit NA Brewing - Helping Families Prepare!

In a world where craft beer has become synonymous with innovation and unique flavors, one company is redefining what it means to enjoy a great beer without the buzz. William Fisher and his business partner Rob Barrett are the co-founders of Kit NA Brewing, Maine's first exclusively non-alcoholic brewery. Established in 2021, Kit NA Brewing was born out of their personal journeys—Rob’s decision to bid farewell to alcohol and Will’s choice to cut back significantly—coupled with a shared frustration over the lack of high-quality non-alcoholic (NA) beer options in the market. From the very beginning, Kit NA Brewing has set out to change the landscape of non-alcoholic beers, producing award-winning, crushable brews that can be enjoyed by everyone, at any occasion, without compromising on taste or quality. Their mission? To create a craft beer experience that’s truly inclusive, allowing people to "Have A Beer That’s True To You"—whether you're abstaining from alcohol or simply looking for a satisfying, flavorful beer that doesn’t sacrifice on the experience. In this Delivery Rank’s interview, we speak with Will Fisher to explore the inspiration behind Kit NA Brewing, the challenges and triumphs of building a successful non-alcoholic brewery, and how they’ve been able to rapidly grow and expand their reach. 

Can you share the story behind Kit NA Brewing’s creation? What were the key moments or realizations that led you and Rob to launch a non-alcoholic brewery?

My business partner, Rob, and I met about four years ago while doing a local TV show. We finished each episode by choosing two regular beers, taking a sip, and closing out the show. What Rob didn't know at the time was that I wasn’t drinking at that point, although I do occasionally. Rob, on the other hand, doesn't drink at all. We both pretended to take a sip from the beers, and afterwards, Rob pointed out that I hadn’t actually drunk mine. At the time, we were at a brewery that I still own—a full-fledged brewery. That sparked a conversation about why I wasn’t drinking, and Rob shared that he only drinks occasionally too.

That was the initial spark for our conversation, and from there, we started talking about non-alcoholic beer. Rob knew that I already owned a brewery, and he owned a construction company. So, we began to wonder what it would look like if we combined our two businesses. We decided to try as many different non-alcoholic beers as we could to see what was out there, as Rob had tried quite a few but I hadn’t. He asked me what I thought of them, and I mentioned that they didn’t really taste great. This is the number one issue that often deters people from trying non-alcoholic beers—the taste just isn’t there.

So, we thought, “Can we do this better?” The problem we were trying to solve was somewhat selfish: we simply wanted to drink better non-alcoholic beer. We decided to start small—just a local non-alcoholic brewery in our area, which is known for its craft beer scene. We began our research and development, working on recipes. And before we knew it, the business took off—it got really busy. At the same time, the demand for non-alcoholic beer was growing rapidly. Over the last four years, that sector has continued to grow, and we believe it will keep expanding.

That initial "fake sip" was the beginning of it all.

Your tagline, "Have A Beer That's True To You," is incredibly inclusive. What does this mean to you both personally and professionally, and how do you see it resonating with your customers?

I still own a traditional alcohol brewery, and we don’t want to make anyone feel bad about choosing alcohol or choosing not to. “Inclusive” is a great word for us. It’s all about doing what feels right for you. One of our taglines is "Under Your Own Influence," instead of "Under the Influence." Choosing a beer that’s true to you is about choosing whatever is best for you in that situation. If you want to have a regular beer, go for it—you’re over 21, you’re an adult, and you can make that decision for yourself. If you want to have a non-alcoholic beer, that’s great too. We’re here for that, and we have that option for you.

The nice thing about beer is that you can stay true to yourself because you don’t have to sacrifice anything. You won’t have to deal with the headache in the morning or worry about not being able to drive home. You don’t have to be concerned about not being present for certain people, whether it’s family, friends, or kids. It’s really about saying, "Yeah, be true to yourself. Make your own decision." You can have a beer whenever you want—just go for it. It’s kind of nice, and I really enjoy that.

I went home last night after a day of work, and I didn’t want to think about what tomorrow was going to look like. Should I have a beer or not tonight? I was going to have a non-alcoholic beer because it satisfies the craving, and I don’t have to think about the implications of how it’s going to affect me in the moment. Like, “Oh, I’ve got an important call tomorrow. I need to be on top of it.”

The non-alcoholic beer industry has grown significantly, but it’s still relatively new. What challenges did you face in the early days of Kit NA Brewing, and how did you overcome them?

Making non-alcoholic beer that tastes good and is shelf-stable is really challenging. It’s difficult to accomplish all those things together. In fact, it’s much harder to make than regular beer. There’s a lot more detail and process involved. We make ours in probably the most challenging way, or at least what I would consider a difficult method. Essentially, we start with regular beer, but we manage the fermentation and how the beer is processed. What we like about this method is that the beer is fully fermented. We don’t remove the alcohol by distilling it or filtering it out; it just has a very, very low alcohol content—less than half a percent. We believe this process gives the beer the taste of a regular beer.

Other non-alcoholic beers are made differently, and there’s nothing wrong with those methods—it’s just not how we like to do it. It’s definitely challenging, but we think it’s worth it.

If you look at the broader consumer packaged goods (CPG) world, growing a CPG business is really, really hard. It takes a lot of time, effort, sales, marketing, inventory, and cash to generate inventory. In fact, I think it’s something like 40 cents of every dollar that goes into a company like ours ends up going into inventory. So, aside from the normal challenges of making the product, getting people interested in it is another hurdle.

As you mentioned, the market for non-alcoholic beer is growing. When we started, it was just 1% of all beer in the U.S., and now it’s over 2%. That’s still a small percentage, but 2% of all beer is still a lot of liquid. It’s great that it’s growing, and the growth is significant. For example, the overall beer category is growing at 18%, while craft beer is seeing about 60% year-over-year growth. Non-alcoholic craft beer specifically is growing rapidly too.

However, when you go into a retailer, even with all these great stats, they often say, “That’s great,” but then they show you their cooler. Non-alcoholic beer is only 2% of all beer, so they might offer you just 2% of their cooler space. That’s not enough room for even a single facing. While retailers are still hesitant to open up more space for non-alcoholic beer, they are giving a lot more than 2% of their cooler space to it.

That said, non-alcoholic beer is still a small part of the market, but it’s growing rapidly. It’s already a big part of the beer market in Europe, where non-alcoholic beer accounts for 10-15% of beer sales. The Europeans are ahead of us on this, and it’s continuing to grow. What sets non-alcoholic beer apart from other drinks is that it’s not just another type of alcoholic beverage. In the U.S., we’ve seen trends in things like hard seltzers, RTDs (ready-to-drinks), and other flavored alcohol drinks. These are all just new ways to deliver alcohol. Non-alcoholic beer, on the other hand, is a completely separate category. I think this is why non-alcoholic beer is growing independently and won’t be as affected by the trends and fads that influence the alcoholic beverage industry.

As the co-founder of Maine’s first exclusively non-alcoholic brewery, what role does location play in your brand identity, and how has Maine influenced the culture and direction of Kit NA Brewing?

This is a very popular area for craft beer. I believe it's the second highest per capita number of breweries in the country, after Maine as a whole, and then Portland, where we are, is the epicenter. It's Maine's largest city, though not the capital. I was already here because I had to be for my other brewery, and Rob and I both grew up in Maine, so we just happened to be here. It was a fortunate situation to start things off, and I think it made a big difference early on.

However, the fact that we don’t have a retail space or pub is not as important as it once seemed. We serve our beer in our own space, but it’s not as critical for us as it is for some other small breweries or restaurants. As we expand nationally and move into distribution, the further we get, the less important that local connection seems to be, and I’m okay with that. It's important to understand that and not get hung up on it.

It’s easy to think that people in California might want to buy our beer just because it’s from Maine, but maybe they don’t. If you’re insistent that this should be the reason people buy your product, you're going to have a tough time. You have to realize that sometimes you can't control everything. I tend to control the narrative too much sometimes, but you have to step back and accept that we can’t always dictate how people respond. We were Maine’s first dedicated non-alcoholic brewery, and that’s great—but maybe it's not as impactful as it once was, and that's okay.

Looking ahead, how do you see the non-alcoholic beer market evolving in the next five to ten years, and where do you envision Kit NA Brewing in that future?

That's a great question. As a business, we have a plan that stretches through 2028, so for the next four years. Our goal is to grow the business to a point where it either becomes profitable or gets acquired, and we're very open about that. Rob and I have other businesses and other things going on, so we've hired a full-time CEO and other people to come in because the business has already reached a point where we don’t know what to do with it, which is a good problem to have.

From the beginning, we've said that we don’t want to tie too much of ourselves to the business, thinking it can only be us running it. We've always had smarter people helping us with the business. Our plan is either to reach profitability or sell it.

As for the sector, the non-alcoholic beer industry is going to keep growing. I think it's at an 18% CAGR right now, and it's also hit 18% CAGR in the last couple of years. It’s done what people said it would do, and I think it will continue to grow for a while. However, there may be a bit of a bubble in the non-alcoholic beer market as more people see the numbers. Regular beer sales are flat or declining, while non-alcoholic beer is rising, and now everyone’s thinking, “Well, let’s make a non-alcoholic beer.”

We're in a bit of that phase right now, but I believe it will cool down. Our goal by 2028 is to be the number two craft non-alcoholic beer brand in the country. The number one spot is already taken by a great brewery that does an excellent job and is huge. The number two spot currently has less than 10% of the revenue of the number one brand, so there’s a huge gap between the two. We truly believe we can compete and take that #2 spot within the next four years.

You can buy our beer directly from our website at https://www.kitna.beer/. Just visit kitna.beer to order. We’re also on Amazon, so you can get our beer with free shipping through Amazon Prime. 

To read more about Kit NA Brewing, please visit https://www.kitna.beer/