Playground 0.0? Doesn't exist!

It might be the most famous Non-Alcoholic IPA in the Netherlands - our Playground. Of course, we are incredibly proud of that. But what kind of beer is it exactly, what's in it, and how should you label it? Quite often we find our own beer on menus in hospitality establishments incorrectly labelled as 0.0 – why is this wrong and what should it be? You can read about that in this blog.

Brewed like any other beer

Playground owes its taste to carefully selected ingredients and the brewing process. In that respect, the beer does not differ from our alcoholic beers such as the Hazy Weekend or Turf 'n Surf. So what's in it?

Water

Water is an important ingredient in beer. Without water, it would be a dry affair in the brewery.

Barley malt

Once the tank is full of water, the base of every beer is laid by the malt and grains we select. In Playground, we use a mix of barley malt. With this, we determine the color, the residual sugars, and part of the beer's flavour.

Hops

The bitterness in the beer comes from the hops, as does the delicious aroma of fruits, citrus, and pine. Playground only contains American hops. Not because we like pick-ups, country music, and fast food, but because we absolutely love the flavours of the Mosaic, Columbus, Cascade, and Citra we've selected.

Yeast

The last ingredient we add is yeast. While yeast normally converts all sugars into alcohol and CO2, Playground's yeast doesn't do this very well. The yeast produces more CO2 than alcohol and struggles with complex sugars. Unsuitable for any other beer, but a perfect match for Playground!

Want to know more about yeast? Read this article!

Beer, but not drunk

As you can read above, Playground is brewed like any other beer. It takes about 3 weeks from brew day until we can send it to our bottling line. You can taste this, and it ensures that it has been the favorite of many beer lovers for years.

Due to fermentation, Playground contains about 0.3% alcohol. So it's not 0.0. Still, you won't get a hangover the next day. Your body breaks down these small amounts of alcohol faster than it has any effect on you.

The letter of the law

The difference in the terms alcohol-free, 0.0, Non-Alcoholic, and low-alcohol mainly comes down to strict legislation in the Netherlands. In almost all countries, drinks up to 0.5% are called 'Sans Alcóhol', 'Alcohol Free', or 'Alkoholfrei'. In the Netherlands, we have the following rules:

• Drinks up to 1.2% do not need to state the alcohol percentage on the label.
• Beers up to 1.2% are called low-alcohol; this designation must be on the label.
• Beers up to 0.02% can be called 0.0.
• Beers up to 0.1% can be called alcohol-free.

As you can see, there is no real category for beers with less than 0.5% alcohol. Yes, you could say low-alcohol, but that is up to 1.2% and therefore does not cover what we are doing here. We promise that Playground contains less than 0.5% alcohol.

Playground is exported to more than 20 countries, and wherever we send it, the beer always falls into the 'alcohol-free' category. We also regularly win international awards such as the European Beer Star with our Non-Alcoholics.

Super confusing if you really want 0.0%? No! Then you should only drink beers that say 0.0. If you don't mind a little alcohol – then you choose Non-Alcoholic. Of course, you will find all legal information neatly on the Playground label. Prominently on the front, we, like many other breweries, proudly call our beers 'Non-Alcoholic'.