Yahoo Finance

Heineken, the world’s second-biggest beer giant, beat expectations with its Q4 2019 earnings on Wednesday, driven by an 8.3% sales surge for the core Heineken brand. That was the best single-year growth the Heineken brand has seen in a decade.

And the biggest gainer was Heineken’s (HEINY) portfolio of non-alcoholic beers, which saw double-digit sales growth.

Heineken’s global “no alcohol” portfolio includes Heineken 0.0, Affligem 0.0, Amstel Radler 0.0, and Cruzcampo 0.0. The industry rule for the “non-alcohol” label is 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), and 0.51% to 3.5% ABV for “low alcohol.”

Heineken does not break out the sales of its individual beers, but it disclosed that Heineken 0.0 saw mid-double-digit growth. The brand first launched in Europe in 2017, then in the U.S. in 2019, and is now selling in 57 markets. Heineken says its global master brewer Willem van Waesberghe worked on the product for 15 years to get it just right.

The U.S. marketing blitz for Heineken 0.0 in the last year included a campaign with Andy Roddick at the US Open in August, an on-air integration with “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” on Comedy Central, a partnership with Nike master trainer Alex Silver-Fagan, and a limited-edition “Dry January” 31-pack. It’s also the official beer of the UEFA Euro 2020 soccer tournament. In the spring, Heineken 0.0 will run a James Bond promotion timed to the new movie “No Time To Die.”

The blitz has worked, and the non-alcoholic brew has been a giant hit.

“We expect to see this segment continue to grow,” says Heineken spokesperson Dayna Adelman, “and we believe this can be attributed to the continuous rise of wellbeing, mindful drinking, and living a balanced lifestyle amongst consumers.”

It isn’t just Heineken.

The research firm Morning Consult said in August that 46% of American adults have now purchased a non-alcoholic beer or cocktail, and that the trend is “led not by teetotalers but by drinking adults.”

In a Morning Consult survey in July, 40% of 1,166 U.S. adults surveyed said they are drinking less than they were five years ago—that number is up from 31% when Morning Consult asked the same question just one year earlier. The trend has been a huge boon to low-alcohol and non-alcohol beers, and all the big names have jumped in.

Last year Peroni, owned by Asahi (ASBRF), launched Peroni Libera 0.0. This year Carlsberg (CABGY) replaced Carlsberg 0.0 with a new zero-alcohol beer called Nordic. Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) in just the last three months has launched four new low- or no-alcohol beers: Goose Island So-Lo IPA (3% ABV); Four Peaks Brewing Gilt Lifter Ale (3.4% ABV); Breckenridge Brewery Resolution Blueberry Acai Golden Ale (3.5% ABV); and Golden Road Brewing Mango Cart Wheat Ale (less than 0.5% ABV).