Low-alcohol beer
[4][5][6] More recently, the temperance movements and the need to avoid alcohol while driving, operating machinery, taking certain medications, etc.
In 1917, President Wilson proposed limiting the alcohol content of malt beverages to 2.75% to try to appease avid prohibitionists.
These very-low-alcohol beverages became known as tonics, and many breweries began brewing them in order to stay in business during Prohibition.
At the start of the 21st century, alcohol-free beer has seen a rise in popularity in the Middle East (which now makes up a third of the market).
[9] One reason for this is that Islamic scholars issued fatawa which permitted the consumption of beer as long as large quantities could be consumed without getting drunk.
[10] By 2022, craft hop water has become a market unto itself in the United States, with one Southern California brewer regarding it as not being beer at all.
[14] A study conducted by the department of psychology at Indiana University said, "Because non-alcoholic beer provides sensory cues that simulate alcoholic beer, this beverage may be more effective than other placebos in contributing to a credible manipulation of expectancies to receive alcohol",[15] making people feel "drunk" when physically they are not.
[16] In the United States, beverages containing less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) were legally called non-alcoholic, according to the now-defunct Volstead Act.
Because of its very low alcohol content, non-alcoholic beer may be legally sold to people under age 21 in many American states.
[clarification needed] In the United Kingdom, Government guidance recommends the following descriptions for "alcohol substitute" drinks including alcohol-free beer.
In addition, businesses selling food for on-premises consumption do not need an alcohol license to serve 3.5% beer.
Virtually all major Swedish brewers, and several international ones, in addition to their full-strength beer, make 3.5% folköl versions as well.
Beer below or equaling 2.25% ABV (lättöl) is not legally subject to age restrictions;[22] however, some stores voluntarily opt out from selling it to minors anyway.
As these were repealed, they were first replaced by laws limiting the maximum alcohol content allowed for sale as 3.2 ABW.
[30] Unlike Minnesota and Utah, Missouri does not limit supermarket chains and convenience stores to selling only low-point beer.
"Near beer" was a term for malt beverages containing little or no alcohol (less than 0.5% ABV), which were mass-marketed during Prohibition in the United States.
The Icelandic variant normally consisted of a shot of vodka added to a half-a-litre glass of light beer.
Sometimes unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favored drink in Medieval Europe and colonial North America as opposed to the often polluted water and the expensive beer used for festivities.
