Golden Blue Enters Non-Alcoholic Beverage Market... Launches 'Carlsberg 0.0' in Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] Golden Blue announced on the 11th that it will make a full-scale entry into the rapidly growing non-alcoholic beverage market by launching the non-alcoholic lager beer ‘Carlsberg 0.0’ in Korea.

‘Carlsberg,’ the official beer of the Danish royal family, which Golden Blue has been importing and distributing since May 2018, saw its sales increase by 19% last year compared to 2019, rising to become the 10th top imported beer brand in the domestic market. Through aggressive sales and marketing activities such as producing seasonally appropriate packaging and expanding home sales channels, Golden Blue achieved its goal of growing ‘Carlsberg’ into a top 10 imported beer brand in Korea within a short period of about 2 years and 8 months since it began importing and distributing the brand.

Now, Golden Blue plans to expand the ‘Carlsberg’ brand lineup while targeting the globally rapidly growing non-alcoholic beverage market to continue its unstoppable upward trend. With increasing interest in well-being and health, the global non-alcoholic beverage market size grew from approximately $10 billion in 2016 to about $13 billion in 2019, and it is expected to expand to $17 billion by 2024. Domestically, the market is growing even more steeply, with the non-alcoholic beverage market size reaching 15 billion KRW in 2019, up from 10 billion KRW in 2016.

Golden Blue aims to capture new alcoholic beverage trends by entering this rapidly growing non-alcoholic beverage market. Under the domestic liquor tax law, non-alcoholic beverages refer to drinks with an alcohol content of less than 1%, and since they are not classified as alcoholic beverages in food categories, they can be sold via telecommunications. Among these, beverages with zero alcohol are classified as Alcohol Free, and those with less than 1% alcohol are classified as Non Alcoholic. The newly launched ‘Carlsberg 0.0’ has an alcohol content of less than 0.05%, classifying it as Non Alcoholic, and it is categorized as a carbonated beverage in food types.

‘Carlsberg 0.0’ uses the same raw materials and manufacturing process as the Danish royal official beer ‘Carlsberg Pilsner,’ with alcohol extracted only at the final stage, maintaining the fresh yet balanced taste and smooth, refreshing finish that ‘Carlsberg Pilsner’ is known for.

Made by blending Carlsberg’s unique hops, pilsner malt, and caramel malt, it retains a rich body and the excellence of its raw materials. After fermentation, a low-temperature vacuum distillation process is added to reduce the alcohol content. Additionally, to compensate for some of the beer’s flavor lost along with the alcohol during this process, selected aroma hops unique to Carlsberg are added once more before packaging to maximize rich taste and aroma. Notably, ‘Carlsberg 0.0’ contains no fat or cholesterol and has a very low calorie count of 14 kcal per 100 ml (a total of 46.2 kcal per 330 ml), reducing both alcohol and calorie burdens while enhancing product completeness.

In Korea, ‘Carlsberg 0.0’ will be released as a 330 ml canned beer. CEO Kim Dong-wook said, “‘Carlsberg 0.0’ retains the excellent taste unique to the world-renowned ‘Carlsberg’ beer, so it will satisfy the preferences of a wide range of customers, including not only alcohol enthusiasts but also consumers who prefer light drinking occasions. We will rapidly increase our market share in the domestic non-alcoholic beverage market,” he stated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.