Big Drop Brewing Co. is dedicated exclusively to making the finest 0.5% ABV beer.
Big Drop was launched in October 2016 by the-then City lawyer Rob Fink, along with his school-friend/band-mate, designer and entrepreneur, James Kindred.
Rob Fink (right) – founder & CEO
The idea for a brewing business that only made alcohol-free beer was driven by their own lifestyle changes (eg fatherhood) and the frustration that there were no good alcohol-free beer options.
Along with renowned experimental brewer, Johnny Clayton (formerly of Wild Beer Co), they’ve perfected techniques to make alcohol-free craft beer without the need for artificial removal of alcohol. The result doesn’t compromise on taste and yet is no more than 0.5% ABV.
Big Drop doesn’t just use barley. It uses barley, rye, wheat and oats to give great flavour and aroma. And it doesn’t use just one type of each. Across its beers, it uses over 20 speciality grains. Its wide-range of beers includes Stout, Lager, Pale Ale, IPA, Brown Ale, Golden Ale, Winter Ale and a Sour. So there really is something for everybody.
2023 Australian International Beer Awards
- Galactic won Silver in Best Non-Alcohol Beer
- Poolside won Silver in Best Non-Alcohol Beer
- Paradiso won Bronze in Best Non-Alcohol Beer
2023 World Beer Cup
- Galactic won the Bronze Medal in the Non-Alcohol Beer Category
2023 World Alcohol-Free Awards
- Galactic won Gold
- Paradiso and Pine Trail won Bronze
- Reef Point was commended
2022 World Beer Awards
- Galactic was the Country Winner for the Australian Flavoured Stout
- Pine Trail was the Country Winner for the USA’s No & Low Pale
- Coba Maya won Silver in the USA’s No & Low Lager
- Galactic won Silver in No & Low Stout and No & Low Flavoured
- Pine Trail won Silver in No & Low Pale.
2022 Which Taste Test
- Paradiso won their Best Buy award
2022 Craft Beer Marketing Awards
- Galactic Extra Dark won Platinum
2021 World Beer Awards
- Double Strike won Bronze in No & Low Alcohol Sour
- Woodcutter won Silver in No & low Alcohol Dark
- Pine Trail won Silver in No & Low Alcohol Pale
- Galactic won World’s Best in No & Low Alcohol Stout
- Galactic won World’s Best in No & Low Alcohol
- Paradiso won World’s Best in No & Low Alcohol Specialty (GF)
- Paradiso won Bronze in IPA Speciality (GF)
2021 Awards
- SIBA – Commercial Achievement
- World Beer Awards – Double Strike, Woodcutter, Pine Trail, Galactic & Paradiso
- US Open – Pine Trail & Galactic
- Craft Beer Awards – Poolside & Leafkicker
- Melbourne International Beer Competition – Uptime & Pine Trail
2020 Awards
- Global Beer Masters – Pine Trail, Paradiso, Uptime, Woodcutter, Off-Piste
- USA Beer Ratings – Pine Trail, Galactic, Uptime
World Beer Awards 2020
- Pine Trail Pale Ale won World’s Best in the Low Alc Pale category, plus country best.
- Galactic Milk Stout won World’s Best Flavoured Low Alcohol category, plus country best.
- Paradiso Citra IPA won Best Specialty IPA in the UK.
- Off Piste Hazelnut Porter won a UK Silver.
World Beer Awards 2019
- The Brown Ale won World’s Best in the Dark Beer Low Strength category.
- The Citra won UK Bronze for full-strength Session IPA.
- The Pale Ale won UK Bronze for Pale Beer Low Strength.
European Beer Challenge 2019
- The Lager and Stout both won Double Golds.
Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival 2019
- The Stout won Gold, plus the overall title of Best in Show.
- The Brown Ale won a Bronze.
International Beer Challenge 2019
- The Brown Ale won Silver in the Lo/No category.
- The Stout won Bronze in the No/Lo category.
US Open Beer Championship 2019
- The Stout won Gold in the Non-alcoholic Stout category
- The Citra won Silver in the Non-alcoholic IPA category.
The International Brewing and Cider Awards 2019
- The Citra won the overall Champion’s trophy for the No and Low Alcohol Beer category.
- The Stout won Silver in the No and Low Alcohol category.
Casual Dining Show 2019
- The Citra was crowned ‘King of Craft’ at the show, which was dominated by full-strength beers.
BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018
- Big Drop was named one of three ‘Best Drinks Producers’.
World Beer Awards 2017
- The Pale Ale was named World’s Best Pale Beer (low strength)
- The Stout won UK Silver for flavoured Stout when judged against full-strength stouts and porters
International Beer Challenge 2017
- The Stout won a Gold Medal
The Society of Independent Brewers
- Big Drop Brewing received the Best Business Innovation award
History
April 2016
City lawyer and new father, Rob Fink, takes a break from booze – and identifies a lack of choice in low/no alcohol beers. Further research reveals a gap in the market for a craft brewery dedicated solely to great quality, full-flavoured low/no alcohol beer.
August 2016
Rob establishes Big Drop Brewing Co, along with old school friend and acclaimed designer – James Kindred.
September 2016
Johnny Clayton, former of Wild Beer and one of the finest experimental brewers in the business, embraces the Big Drop challenge of making 0.5% ABV beers without artificially extracting alcohol.
November 2016
A 0.5% ABV Milk Stout is released to rave reviews.
“The most impressive no/low alcohol beer I have ever tried; no argument, it just is.” Melissa Cole, British Guild of Beer Writers.
“Hard to believe this is a non-alcoholic beer” – Morning Advertiser.
March 2017
A Pale Ale is the hit follow up to the stout. It too draws parallels with full-strength beers.
May 2017
Holding down two jobs, about to move house and with twins due any day, Rob resigns from his law firm to focus entirely on Big Drop.
June 2017
Two more beers – a Lager and a seasonal Spiced Ale – are released. Working with local illustrator, Helen Maxfield, a new range of label designs are launched depicting the Suffolk countryside.
August 2017
Big Drop’s Pale Ale is named the World’s Best Pale Beer (>2.8% ABV) at the World Beer Awards 2017. Its Stout wins a Gold Medal at the International Beer Challenge and a UK Silver Medal at the World Beer Awards, when judged against full-strength stouts and porters.
October 2017
Big Drop’s export journey begins when the Stout is launched in Sweden via Systembolaget which, as the country’s monopoly alcohol retailer, is one of the world’s largest purchasers of beer.
January 2018
Premium listings are obtained at Hakkasan, Fortnum & Mason, The Ivy Group and Barworks Pub Group.
March 2018
Big Drop is announced as one of three ‘Best Drinks Producers’ in the BBC Food & Farming Awards and wins the Dragons’ Pantry award at the Farm Shop & Deli Show.
April 2018
Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in The Netherlands starts stocking Big Drop.
May 2018
New on-trade listings include: Draft House, Mitchells & Butlers, All Bar One and The Castles Groups – while the next seasonal beer, a Sour, is launched at an event at the Commercial Tavern in London.
September 2018
Big Drop gains listings with Ocado and Tesco Extra stores.
December 2018
A £500k seed funding round is closed.
January 2019
Big Drop goes on draft for the first time – across the Barworks group.
February 2019
Big Drop’s latest range addition – a Citra IPA – is crowned ‘King of Craft’ at the Casual Dining show, which was dominated by full-strength beers.
March 2019
Big Drop wins the Business Innovation category at the Society of Independent Brewers Awards. The Citra IPA and Stout win Gold and Silver respectively at the International Brewing Awards.
April 2019
Morrisons is the latest supermarket chain to stock Big Drop.
June 2019
Holland & Barrett list our new format 330ml cans, which includes gluten-free Pale Ale and Stout, plus a vegan friendly Lager.
October 2019
The LCBO launch the Pale Ale and Stout in stores across Ontario, Canada
Curated by Melissa Cole, Big Drop launch the first World Collab Series pack with the UK’s leading full-strength craft brewers.
December 2019
Milk & More begin doorstep deliveries and Big Drop becomes one of its biggest sellers in the run-up to Christmas.
A Hazelnut Porter is added to the range. Total annual sales top 1 million bottles.
January 2020
National media coverage for Dry January includes TV appearances for Big Drop on Saturday Kitchen and with Phil & Holly on This Morning.
Also on CTV and CBC in Canada.
February 2020
Big Drop reveals a big, bright and bold design make-over to reflect its global expansion as a leading alcohol-free beer brand.
Fans are offered a slice of the business via a crowdfund campaign.
March 2020
Big Drop exceeded its Crowdfunding target.
The Big Drop online shop launched.
James and Rhian created the first online pub quiz of lockdown, Living Room Pub Quiz
The Big Drop Amazon store went live
April 2020
Big Drop created a series of virtual gigs, featuring The Dunwells, Allman Brown and Russell Swallow.
May 2020
Big Drop concluded its Living Room Pub Quiz with a combined total of 100k views from all over the globe.
June 2020
Big Drop launched two limited edition Summer Specials – Poolside and Kodama.
Galactic Milk Stout and Paradiso Citra IPA became available at Waitrose.
Galactic Milk Stout became available at Sainsbury’s
Melissa Cole hosted a virtual live tasting of Poolside and Kodama.
To help those working from home Big Drop created an IGTV series with movement therapy and yoga teacher Wibbs Coulson.
Pine Trail Pale Ale became the alcohol-free beer listing at Nando’s nationwide.
July 2020
To say thank you to the NHS staff Big Drop are driving to various hospitals in and around London to pour free pints for staff.
Big Drop celebrated the NHS’s 72nd Birthday by visiting Royal Free Hospital’s around London to pour pints for staff.
August 2020
Big Drop launched in Australia.
October 2020
We launched our UK 2020 Winter Season exclusives Firesider and Kinzig.
January 2021
We launched our store in the USA and also launched our World Collab Series #2 in the UK.
May 2021
Paria and Explorer Packs were launched.
July 2021
We returned to the Festivals.
August 2021
We won multiple awards including Britain’s/World’s Best in the World Beer Awards, making us one of the most awarded independent non-alcoholic breweries in the UK.
September 2021
We launched our collaboration brew with Square Mile Coffee Roasters producing the Leafkicker Coffee Flavoured Amber Ale.