Founded in 2017, Partake Brewing quickly became a leader in the craft non-alcoholic beer category winning numerous awards for its IPA and Pale Ale including gold at the World Beer Awards earlier this month. Partake Brewing was founded by Ted Fleming who wanted to continue to enjoy the taste of craft beer after he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and decided to give up alcohol:

“Over a decade ago I gave up alcohol due to a medical condition. But I missed my beer. I missed the taste of beer and discovering new beers, especially new craft beers. But more than that, I found that I missed the social connection that comes from sharing a drink with a colleague after a hard days work, cracking a beer with the guys after hockey, and joining in to celebrate special occasions with family and friends.

So a friend suggested that I try non-alcoholic beer. The problem is most of the non-alcoholic beer I tried tasted awful and there really was almost nothing in terms of variety. Unfortunately the long-standing stigma surrounding non-alcoholic beer has been well deserved.

I launched Partake Brewing to bring all the things that make craft beer great to non-alcoholic beer drinkers including taste, variety, authenticity, creativity, and passion. Non-alcoholic beer drinkers want to Partake in the craft beer journey with everyone else. Why? Because we’re beer lovers too.”

Giving up alcohol was one of the changes Fleming had to make in his life but didn’t want to sacrifice the great taste of what he enjoyed:

“I looked to non-alcoholic beer to satisfy any taste cravings I’d have. It was also an important part of me feeling comfortable in social situations like weddings or holidays,” Mr. Fleming says. “It was difficult to give that up.”

As demand for non-alcoholic beer grew among his customers, Fleming discovered that it was particularly challenging to source quality craft beer from abroad and even more challenging to import. It took a few years, but Fleming decided to solve this problem to start brewing non-alcoholic beer himself. 

“The concept of what I was doing was still pretty unique. People hadn’t caught on to the non-alcoholic beer market, so I had to put my own money behind it for quite a while,” he says. “Then we did a Kickstarter campaign and it helped us leverage the community I built. We had a group of passionate fans who came to the table to support the idea.”

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Photo courtesy of Dave Chidley/The Globe And Mail