The Finnish people have been fans of beer for a long time. However, its geographical location has made certain trends move a bit slower than in other European countries. One of these trends is the rise of craft beer and, more specifically, non-alcoholic craft beer in Finland.
It wasn’t until 2018 that there was a small upswing in the popularity of non-alcoholic beer in Finland. That was when the macro breweries started releasing their own beers without alcohol. Just in the first 8 months of 2018, Finnish grocery stores sold more than 1.8 million liters of non-alcoholic beer. However, it took a few more years for Finnish craft beer brewers to jump on the trend. Today you can find NA craft beers from many Finnish breweries including Pyynikin Brewing, Maku Brewing, and Malmgård Brewery.
Where to find non alcoholic beer in Finland
Here are the different options you have if you want to buy alcohol free craft beer in Finland.
Non alcoholic craft beer bars in Finland
At most bars in the bigger cities, you now have alcohol-free beer available. In the smaller towns, it’s getting more common but you might have to settle for low alcohol craft beer or some virgin drinks. To find alcohol free craft beer you will have to search a bit more. One of the almost sure bets would be Ravintola Viisi Penniä. It has always been one of my favorite craft beer bars in Helsinki and the owner is actually a fan of alcohol free beers.
Our favorite option is Pien Bottle Shop. They have a whole fridge stocked with NA craft beers. Although the NA fridge is the smallest fridge at the place, it still has a decent selection of NA Pale Ales, IPAs, and more.
Buy non alcoholic craft beer online in Finland
Because of the alcohol monopoly, there are not really many places to buy alcohol free craft beer online in Finland. While non alcoholic beers should be outside the monopoly I assume that not many webshops want to sell only alcohol free beer.
For buying non alcoholic craft beer in Finland online we still found one website. It’s the Espoo-based company Aalto that also has a very impressive selection. In their webshop you can find the following beers and many more:
- VandeStreek Grapefruit IPA
- Brulo Lust For Life DDH
- Firstchip YES IPA
- Klokk & Co Mango FRIPA
- Force Majeure Bruin
We previously mentioned the bottle shop Pien. Well, they also have a very impressive webshop where you can buy hundreds of different beers including their non-alcoholic ones. There we could even find the Estonian craft beer Virmalised 0 IPA that we have previously reviewed. They ship to Finland and Estonia and the deliveries take 3-7 days.
You cannot pick up the webshop orders from their bottle shop but you can pre-order from their takeaway catalogue through WhatsApp.
Other places to find non alcoholic craft beer in Finland
Finland has an alcohol monopoly. The monopoly is quite strict and almost all alcoholic drinks apart from normal-strength beer are sold in government-owned stores called Alko. However, if you want non-alcoholic beers you don’t need to go to Alko for obvious reasons. Despite that, Alko still has a decent selection of NA beers available, especially if you pre-order online. The same applies to other non-alcoholic beverages.
Most grocery stores have a decent selection of non alcoholic beers. Even in the smaller towns you can find non alcoholic beer from the macro brewers as well as the craft brewers. Even the Finnish macro brewers are experimenting with their own non-alcoholic craft beers. The selection is pretty good. The stores recommended are K-Market and S-Market. You should especially check out K-Supermarket Kupittaa in Turku or K-Supermarket Iso Omena in Espoo. They have the best selection of craft beers in Finland.
How much does NA craft beer cost in Finland?
Unfortunately, nonalcoholic craft beer in Finland is quite expensive. The low alcohol and normal strength beers are already very expensive and the non-alcoholic versions are not far behind. In the grocery stores you will most likely have to pay between €2-3 and in the bars €5-7.
History of craft beer in Finland
We still don’t have much knowledge about the craft beer history in Finland. If you have some information especially about non-alcoholic craft beer in Finland, feel free to contact us.
Best Craft Beer Breweries in Finland
Here are some of the most popular breweries in the country.
- Fat Lizard Brewing Company
- Malmgårdin Panimo
- Coolhead Brew
- Beer Hunters Panimoravintola
- Pyynikin Brewing Company
Best Non-Alcoholic Craft Beers in Finland
Here are some of the best NA beers we’ve had in Finland:
- Oat Ale by Malmgårdin Panimo
- NA Lager by More Brewing
- Mosaic Zero by Pyynikin Brewing Company
- Utah Rye IPA by Saimaa’s Brewing Special
Don’t forget to have a look at our Map of Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer Bars to see where you can find NA beers in Finland.