The Oktoberfest season typically conjures thoughts of frothy mugs, hearty music, and delightful brews. If you've recently been browsing beer selections, you might've noted the onslaught of specialty brews tied to the world's most famous folk festival - Oktoberfest. One facet that is increasingly seeing a surge is the non-alcoholic, or NA, brews tailor-made for the fall fiesta.

This year, NA beer producer Best Day Brewing's direct-to-consumer launch of its Oktoberfest märzen style beer generated 1.6 times the dollar sales of their average brand launch, according to the company. Boston Beer Company's renowned Samuel Adams Octoberfest märzen, which recently wowed our editors in a taste test, has debuted a nonalcoholic sibling as well.

Tate Huffard, the founder and CEO of Best Day Brewing based in Sausalito, California, claims that the decision to brew a non-alcoholic Oktoberfest came as a response to consumer and retailer demand, including from Whole Foods Market - one of the brand’s top retailers. "As we expand Best Day’s offerings, insights from retailers have become crucial since they're our partners in introducing new beers to crucial in-store audiences," Huffard explains.

In his view, seasonal releases are a pivotal component in Best Day's lineup. "While our core beers maintain steady growth, seasonal brews enable us to create a sense of excitement, attract new folks to our brand, and demonstrate the potential in nonalcoholic beer," Huffard observes.

According to him, this year Best Day's seasonal brews have outperformed the company's overall growth by approximately six times and outstripped the entire NA category around tenfold.

At the Boston Beer Company, the journey towards non-alcoholic beer was marked by a change in conviction. "Once, Jim Koch, our founder, was adamant that Boston Beer would never venture into nonalcoholic beers," Shelley Smith, a Master Cicerone and the associate director of research and development at the company, recalls. After successfully brewing the Samuel Adams Non-Alcoholic Hazy IPA, though, Koch became a believer in the large potential NA beer holds, leading to the creation of a nonalcoholic Oktoberfest brew.

Smith elaborates that their Oktoberfest, with its intricate blend of caramel and roasted malt flavors, is the brand's most successful seasonal. To maintain these flavours, the NA version is crafted by delicately and slowly removing the alcohol from the original Sam Adams Oktoberfest. Smith says, "It's challenging yet rewarding to offer a non-alcoholic version without compromising taste."

Huffard believes that Best Day’s goal is to enable people to relish quality beers during traditions like Oktoberfest. Reflecting on his eye-opening experience at Munich's Oktoberfest in 2007, Huffard says, "It strongly proved beer's power to unite individuals from different backgrounds over shared moments," which motivated him to create a non-alcoholic beer that facilitates more people to be part of such celebrations.