Clausthaler Launches as a Purpose-Brewed Alcohol-Free Beer

In 1979, Frankfurt’s Binding Brewery launched Clausthaler, an alcohol-free beer developed specifically to acquire its flavor while producing very little alcohol. Unlike processes that first fermented a conventional beer and then removed its alcohol, Clausthaler used controlled fermentation to restrict alcohol formation during brewing. The company traces the introduction of this method to 1973, followed by several years of product development before the commercial launch. Clausthaler entered a West German market in which alcohol-free beer remained a small and uncertain category. An early promotional campaign presented the new drink to restaurant and retail customers as “Prinzenbier” before revealing that it was alcohol-free. Although AUBI had already been introduced in East Germany in 1972, Clausthaler became one of the most enduring alcohol-free beer brands to emerge from the 1970s and helped establish the category in West Germany and international markets.