Arbor Ales Alcohol-Free Beers

Arbor Ales is an independent brewery in Easton, Bristol, founded in 2007 by Meg Oliver and Jon Comer, and it puts its beer in 568ml pint cans. Its alcohol-free beer is New Horizons AF, a 0.5% pale ale that it says is gluten-free and vegan.

Who are Arbor Ales?

Arbor “was founded by Meg and Jon Comer in 2007”, Bristol24/7 reported in 2019, calling Megan Oliver “the co-founder of Arbor Ales”. Its 2018 profile said Jon Comer gave up his job as a network design engineer in 2006 to start the brewery. The company, Arbor Ales Ltd, was incorporated in August 2006, before brewing began, Companies House shows.

Since April 2026 Arbor has been owned by Arbor Enterprises Ltd, a holding company set up in January 2026, and that company is owned by Ishka Megan Oliver and Jonathan Comer, its only directors, Companies House shows; before then it listed the two of them as Arbor’s owners directly. We found no drinks group involved, so we list it as independent.

From Stapleton to Easton

Brewing started in 2007 at the Old Tavern in Stapleton, Bristol, according to Brewery History. Arbor moved to an industrial estate in Kingswood, Gloucestershire, in 2008, and to Easton Road in 2015; it still brews at 181 Easton Road, the brewer says. By 2018 it had a team of eight, Bristol24/7 reported, and by 2019 the number of different beers it had made was “almost 400”.

Arbor takes part in the East Bristol Brewery Trail, which began in 2016; it was one of seven breweries on the trail’s tenth-year weekend, 2 and 3 May 2026, Bristol24/7 reported. In October 2024 Bristol24/7 reported that Arbor’s taproom on Easton Road would open weekly, on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. We couldn’t read the brewer’s taproom page, so we can’t confirm today’s hours.

What Arbor brews

Arbor says it’s “one of the only breweries in the UK packaging our beers in pint cans”, and it has sold its beer in pint-size cans since 2018, Bristol24/7 reported. All 13 beers on its shop on 31 October 2026 came in 568ml cans, from Blue Sky Drinking, a 4.4% bitter, and Breakfast Stout, a 7.4% oatmeal stout, to two NEIPAs, Faked Alaska and Massive Azacc. Four have “GF” in their names: Mega Mosaic GF, Novella GF, Mosaic GF and Helles Lager GF. “Alongside Arbor’s core beer range is a host of rotating specials and one-off brews & collabs,” the brewer says, though it doesn’t say which beers are core.

Marks & Spencer commissioned two bottle-conditioned beers from Arbor, an American Pale Ale and an American India Pale Ale, Bristol24/7 reported in 2018, and in 2024 Arbor brewed B24/Session, a gluten-free pale ale, for Bristol24/7’s tenth anniversary.

Arbor won gold at the International Beer Challenge 2013: SIBA’s report that year lists Arbor Ales among the gold winners, and Bristol24/7 says the medal was for Breakfast Stout. We found no other awards, and none for its alcohol-free beers.

How big is Arbor?

Arbor’s About page gives two figures that don’t match: “in excess of one and a half million pints a year” (about 850,000 litres, our sum) and “around a million litres a year”. It sells through its online shop, “local beer stockists and supermarkets” and on draught in pubs and bars, it says; we couldn’t confirm a named supermarket.

Arbor’s alcohol-free beers

New Horizons AF is Arbor’s only alcohol-free beer today: a “Gluten Free 0.5% ABV pale ale with Azacca, Citra, Ekuanot & Mosaic hops”, unfiltered and unfined, in 568ml cans at 0.3 UK units each, the brewer says. Arbor says it’s vegan. It makes its gluten-free beers “with normal brewer’s barley malt and oats”, then uses “an enzyme to reduce and remove gluten to below 20PPM”, which it says is the legal requirement for a gluten-free label; New Horizons AF lists barley and oats. Arbor doesn’t say how it brews the beer to 0.5% or when it launched it, and gives no tasting notes. The Alcohol Free Co describes citrus peel, tropical fruit, soft berries and light pine.

It wasn’t Arbor’s first. That was Wish You Were Beer, a 0.5% pale with Citra and Mosaic, which Alcohol Change UK called “the first alcohol-free offering from the Bristol-based Arbor brewery” and Untappd lists as a “Gluten and Alcohol Free pale ale”. It was on sale by January 2023, when 365bristol reviewed it, but it’s no longer on Arbor’s site, and we couldn’t find when it stopped or whether New Horizons AF replaced it. We found no draught version of New Horizons AF, and no Arbor alcohol-free beer that isn’t sold in the UK.

How New Horizons AF compares

Alcohol-free pale ales from UK breweries in our directory. Calories as published; checked 31 October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Arbor beer in our directory

Checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy New Horizons AF

On 1 November 2026 The Alcohol Free Co had single cans of New Horizons AF at £4.88 and cases of six at £27.90; that’s an affiliate link. Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender don’t list it. For more, see our guides to the best alcohol-free pale ale and gluten-free alcohol-free beer.

Facts checked against Arbor’s own website and shop, Companies House, Brewery History, Bristol24/7, SIBA, Alcohol Change UK, 365bristol, Untappd and The Alcohol Free Co, 31 October 2026.