Clausthaler Alcohol-Free Beers
Four Clausthaler beers in our directory. We score Dry Hopped 7.7; we haven’t scored Original, Lemon or Grapefruit yet.
Clausthaler is the alcohol-free beer Frankfurt’s Binding brewery launched in 1979, one of the first to sell widely. It’s brewed to low strength with what Clausthaler calls Controlled Fermentation, and it belongs to Binding-Brauerei, part of the Radeberger Gruppe. Its Dry Hopped won Gold at the World Alcohol-Free Awards three years running.
- Launched: 1979, by the Binding brewery in Frankfurt
- Owner: Binding-Brauerei AG, part of the Radeberger Gruppe (general partner: Dr. August Oetker KG)
- Method: Controlled Fermentation, introduced in 1973; brewed to low strength, not de-alcoholised
- Brewed: In Germany; Binding’s Frankfurt brewery closed in 2023
- UK range: Original, Dry Hopped, Lemon and Grapefruit
- Where to buy: Waitrose (Dry Hopped), Wise Bartender, Dry Drinker and The Alcohol Free Co
Who are Clausthaler?
Clausthaler introduced what it calls Controlled Fermentation in 1973 and launched its alcohol-free beer in 1979, first marketing it as a light “Prinzenbier” before revealing it had no alcohol, it says. By 1981 it was “dominating the German market with a 55% share”, and by 1989 it was sold in more than 50 countries, Clausthaler says.
It belongs to Binding-Brauerei AG, part of the Radeberger Gruppe, whose general partner is Dr. August Oetker KG, so it isn’t independent. Binding’s Frankfurt brewery closed in 2023, and Clausthaler doesn’t say where it’s brewed now.
How Clausthaler makes alcohol-free beer
Clausthaler is brewed to low strength rather than having the alcohol removed. Clausthaler calls its method Controlled Fermentation but doesn’t describe it in detail; the German trade press has described fermentation being stopped early. Our guide to how alcohol-free beer is made explains the difference.
The Clausthaler range
Original is the flagship, which Clausthaler says “put non-alcoholic beer on the map in 1979”: well-balanced and fresh, Clausthaler says, brewed to the German purity law, at under 0.5% and 26 kcal per 100ml. It won Silver at the World Alcohol-Free Awards 2025. Dry Hopped is an amber lager dry-hopped with Cascade from the USA, 0.4% on its UK label, which Waitrose sells as Clausthaler Unfiltered Dry Hopped Lager. It won Gold at the World Alcohol-Free Awards in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and we score it 7.7.
Lemon is a shandy rather than a lager: 40% Clausthaler and 60% lemonade, Clausthaler says, at 32 kcal per 100ml. Grapefruit is a radler: a 50/50 blend of Clausthaler Original and a grapefruit drink, Clausthaler says, at 28 kcal per 100ml. We used to describe an “Unfiltered” Clausthaler as a separate beer; in the UK, that’s the Dry Hopped.
The Clausthaler beers in our directory
Original’s, Lemon’s and Grapefruit’s figures are Clausthaler’s; Dry Hopped’s are from its UK label as Waitrose lists it. Checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.
Where to buy Clausthaler
On 28 October 2026 Waitrose had Dry Hopped at £1.50 a bottle. Wise Bartender had all three at £1.60 a bottle, and Dry Drinker had Original, Lemon and Dry Hopped at £10.80 for six, and The Alcohol Free Co had Dry Hopped at £11.07 for six on 28 October 2026; those are affiliate links. On 29 October 2026 Grapefruit was at The Alcohol Free Co (£11.07 for six), Dry Drinker (£10.80) and Wise Bartender (£1.60 a bottle). We didn’t find Clausthaler at Sainsbury’s. For more, see our best German alcohol-free beers.
Facts checked against Clausthaler’s website and imprint, the Deutsche Handwerks Zeitung, the World Alcohol-Free Awards’ results, Waitrose, Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender, October 2026.
Clausthaler Beers in Our Directory
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