Drop Bear Beer Co Alcohol-Free Beers

Drop Bear is a Swansea alcohol-free brewery founded in 2019 by Joelle and Sarah Drummond. It brews in its own brewery in Llansamlet, which it took over in 2023 and calls the UK’s largest alcohol-free brewery. Every beer is 0.5%, vegan and labelled gluten-free, and Drop Bear has been a certified B Corp since 2021. Seven of its beers are in our directory, led by Yuzu Pale Ale at 8.5/10.

Who are Drop Bear?

Joelle and Sarah Drummond, now a married couple, couldn’t find alcohol-free beers that gave them the experience of the craft beer they loved, so in 2019 they started making their own. “Armed with a big saucepan and an even bigger dream, we got to work in our tiny kitchen,” Drop Bear says; the company was born six months later. Early press named the co-founders as Joelle Drummond and Sarah McNena.

Drop Bear grew quickly, raising money through crowdfunding and from private investors, including Admiral Group founder Henry Engelhardt. For its first few years it didn’t own its production. In 2023 it bought the brewery and equipment of the Welsh brewer Tomos Watkin in Llansamlet, Swansea: a 16,000 sq ft site built as a brewery in 2000 and run as a real-ale brewery for more than twenty years. Drop Bear officially opened it in January 2024, says it can make up to 25 million cans a year, and calls it the UK’s largest alcohol-free brewery.

Values are a big part of the brand. Drop Bear has been a certified B Corp since November 2021, and in 2023 it said it was the only B Corp brewery in Wales. It says it is certified carbon neutral, offsetting what it can’t cut, and the brewery runs an electric brewplant. It describes itself as independent and female-founded, and Joelle Drummond has said she believes it is the world’s first LGBTQ+ alcohol-free brewery; proceeds from its 2024 Pride beer were pledged to the charity Galop.

Vegan and gluten-free, explained

Every Drop Bear beer is vegan: “We don’t use lactose or any sort of animal products present in our beers, and we never will.” Every beer is also labelled gluten-free. They’re brewed with barley and wheat, so those appear in bold on the label, but Drop Bear says the beers are naturally low in gluten, that it deactivates the rest, and that each batch is tested to contain less than 20ppm, the UK limit for calling food gluten-free. That’s why Drop Bear features in both our gluten-free and vegan guides.

The Drop Bear range

The core range is four beers: New World Lager, hopped with New Zealand hops; Yuzu Pale Ale, an American-style pale ale with yuzu; Tropical IPA, a West Coast-style IPA with US hops; and Bonfire Stout, brewed with smoked malt. All four are light: between 11 and 17 kcal per 100ml, with no more than 0.2g of sugar.

In July 2025 Drop Bear added the Cut Lager series: “four crisp lagers cut with fruit”, in pink grapefruit, raspberry, peach and guava, on a lager base brewed with British hops and malts. Three are in our directory; Raspberry isn’t yet.

The Drop Bear beers in our directory

All 0.5% ABV, in 330ml cans. Nutrition from Drop Bear’s product pages, checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Awards

Drop Bear says it has won more than 40 awards and was “crowned European Champions of alcohol-free brewing not once but TWICE”. Its product pages show the European Beer Challenge 2021 (Double Gold and Gold), Great Taste 2021 and World Beer Awards 2021 (Silver), though they don’t say which beer won which.

Where to buy Drop Bear

Dry Drinker had all four core beers in stock when we checked in October 2026, from £13.50 for six cans, and Wise Bartender had Bonfire Stout at £2.30 a can. Ocado had four-packs of Yuzu Pale Ale and Bonfire Stout at £4 on 9 October; Drop Bear also names Tesco, Morrisons and the Co-op as stockists. Morrisons sells Peach Cut in four-packs, and Drop Bear’s own shop had Guava and Peach in stock but Pink Grapefruit sold out. Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender links are affiliate links.

For our verdict, read the Drop Bear review, or see how it compares in our guide to the best UK alcohol-free craft breweries.

Facts checked against Drop Bear’s website, the B Corp directory, The Grocer, Food Manufacture, Swansea Bay News, Business News Wales, LGBTQ Nation, Dry Drinker, Wise Bartender and Ocado, October 2026.