Mash Gang Alcohol-Free Beers

Mash Gang is a UK alcohol-free beer brand that started in 2020 as a lockdown home-brewing project between friends. It has never owned a brewery: its beers are brewed to 0.5% with partner breweries. Its flagship, Chug, won gold at the 2026 World Beer Cup. Ten Mash Gang beers are in our directory, and three of them, Chug, Glug and Lesser Evil, are on sale now.

Who are Mash Gang?

Mash Gang began in 2020, in the first lockdown, as what its website calls “an adventurous experiment between friends”. Pellicle named five founders in 2024: James Loveday, who runs operations and strategy; Jordan Childs, the head brewer; Mike Baggs; Alex Loveday; and Ben Gibson. They scaled up from a 19-litre home kit to 100-litre batches that summer, and in October 2020 put on a six-beer tap takeover at BrewDog’s Old Street bar in London, each putting in £1,000 to pay for it.

The first full-scale commercial brew followed in early 2021 at Northern Monk’s Old Flax Store in Leeds. Mash Gang has never had a brewery of its own, or an office: it has been called a “phantom” brewery, and co-founder Mike Baggs told the Morning Advertiser in 2025, “We will never have a brewery or an office.” By 2024 Fierce Beer in Aberdeen was brewing most of the core range, and Pilot Project in Chicago was brewing Mash Gang’s beer for the US market.

In mid-2024 Mash Gang was bought by DioniLife, a new non-alcoholic drinks company led by its founder Damian McKinney, formerly chief executive of the Stoli Group, and backed by the investment firm Invus. In May 2026 Mash Gang named two new brewing partners to keep up with demand: Hall & Woodhouse, the independent Dorset brewery, in the UK, and Abita Brewing in the US. Mash Gang now sells in the US through Whole Foods and Thrive Market as well as in the UK.

How Mash Gang makes alcohol-free beer

Mash Gang doesn’t brew full-strength beer and then take the alcohol out. It says it brews “purposefully 0.5% ABV beers”, using specialist yeast and a mash designed to give body, and puts it bluntly: “We never strip.” That puts it in the restricted-fermentation camp rather than the de-alcoholisation one; our guide to how alcohol-free beer is made explains the methods. Everything comes in at 0.5% ABV; Mash Gang’s FAQ says “less than 0.5%”. See our 0.0% vs 0.5% guide for what that means on a label.

The Mash Gang range today

In April 2025 Mash Gang announced a new permanent core range, in 330ml cans: Chug, Glug and Journey Juice. Brewers Journal reported that each has fewer than 60 calories a can. Chug is the flagship, a hazy IPA hopped with Citra and El Dorado, which began life in 2022 as Chug XPA. It has 17 kcal per 100ml, and in April 2026 it won gold in the Hoppy Non-Alcohol Beer category at the World Beer Cup.

Glug is a golden “cerveza” lager brewed with corn, which went on sale in July 2025, now in 440ml cans as well as 330ml; Journey Juice is a fruited hazy IPA with mango and passionfruit, lime and a little chilli, which isn’t in our directory yet. Alongside them sits Lesser Evil, a cherry chocolate stout made with oats, cacao and vanilla, which Mash Gang calls completely vegan-friendly; Beer Today reported that it won double gold and beer of the year at the 2025 International Non-Alcoholic Competition. In October 2026 Mash Gang added Electro-Beer, a citrus lager sold as a limited release.

The Mash Gang beers in our directory

Checked October 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10. Chug’s calories are from Mash Gang’s label; Mash Gang hasn’t published figures for the others.

Past releases and collaborations

Mash Gang says it has brewed more than 200 alcohol-free beers since 2020, and many of them were short runs. Seven in our directory are past releases that are hard to find now: HAWG, an American pale ale with six New World hops; Cult, a hazy pale ale; Serpiente, a pale ale inspired by Mexican tepache; Siege Perilous, a Saaz-hopped Bohemian-style lager; Stoop, an oak-aged American pilsner first brewed in 2021; Cheap Lager, a deliberately plain lager; and Out of Nowhere, a West Coast pilsner made with Siren.

Collaborations are a big part of that list. These are the ones we’ve confirmed:

From Siren, Brewers Journal, Pellicle, Untappd and retailer listings, checked October 2026.

Where to buy Mash Gang in the UK

Mash Gang’s own shop sells Chug, Glug, Journey Juice and Lesser Evil in packs of four and 12, plus the limited Electro-Beer. Waitrose stocks four-packs of 330ml Chug and Journey Juice (£6.50 each when we checked on 9 October 2026); our supermarket guide has the rest of its range. Majestic lists Chug too. Dry Drinker lists Chug XPA and Cult, but both were sold out, and Wise Bartender doesn’t sell Mash Gang beers individually. The Alcohol Free Co had Lesser Evil at £22 for six, and a 440ml Chug XPA, on 28 October 2026; that’s an affiliate link. On 29 October it had Glug too, at £3.91 a can or £22 for six, and Journey Juice. Mash Gang’s Gift Pack, eight cans with a glass and a beanie for £39.99, was sold out too.

For our verdict on the brewery, read the Mash Gang review. For more UK alcohol-free specialists, see our guide to the best UK alcohol-free craft breweries.

Facts checked against Mash Gang’s website, Pellicle, Brewers Journal, the Morning Advertiser, The Grocer, DioniLife’s announcements, Untappd and UK retailer listings, October 2026.