Sober Brummie Alcohol-Free Beers

Sober Brummie is the alcohol-free brand of Birmingham Brewing Company, an independent brewery on the Stirchley Trading Estate in Birmingham, founded in 2016 by Paul Harwood. Its nitrogen-infused stout, at 0.5%, is in our directory.

Who makes Sober Brummie?

Birmingham Brewing Company Limited, based in Birmingham, was founded in August 2016 by Paul and Charlotte Harwood, free-beer.co.uk says, and The Brewers Journal reported in 2022 that Paul Harwood started the brewery in 2016, after a Brewlab course in 2011. “If Huddersfield could sustain a brewery like Magic Rock, why couldn’t Birmingham do the same with us?” he told the magazine.

In 2019 the brewery moved to a bigger unit on the same estate in Stirchley, where it has a taproom. In 2022 The Brewers Journal described a team of 15 and a new 15-barrel, three-vessel brewhouse with six 25-hectolitre fermenters, and said that at least half of production is cask, the rest keg and cans. Midlands Air Ambulance called Harwood the brewery’s “owner and founder” in 2023. We found no larger group involved, so we list it as independent.

What Birmingham Brewing Company brews

Its full-strength beers, The Brewers Journal listed in 2022, are Pale, Gold (a 5.5% IPA), Bitter (4.1%), an oatmeal Stout (4.8%) and Stirchley Lager (4.4%), and it makes Brummie Gin, distilled from the mash of its Pale brews. It says the brewery and taproom run on 100% renewable energy, and that its brewing waste goes to Park Farm in Frankley as livestock feed.

The Sober Brummie range

Sober Brummie Pale Ale came first, launched in December 2020, free-beer.co.uk says. “After four years in development, we’re finally ready to take off with our low-alcohol Brummie beer”, Harwood told Beer Today at the launch, and “In contrast to most low- and non-alcohol beers, our 0.5% ABV brew is brewed in a traditional way to retain its flavour.” The brewery’s shop says the beers are “brewed exactly like an alcoholic beer”. It doesn’t say whether any alcohol is removed after brewing, and the development time varies: free-beer.co.uk says the recipe took about three years, with different yeasts and malt bills, and another brewery page says about five.

The brewery now lists a Pale Ale, a Stout and a Lager under the Sober Brummie name, and a mixed pack; we didn’t find launch dates for the Stout or the Lager. Since the launch, 5% of Sober Brummie sales have gone to Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, it says, and Avanti West Coast put the Pale Ale on its First Class menu from autumn 2025.

The brewery says Sober Brummie won “Non-Alcoholic Beer of the Year” and “Best Beer for Quality” at the London Beer Competition 2023, that the Pale Ale won a national gold at the SIBA Independent Beer Awards 2022 and Sober Brummie a SIBA regional silver in 2021, and that the Stout won gold for alcohol-free beer at the SIBA Midlands Beer Awards 2024. We couldn’t confirm any of these with the organisers: the SIBA Midlands reports we read didn’t name the brewery, and the full results weren’t readable.

Sober Brummie Stout

Sober Brummie Stout is “the alcohol-free stout that doesn’t compromise on depth or flavor”, the brewery says: a 0.5% stout “Infused with nitrogen” for a “velvety, cascading head” and a “smooth, creamy mouthfeel”, with notes of deep chocolate, roasted coffee and a hint of bitterness, in 330ml cans. The brewery lists water, deglutenised malted barley, deglutenised malted wheat, deglutenised oats, hops and yeast, and mentions roasted malts and oatmeal; Wise Bartender’s ingredients list leaves out the oats. Neither publishes calories. We haven’t scored it yet.

How Sober Brummie Stout compares

Alcohol-free stouts from UK breweries in our directory. Calories as published; checked 1 November 2026. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

The Sober Brummie beer in our directory

Checked 1 November 2026. Neither the brewery nor the shop publishes calories. Scores are Unhopped ratings out of 10.

Where to buy Sober Brummie

On 1 November 2026 Wise Bartender had Sober Brummie Stout at £3.50 a can (an affiliate link); it’s the only shop we link to for it. For more dark beers, see our guide to the best alcohol-free stout in the UK.

Facts checked against Birmingham Brewing Company’s own website and shop, The Brewers Journal, free-beer.co.uk, Beer Today, Midlands Air Ambulance, Avanti West Coast, SIBA and Wise Bartender, 1 November 2026.