Kolding Brewery Wins Best Alcohol-Free Beer Award for Second Time

For the second year running, Bryggeriet Åben has secured the title of Denmark's best alcohol-free beer in 2026. The brewery's "Y" beer triumphed at the competition held in Tivoli, as announced in a press release.

The winning beer was chosen from a field of eight finalists, who were selected from a total of 40 entries submitted by breweries across the country. A panel comprising both industry experts and 75 members of the public conducted a blind tasting to evaluate the final eight brews.

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We are looking for a persistent taste, and the breweries have become much better at this.

This marks the third year the competition has taken place, and the quality has steadily improved, according to beer judge and author Carsten Berthelsen. He noted that breweries are becoming much better at achieving a persistent flavor, calling the creation of a good alcohol-free beer a "difficult style."

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absolutely fantastic.

Philip Hulgaard, founder of Bryggeriet Åben, expressed his elation at the first-place win, describing it as "absolutely fantastic." He emphasized the significant effort and passion invested in the winning brew. "We try to create a product from scratch and not just remove the alcohol from a beer," Hulgaard explained.

Founded in Kolding in 2017, Bryggeriet Åben has benefited from a growing market. Sales of alcohol-free beer in Denmark have seen a substantial increase in recent years. Data from Bryggeriforeningen indicates an eight percent rise in sales between 2024 and 2025, with nearly ten million liters sold last year, a fivefold increase since 2014.

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We try to create a product from scratch and not just remove the alcohol from a beer.