Beer, Explained

Updated September 2026

Start with the fact that surprises everyone.

Non-alcoholic beer is not legally beer. Under US regulation, a malt beverage containing less than 0.5% ABV cannot use “beer,” “ale,” “lager,” “porter” or “stout” as its class designation. It must be labelled a malt beverage or a cereal beverage instead. Look closely at the NA shelf and you will see it.

Three related terms, all legally defined:

“Non-alcoholic” — under 0.5% ABV, and the label must carry the statement “contains less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume” immediately adjacent to the claim. No tolerance is permitted.

“Alcohol free” — literally 0.0%. No tolerance at all, and the TTB requires laboratory analysis before approving the label.

“Low alcohol” or “reduced alcohol” — under 2.5% ABV, and the actual content may not reach 2.5% regardless of tolerance.

For beer at 0.5% ABV or above, the stated alcohol content carries a tolerance of plus or minus 0.3 percentage points. So a beer labelled 5.0% may legally be 4.7% or 5.3%.