Caffeine-free by design
Non-alcoholic beer without caffeine
Most beer has no caffeine to begin with. The question gets real once a beer adds tea or coffee for flavor, which is where the evening math changes.
Plain beer, alcoholic or not, has no caffeine. So if you're searching for a non-alcoholic beer without caffeine, you've probably run into a specific kind of beer, the functional ones brewed with green tea, coffee, or guarana. Those can carry caffeine, and that's worth knowing before you crack one at nine in the evening.
Where the caffeine sneaks in
The culprit is almost always an added ingredient. Green tea, the base of a lot of calming functional beers, naturally contains caffeine. Coffee stouts obviously do. Some energy-leaning drinks add it on purpose. The irony is that several beers marketed for relaxation include the one thing most likely to keep you awake, simply because removing caffeine from tea takes an extra step that not everyone bothers with.
Why it matters more at night
Caffeine has a long half-life, which means a meaningful amount can still be in your system many hours after you drink it. If the whole point of your evening beer is to wind down and sleep well, caffeine quietly undercuts both. A calming drink that keeps you up is working against itself. This is the main reason we treat caffeine-free as non-negotiable rather than a nice-to-have.
Otavo is brewed with green tea for a gentle wind-down and kept caffeine-free, so nothing keeps you up. Reserve your spot for the first batch.
How to check a label
If a non-alcoholic beer is brewed with tea, coffee, yerba mate, or guarana, assume it has caffeine unless it specifically says otherwise. Look for the words caffeine-free or decaffeinated, not just natural or clean, which say nothing about caffeine. When in doubt, a plain non-alcoholic lager or IPA is a safe caffeine-free bet, it just won't have the added calm.
How Otavo handles it
Otavo is brewed with green tea on purpose, for the flavor and for the L-theanine that brings the calm. Then the caffeine comes out. You're left with the tea character and the settled feeling, without the stimulant that would ruin the evening it's built for. If you want the reasoning behind brewing tea into a beer at all, read why we brew calm into Otavo.
Common questions
Standard non-alcoholic beer has no caffeine, the same as regular beer. Caffeine only enters the picture when a beer is brewed with something that carries it, like green tea or coffee. Those are the ones to check if you're drinking in the evening.
A non-alcoholic craft beer with notes of green tea and citrus. Calm, not a buzz. Reserve your spot and get an early taste.