Hammerton

The original Hammerton Brewery was established in 1868 by Dan Hammerton's ancestors, and the current operation runs from a railway arch near Roman Way in Islington. Hammerton produces both alcoholic and AF beers, with its alcohol-free output focused on richly flavoured pastry-style stouts rather than the lighter styles more common in the AF segment.

The AF stout range is anchored by a peanut butter milk stout, which the brewery identifies as its best-selling AF product. Taking an ingredient-forward, dessert-adjacent stout format into the alcohol-free category is a relatively uncommon approach in British craft brewing, where most AF lines default to pale ales and lagers. Hammerton's commitment to that flavour-forward identity across both its alcoholic and AF output gives the brewery a recognisable position in the stout segment.

The AF range also includes a pale ale, first launched in 2018, brewed using a specific yeast strain that cannot ferment maltose (the complex sugar found in malt). Because that sugar remains in the liquid unconverted, the beer reaches a low alcohol level without requiring dealcoholisation (the standard approach of brewing at full strength and then removing the alcohol afterwards). The maltose-tolerant fermentation also preserves more body and mouthfeel than a stripped-back low-ABV method would typically allow.

Hammerton distributes through specialist alcohol-free retailers and its own direct webshop and taproom.