Exhale

The concept grew out of Costello's broader interest in conscious, plant-based living. Before the beers, he was running alcohol-free bar experiences in Birmingham and experimenting with botanical elixirs and herbal cocktails. The jump to canned, mushroom-infused beer was a logical next step for a brand that has always been more interested in what a drink does for you than what it does to you.

The current range has two beers. Roar is an IPA built around lion's mane mushroom, a fungus with a long history in East Asian medicine and growing interest among biohackers for its potential cognitive effects. It's a proper IPA in construction, hoppy and bitter, with the lion's mane extract woven in at what Exhale calls a clinical dose. Last One is a stout featuring reishi, the so-called "mushroom of immortality," which has traditional associations with calm and recovery. Both sit at around £14 per four-pack, putting them firmly in the premium bracket.

A third beer, a chaga lager, has been in development with an active waitlist. Chaga is a fungus that grows on birch trees in cold climates and has been used in traditional Siberian medicine. If the pattern holds, it'll be brewed to a proper style rather than reduced to a wellness shot in a can.

Exhale sells primarily through its own website. It's a small operation with a focused philosophy: single-origin functional ingredients at meaningful doses, craft brewing technique, and a clear point of view on what alcohol-free drinking can be. The range is limited but deliberate. Whether the functional claims land or not, these are genuinely brewed beers with a specific purpose behind them, not just kombucha in craft beer clothing.