Laine

The company's origins go back to 1996, when the first Laine pub opened in Brighton. Brewing began at the North Laine Brewhouse, with the first batches produced around 2011 and 2012. A larger West Sussex production facility followed, and in 2022 Laine acquired Redchurch Brewery in Harlow, Essex, adding significant capacity to the group. Laine is now part of the Punch Holdings group.

The AF IPA was released in 2019. The grain bill uses malted barley, wheat, rye, and oats, which gives the beer more body than a stripped-back light brew. It is unfiltered and unpasteurised, keeping its texture closer to a real ale than the filtered pours common in mainstream AF lagers, and it is vegan, giving it broader reach among sober-curious drinkers than many craft AF beers manage.

Most of Laine's output sits firmly in the alcoholic craft beer category. The AF IPA is a single, focused product rather than a sub-range, available through specialist alcohol-free retailers and directly from the brand's online shop. The focus on one well-specified beer rather than a broad parallel lineup is a deliberate choice from a pub group with the scale to support a larger AF portfolio if it chose to.