When Tate Huffard, Founder of Best Day Brewing, entered his 30s, he realized his love for craft beers was clashing with early morning surf sessions and the other activities he cherished. Enter Best Day Brewing. In this Q&A, Tate shares his journey from embracing the Californian active lifestyle to creating a non-alcoholic beer brand that aligns with it. He discusses the challenges of crafting a non-alcoholic beer that rivals traditional beer in taste and quality, the importance of community engagement, and how Best Day Brewing is contributing to the evolving landscape of social drinking.
What inspired you to start Best Day Brewing, and how did your personal journey influence the brand’s ethos?
When I moved to Northern California in 2011, I went hook line and sinker for the lifestyle: surfing, skiing, trail running, mountain biking, live music, incredible food. I was particularly enthralled by the intersection between all these things and craft beer. I loved the sense of community that beer brought to each occasion.
However, when I rounded the corner into my thirties, I found that the hangovers were starting to get in the way of the lifestyle that I wanted to live. It became a running joke with my surfing buddies that we’d go out for beers and commit to a 6 AM paddle out at Ocean Beach—and no one would show up! That had us take stock of how we wanted to prioritize our lives.
We challenged ourselves to not drink during the week and found that, though there were great alternatives to alcohol, they weren’t at all like drinking a beer. The lightbulb moment for me was seeing a six-pack of O’Douls that someone had left in my fridge next to the craft beer that I love drinking (which had 4%, 6%, and 8% ABV). I thought that, if I could make the same great tasting craft beer with no alcohol, then I could have the best of both worlds. The brand story was crystal clear from that very first moment: tell a relentlessly optimistic story about people doing whatever makes them tick, and celebrating those moments with great tasting beer that happens to have no alcohol.
Can you share the story behind the name “Best Day Brewing” and what it represents for you and your customers?
The foundation of Best Day Brewing is our motto “Best Day Yet.”
This is an ethos that my wife and I have intertwined into our lives since the day we met. It’s a forward-looking, glass-half-full perspective on life rooted in a genuine optimism. It’s totally symbiotic with the value and the purpose our beers have in our customers’ lives.
What challenges did you face in creating a non-alcoholic beer that maintains the taste and quality of traditional beer?
As a beer drinker, this idea was not exciting unless we could make a truly great beer that just happens to have no alcohol.The world did not need a slightly better O’Douls.
It took almost five years of R&D to develop a beer that I could hang my hat on. When I started this journey in 2015, the category wasn’t anywhere close to where it is today. As a result, the technology and the techniques were very undeveloped. However, over the years, each iteration gradually developed into a proof of concept that had all the flavor, aroma, and body of the craft beer I love drinking.
How do you ensure the consistency and quality of your non-alcoholic beers during the brewing process?
It starts with our team. The people on our team have been responsible for brewing some of the most admired iconic craft beers over the last three decades. The deep commitment to quality and consistency is in their DNA.
From start to finish, there are a myriad of checks and controls that exist to make sure that the ingredients, the process, and ultimately the beer itself meet our extremely high standards. We take pride in being consumers of our own product, and in the opportunity to crack open a Best Day and share it with family and friends.
What role do partnerships, like the one with Alaska Airlines, play in Best Day Brewing’s growth?
Our partnerships have been an incredibly validating part of the growth of this brand, and of the non-alcoholic category as a whole.
It’s one thing for a start-up brand to get our message out into the world. We can yell as loud as we want, but our voice only carries so far. It’s an entirely other thing to have Alaska Airlines get behind Best Day. The brand awareness is at a completely different scale. And, with Best Day, the magic happens when you crack open one of our beers. That drinking occasion is now afforded to tens of millions of passengers on their flights. It’s really incredible.
Can you discuss the importance of community engagement in your brand philosophy?
We have been a committed 1% For The Planet member since the first day we opened up shop.
The basis of that partnership is very simple: gratitude for the waves we surf, the mountains we play in, and the clean water and fresh ingredients we count on. We don’t have a brand if these things cease to exist. Each of us lives and breathes this brand just as much as our customers do, and all of our best days rely on caring for our environment.
How do you see Best Day Brewing contributing to the changing landscape of social drinking and the growing trend towards non-alcoholic options?
Though we’re in the early days of the non-alcoholic movement, what’s clear is that this shift in consumer behavior is seismic, not incremental.
We’re focused on making exceptionally high-quality, great-tasting beers, because the other thing that’s clear is that this new wave is built on an expectation of quality that is fundamentally different from the non-alcoholic products of the past. We bring love and beauty to our brand. We care deeply about having the full experience of the taste, aroma, and body of craft beer. And we’re sharing tens of thousands of Best Days every month with customers across the country in order to continue to build this wave.
As a founder, what have been some of the most significant milestones and challenges in Best Day Brewing’s journey so far?
As someone who doesn’t come from this industry, by far and away my most significant achievement has been assembling an incredibly talented team to help build Best Day to its fullest potential. I am constantly floored by the level of hard work, intentionality, and dedication they bring to all the challenges that invariably come with building a brand. I’ll never forget running payroll for the first time—that was certainly a significant milestone!
Every day brings its own challenges. With production, sales, and marketing, there will always be problems to solve. That’s doing business. On a personal level, there’s no doubt that one of the most significant challenges was having the conviction to start a company in a category that had been the laughing stock of the beer world for decades, during a pandemic, with my second kid on the way. I’m sure every founder can sympathize with all the challenges that need to be overcome before there is even a business.
How do you envision the future of the non-alcoholic beverage industry, and where does Best Day Brewing fit within that vision?
I view the future of drinking as one where quality non-alcoholic options are seamlessly woven into every drinking occasion, and every consumer can have the freedom of choice without sacrificing quality or experience.
In this context, I believe non-alcoholic beer can be 20% of total beer consumed in the US, up from the less than half of a percent that it has occupied for decades. That’s a tectonic shift, but I firmly believe it can happen as long as brands like Best Day are bringing the commensurate amount of love, intention, and dedication to quality so that consumers are unequivocally better off by participating in the future of drinking.
Finally, are there any upcoming initiatives or collaborations for Best Day Brewing that you’re particularly excited about?
We have been so focused on keeping up with our scaling growth that it wasn’t until this fall that we released two new skus: the Electro-lime Cerveza and our Belgian-style White.
Both, I think, really push the envelope on what this category can deliver in terms of flavor, ingredients, and brand experience. I’m truly excited about continuing in this direction and releasing our spring and summer seasonal beers, both of which will be firsts in this category. Stay tuned!
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Dry Atlas is your guide to the world of alcohol alternatives. We maintain the world’s largest directory of non-alcoholic spirits, wines, beers, and more to help you discover options you’ll love. We also publish High Spirits, the weekly newsletter that helps open-minded drinkers like you learn more about non-alc. Our goal is to demystify alcohol alternatives so you can navigate them with ease to pursue a happier, healthier life.
