A Bay Area company brewing nonalcoholic beer has raised millions in a new round, tripling its total funding.
Based in Sausalito, Best Day Brewing has raised $10 million in fresh equity according to a securities document filed on Thursday.
It brings Best Day's total funding to more than $15 million, after a $5.3 million Series A round raised from Benevolent Capital in 2022, according to PitchBook.
Best Day didn't respond to a request for comment.
The company was founded in 2021 by CEO Tate Huffard. He moved out to California more than a decade earlier after leaving New York City, and a career in finance.
Huffard then ran operations at San Francisco-based apparel brand American Giant until he changed course again and got into the nonalcoholic beverage business.
"I wanted to wake up in the morning and be able to surf before I went to work," Huffard told me a couple of years ago. "I was not psyched about having something like a hangover or a bad night's sleep."
So he took his palate for craft brews and began developing nonalcoholic versions of them.
The company now sells nonalcoholic versions of a Belgian-style wheat beer, India pale ales or IPAs, Kölsch and a Mexican-style lager which it calls "Electro-Lime," according to its website.
Single flavor six-packs sell for $13.99 and variety twelve-packs sell for $27.99 directly on its website, and the company also distributes products through retailers including Whole Foods, BevMo, Total Wine and More, Target, Erewhon, Grocery Outlet and New Seasons Market.
In December, Best Day inked a deal with Alaska Airlines to offer its Kölsch-style brew on flights.
Earlier this year, Best Day also announced two leadership hires: COO Jane Armstrong Hockman, who spent close to two decades at Molson Coors, and Chief Sales Officer Todd Karnig, whose previous experience includes beverage brands JuneShine and Stone Brewing Co.
“Focusing on national expansion and integration across our business will allow Best Day Brewing to do what it does best: provide a premium non-alcoholic beer to this sector’s rapidly expanding consumer base,” Huffard said in a January press release announcing the new hires. “Our brand momentum strengthened significantly in 2023, and we look forward to deepening our strategy and potential in 2024 and beyond.”
The global market for nonalcoholic or low-alcohol beverages has reached $13 billion, according to a recent report from Boston Consulting Group, and is expected to continue growing 7% annually on average through 2027.
Shifting consumer habits are driving that growth, particularly evolving social expectations around drinking especially among younger generations.
Citing Drizly, Uber's now-shuttered alcohol delivery service, the report found that "23% of Gen Z and 24% of millennial respondents reported drinking nonalcoholic beer, wine or spirits often, while only 6% of Gen X and 1% of boomers said the same."
