Shirley Temple isn’t just known as a child actor. More than likely, kids who’ve ordered this sugary beverage in restaurants have no idea the ginger ale-grenandine combo is named for an actor.

But it is a classic that has stood the test (or taste?) of time. 

Mocktails aren’t kiddyplay anymore.

The rise of non-alcoholic (NA) beverages has become big business. Locally, several breweries have added non-alcoholic beers to their taps. Others have branched out into making sodas and THC-infused spirits and seltzers.

The idea is simply - give drinkers another option.

“Inclusivity,” Burial’s Doug Reiser said when asked why his brewery entered the non-alcoholic beverage market. “It’s a core value at Burial. We want to be a third place for people regardless of their journey. We set out to create something that allows us to use the selected hops that we use in all our beer. It allows us to stay connected to our customers whether they’re done drinking, taking a break or simply curious.”

Burial Beer has been a staple of Asheville’s South Slope since it opened in 2013. The brewers there have made iconic beers and use that same passion for its NA offering – Non-Alcoholic India Pale Ale called Chaosmachine. 

“We have plenty of customers who followed us for years and have given up drinking or cut back significantly,” Reiser said. “So this allows them to belly up to the bar and have a pint.” 

Along with its NA product, the brewery has a line of cannabis sparkling waters, called Seance. They offer a lemon ginger elixir (which contains 2.5 mg Delta 9 THC and 2.5 mg CBD per 16 ounces serving) and a mango tiki punch (5.0 mg Delta 9 THC and 5.0 mg CBD per 16 ounce serving). 

These beverages haven’t given any additional growth to the company, per se, but it has, according to Reiser, “kept people here, and allowed others to comfortably bring their friends along and offer them a craft experience. As alcohol continues its dip, it’s helped keep us close to equilibrium financially.”

Yes, keeping people in the bar and making that third place feel comfortable for everyone is the goal for many breweries who’ve entered this market.

According to the Beer Institute, non-alcoholic beer makes up 87 percent of U.S. non-alcohol sales and saw a 25 percent increase in growth in 2025. Statistics also showed that 57 percent of patrons would stay at a bar longer if it had a wider NA selection and 61 percent of buyers would consider a NA beer that tastes like their favorite beer.

DISSOLVR is another Asheville brewery that has a THC spirit, as it recently began to offer Dankies, a low-calorie, high-flavor THC seltzer. According to its website, “at 5mg for our first offering, you can easily glug a few cans down, and with a punch as tropical as this, you’ll definitely want to. Tropical Twist (Pineapple, Orange, Mango) is merely the first foray into this new world.”

Boone-based Appalachian Mountain Brewery opened Modern Alchemist in 2025 in Old Fort and it serves as a distillery for the group’s new THC and craft spirits.

Moon Water, based in Arden, opened in September of 2023 and is now in more than 1,000 locations, including restaurants and convenience stores. Moon Water sodas are infused with hemp-derived Delta 9 THC and the company has several sodas that range from 5 mg to 60 mg per serving.

“Because there's so many different types of enjoyers, some that want a very light, relaxing feeling, and some that want something a lot stronger,” said Moon Water coowner Eli Cotellese. “The big thing is, we wanted to cover the entire board and allow everyone in the market to participate, depending on what milligram level they like.”

The idea behind Moon Water was to find Cotellese’s coowner and father, Michael, an “alternative to alcohol,” Cotellese said. “My father's been sober for 20-plus years, and his wife enjoys wine. They enjoy going out with their friends and he just really wanted to crack open a drink that he could enjoy that wasn't alcohol.”

While the hemp-derived beverage industry is in somewhat of a state of flux with governmental regulations, its future could be considered unknown.

Cotellese, though, is hopeful for what is coming. According to reports that list Brightfield Group as the originator of the statistics, sales of hemp-derived THC drinks increased 143% in 2023. It was also estimated that sales of these beverages brought in $382 million in 2024 and U.S. sales will grow to nearly $750 million by 2029.

“I think it's going to continue to grow. It's one of the most impressive markets that has been created in America in a long time, where you can really expand and build an entirely new category when it comes to alternative alcohol,” he said. “It's going to keep growing. I will say regulations are going to be the most important things we need. We need concrete regulations that we can understand and that we can abide by.”

While THC is growing a new non-alcoholic beer has emerged recently in Western North Carolina in Bright Barrel. Cofounders Caleb Drown and Brian Garrison began to work together in 2024 in the Hickory area after Garrison heard about Drown’s creations (he had worked with the Appalachian State Chemistry and Fermentation Sciences Service Lab) during an insurance consultation. Garrison has brought his business and marketing background to the project.  

To decide what kinds of NA beers to make, the duo asked restaurant and brewery owners throughout Boone, Hickory, and Asheville which flavor profiles moved the needle.

“We asked people that we trusted, restaurants and breweries that we regularly visit, who would provide us that feedback,” Garrison said. “That's really a credit to leaning into our communities and really trusting their judgment. We landed on a pale ale and, our newest beer, is an IPA called the Appalachian Golden IPA.” 

Drown and Garrison are now exploring another option - a gluten-free NA beer.

"I've gone out to different breweries and restaurants, selling and delivering our beers,” Garrison said. “We've got tremendous feedback from folks in the field, at bars, at restaurants, at breweries, saying, 'Hey, listen, if you guys could come up with a gluten free NA it would just take off.' We just didn't realize that the market was out there for gluten free ... Hopefully in the next few months, we will have a gluten free beer, and we're actually using sweet potatoes to accomplish that.”

What are the expectations for NA beers moving forward? 

“I’m unsure,” Reiser said. “I think the public’s excitement has reached a peak of sorts, at least with NA brews. My expectation is that, as always, the interest in alcohol will swing back upwards slightly. People may start to prefer drinking other types of NA beverages, such as craft coffees, teas and adaptogenic drinks. We plan to keep investing in those areas.”