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Bottles of beer adorned with the five Olympic rings are currently being produced at Anheuser-Busch InBev NV’s brewery in Belgium, gearing up for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.

This event marks the first time in 100 years that Paris has hosted the summer Olympics, and the city is determined to make a significant impact, especially after the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic at the virtually spectator-less Tokyo Games. Remarkably, this year’s event will also introduce beer as an official sponsor for the first time in Olympic history, highlighting athletic excellence.

Interestingly, the sponsored brew, Corona Cero, is a non-alcoholic beverage.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest brewer globally, seeks to promote this non-alcoholic variant, launched in Europe only two years prior. With the Paris Olympics poised to be a massive promotional platform, AB InBev aims to capitalize on this opportunity to cement its standing in the fast-growing non-alcoholic segment of the beer market.

Worth $13 billion and counting, brands from Heineken to Guinness, and now Corona Cero, see a cohort of health-conscious consumers—many young, others older and wanting out of a booze culture—whose wallets they can tap.

Master brewers have been working on formulas to try to replicate the taste and texture of the real thing. Heineken, Guinness and Budweiser are all now available alcohol-free, while hundreds of craft brewers and newer labels are emerging to target the market.

For Michel Doukeris, the chief executive officer of AB InBev, it’s quite simple: “The consumer has changed.”

No-alcohol beer, which consists of beers with an alcohol content below 0.5%, represents a small niche in the beverage market with its annual production of 31.4 million hectoliters. This is significantly less compared to the 1.93 billion hectoliters of alcoholic beer produced globally, data from GlobalData Plc suggests. However, this segment has seen a notable compound annual growth rate of 3.6% since 2018, in contrast to the 0.3% growth rate for alcoholic beer. In the United States, the percentage of adults aged 18 to 34 who report consuming alcoholic beverages has declined from 72% in the early 2000s to 62%, according to Gallup.

These trends are significant for businesses, particularly for major players like AB InBev, which has acknowledged it will likely miss its target of generating 20% of its sales from low or no-alcohol beer by the year 2025. See report.

“Many prominent sports events like the Olympics often feature 0% alcohol variants of flagship beer brands,” explained Susie Goldspink, head of no and low alcohol insights at market researcher IWSR. “This emerging focus is aligned with the growing trend as well as promoting a moderation agenda for responsible consumption.”

This market dynamic also offers broader advantages for beer companies. By marketing their non-alcoholic products under the same brands as their alcoholic versions, these companies enhance brand recognition and navigate the growing restrictions on alcohol advertising more effectively.

The promotion of non-alcoholic beers through sports events is on the rise, with notable examples like Heineken 0.0’s association with Formula 1 and Diageo Plc’s Guinness 0.0 at the Six Nations rugby. Last year, Carlsberg A/S distributed 400,000 cans of the non-alcoholic French beer, Tourtel Twist, at the Tour de France cycling event.

Read more: How to Talk About Beer Like a Pro

Amid increasing brand competition, Carlsberg is strategically placing Tourtel Twist as the preferred non-alcoholic beer for the upcoming Paris Games.

“We are the official beer of Paris and France,” said Jacob Aarup-Andersen, CEO of Carlsberg. “They are the official beer of the Olympic movement. At the events, Tourtel will be the beer you’re served.”

U.S.-based Athletic Brewing Co., which specializes in non-alcoholic beverages, believes that an Olympic sponsorship promotes the growth of the entire category.

“Sometimes to move the needle you need bigger players that can help drive awareness,” said John Walker, the company’s co-founder.

For beverage companies, adapting to shifting trends is critical. These changes have contributed to the downfall of numerous establishments with over 7,000 bars closing in the last decade in the U.K., reports the British Beer and Pub Association. Factors such as alcohol duties, high rents, and stringent regulations have influenced these shifts, alongside evolving consumer drinking habits.

With a focus on millennials and Gen Z, who often use social media and look to decrease their alcohol consumption, it’s crucial for companies to offer appealing alternatives to conventional alcoholic beverages, rather than lose these consumers to competing brands or simpler choices like soda or water.

Heineken 0.0 currently leads the global market in non-alcoholic beer sales, with other top contenders including Suntory All-Free from Japan and Brahma 0.0%, which is owned by AB InBev.

In Germany, home to the world’s oldest brewery still in operation, non-alcoholic beers have been produced since the early 1990s. In 2020, responding to increased demand, Weihenstephan, owned by Bavaria, significantly expanded its production of non-alcoholic beers. Now, its non-alcoholic wheat beer comprises nearly 10% of its total sales and ranks as the third most popular product.

However, extensive marketing alone cannot sustain the non-alcoholic beer segment if the products are not appealing.

Historically, non-alcoholic beer was often viewed as inferior in taste compared to its alcoholic counterpart, which disappointed many consumers. Breweries faced a significant challenge: how to replicate the rich flavor profile of their beers without the alcohol. The question was whether to prevent the formation of alcohol during fermentation or to extract it post-brewing a normal strength beer.

According to Jim Koch, chairman of Boston Beer Company, which brews Samuel Adams, recent taste advancements were achieved as brewers mastered a low temperature distillation technique. The company introduced its non-alcoholic beer, Just The Haze, in 2021.

Introduced in 2017, Heineken 0.0 is crafted using water, barley malt, hop extracts, and yeast—the same ingredients as Heineken. The alcohol is removed through vacuum distillation, and then natural flavorings and aromas are added back to closely mimic the original’s taste.

“For a couple of years, I refused to start developing Heineken 0.0,” commented Willem van Waesberghe, Heineken’s global master brewer. “Because I’d never tasted a good one.”

The Olympic Games are set to begin in two months, with the Opening Ceremony scheduled for July 26. AB InBev is preparing to launch details of its campaign aimed at “accelerating no-alcohol beer growth.”

Beyond that, getting no-alcohol beer on tap is expected to deliver the next leap in terms of volumes, increasing sales in bars by making the drinks more socially acceptable. It’s yet another technical challenge, but one that brewers are working on.

“It’s like rosé in the south of France is always better than at home,” said Waesberghe. “And in a bar you like the draft, it gives you the impression of authenticity.”