From AlcoHull Free to Schmaltz: The Story Behind Hull’s First Alcohol Free Brewery
Updated: Aug 27
UPDATED: Thurdsay 27th August 2026 (scroll to the bottom of the page)
A new Alcohol Free beer is launching in Hull this August.
But the story behind Schmaltz Brew Co started long before anybody put Tropic’ull into a can.
Henry and Lauren Beercock are preparing to launch Schmaltz, a new Hull-based Alcohol Free beer brand, with their first beer, Tropic’ull, a 0.5% tropical IPA.
But Schmaltz isn’t simply another company spotting the rapidly growing Alcohol Free market and deciding it fancies a slice of it.
For Henry and Lauren, it’s the next chapter of a story that began when Henry stopped drinking in October 2023, left a 17-year career in the property industry and eventually helped build an Alcohol Free community in Hull.
And somewhere along the way, after drinking, discussing and promoting plenty of other people’s Alcohol Free beer, they had a thought.
Why don't we just make the beer we actually want to drink ourselves?
From giving up alcohol to building a community
Henry stopped drinking in October 2023 after recognising that his relationship with alcohol and food needed to change.
It turned into rather more than simply giving up the booze.
After leaving the property industry he'd worked in for 17 years, Henry travelled to Thailand for a month-long fitness retreat. In the months that followed, he lost more than seven stone, took up running and went on to complete marathons and endurance events.
But another transformation was happening alongside the physical one.
Henry and Lauren founded AlcoHull Free, initially as a way of highlighting the Alcohol Free drinks available around Hull and East Yorkshire.
The idea quickly became something much bigger.
AlcoHull Free has developed into a community offering meet-ups, quizzes, walks, runs, meals, fitness sessions and social events for people who are Alcohol Free, reducing their alcohol intake or simply looking for different ways to socialise.
For Henry and Lauren, keeping the social side of pubs and hospitality has always been important.
Sobriety can sometimes be isolating. Their aim has been to show that stopping drinking doesn't have to mean stopping going out, meeting people or having a social life.
That philosophy has spread into other projects too.
Henry has become involved with Empty Chairs, a community-led campaign tackling loneliness by creating opportunities for people to sit together at pub tables rather than sitting alone.
He's also been involved in Low & No Alcohol work in Hull and other community projects.
That work has now earned wider recognition.
Henry has been named a finalist in the BBC Make a Difference Awards 2026, with the winner due to be announced in September.
But there was another idea quietly developing in the background.
Beer.
“Why don't we just make the beer we want to drink?”
Running AlcoHull Free meant Henry and Lauren spent a lot of time exploring the Alcohol Free beer market.
They tried beers, visited venues, spoke to breweries, promoted good Alcohol Free options and gradually built relationships with people throughout the industry.
The more they learned, however, the more they found themselves thinking about what they personally wanted from an Alcohol Free beer.
Henry told The Hopper Reviews:
“We weren't satisfied with the choices available to us, and rather than just complaining about it, we decided to have a go ourselves.”
And that became Schmaltz Brew Co.
There's an important distinction in what they're trying to achieve.
Henry and Lauren don't want the main reason somebody chooses a Schmaltz beer to be simply because it contains virtually no alcohol.
They want to make beer that can stand on its own.
“We didn't want to create another brewery where the selling point was simply ‘it's alcohol free’. We wanted to make genuinely brilliant beer that people choose because they like the beer, whether they drink alcohol or not.”
As somebody who reviews a lot of Alcohol Free beer, that's an ambition I can certainly get behind.
Alcohol Free shouldn't have to mean accepting something that's merely an adequate substitute for the beer you actually wanted.
The beer still has to be good.
So, is Schmaltz actually brewed in Hull?
Here's something Henry and Lauren have been refreshingly upfront about.
Schmaltz is a Hull-based brewery brand, but it isn't currently operating its own physical brewing facility.
Instead, Schmaltz is beginning life as what's commonly known as a cuckoo or contract brewery, with Tropic’ull being produced for them by Harrogate Brewing Co.
Rather than sinking a colossal amount of money into their own brewing kit before they've sold their first can, they're using an established brewery to get Schmaltz off the ground.
Harrogate wasn't chosen at random.
Henry says the brewery's previous experience includes working with Alcohol Free names including Mash Gang and We Can Be Friends.
They've also had help from people across the industry.
One particularly significant influence has been Allan Rice, former founder of Atom Brewery, who has been advising Henry and Lauren as they've developed Schmaltz.
Henry says one of the biggest surprises since leaving the property industry has been just how willing people in the Alcohol Free beer world have been to help.
People have shared knowledge, made introductions and offered advice.
That network includes figures such as Ben Gibbs from Sober Boozers Club, Martin Dixon from Alcohol Free World and Sam at We Can Be Friends.
Which brings us to the important bit.
What have they actually brewed?
Meet Tropic’ull
The first Schmaltz beer is called Tropic’ull.
And yes, I see what they did there.
It's a 0.5% ABV tropical IPA, packaged in a 330ml can, and Henry and Lauren wanted to build it around tropical hop character and aroma while still producing something recognisably like a proper craft beer.
The hop bill features:
Azacca, Idaho and Citra.
There's also an interesting ingredient behind the fermentation.
Schmaltz are using Lazy yeast, which came recommended by Sam at We Can Be Friends.
Producing convincing Alcohol Free beer presents brewers with challenges that simply don't exist to the same extent when you're brewing a conventional 5% IPA. Getting body, aroma, flavour and balance into a beer while keeping it at or below 0.5% isn't just a case of making normal beer and forgetting to put the alcohol in.
That's why I'm particularly interested to see what Tropic’ull is actually like in the glass.
I've been invited to review the finished beer, so there'll be a full independent Tropic’ull review on The Hopper Reviews once I've got my hands on it.
And no, Henry and Lauren don't get to choose the score.
Sorry.
Lauren and the other half of Schmaltz
Henry is currently the more visible face of both AlcoHull Free and Schmaltz, but this is very much a two-person operation.
Lauren is co-founder of both.
Henry describes her as the person who keeps the whole thing ticking, constantly developing ideas and, perhaps equally importantly, reining him in when one of his ideas disappears over the horizon at 90mph.
Apparently the pair even have a shared Notes file containing beer concepts, flavours, names and marketing ideas.
Which sounds harmless until you remember that this is how breweries happen.
Schmaltz has therefore become something else too.
It's an opportunity for Henry and Lauren to build a business together from everything they've experienced over the last few years.
Tropic’ull launches in Hull on 26 August
Schmaltz will officially introduce Tropic’ull at a launch party at Atom Bar Hull on Princes Avenue on Wednesday 26 August 2026, beginning at 6:30pm.
The event is free, although places are limited and need to be reserved in advance.
Tropic’ull will be available in cans and, for the first time, on draught at the launch.
And Henry and Lauren aren't thinking particularly small.
The initial focus is Hull and the surrounding area, with stockist order forms currently being prepared and a number of businesses already expressing an interest.
If everything goes to plan, they're hoping to have Tropic’ull available in around 30 locations by the end of 2026.
Pricing and the confirmed list of stockists are still being finalised.
I'll update this article with confirmed stockists, prices and wider availability as they're announced.
Tropic’ull isn't the end of the story
It isn't even the end of the beer ideas.
Beer number two is already being discussed.
Henry isn't giving away exactly what it is yet, but the aforementioned Notes file apparently contains a ridiculous number of potential beers, flavours and names waiting to escape.
That's perhaps one of the more interesting things about Schmaltz at this stage.
Tropic’ull isn't being presented as the culmination of the project.
It's beer number one.
The starting point.
The initial focus for Schmaltz will be Hull and the surrounding area, although Henry and Lauren have ambitions to take the brand beyond East Yorkshire as it develops.
More than another Alcohol Free beer
The Alcohol Free beer market has changed enormously in the last few years.
Drinkers now have vastly more choice than the depressing days when not drinking meant being pointed towards one dusty bottle lurking at the back of a pub fridge.
But Schmaltz is interesting to me because the brewery isn't really where this story starts.
It starts with somebody deciding to stop drinking.
Then finding a different way of living.
Then building a community around it.
Then working with pubs, venues and other people who wanted something similar.
And eventually Henry and Lauren reached the point where instead of asking why the Alcohol Free beer they wanted didn't exist, they decided to try making it themselves.
As Henry puts it:
“Schmaltz hasn't come out of nowhere.”
He's right.
Tropic’ull might be the first beer carrying the Schmaltz name, but everything behind it has been brewing for considerably longer.
Now comes the important question.
Is the beer any bloody good?
I'll find out very soon.
Schmaltz Tropic’ull at a glance
Beer: Tropic’ull
Brewery: Schmaltz Brew Co
Style: Tropical IPA
ABV: 0.5%
Can: 330ml
Hops: Azacca, Idaho and Citra
Brewed by: Harrogate Brewing Co for Schmaltz Brew Co
Based in: Hull, East Yorkshire
Launch: 26 August 2026
Stockists: Being confirmed
Target: Around 30 stockists by the end of 2026
I'll update this article as further Tropic’ull stockists, pricing and availability are confirmed.
Listen to "The Story Behind Schmaltz Brew Co" HopperCast on my YouTube channel.
I Finally Reviewed Tropic’ull...
Since writing this feature, I've now had the chance to properly review Schmaltz Brew Co's first beer, Tropic’ull.
And this became a considerably more difficult review than I expected.
The aroma was fantastic. Loads of tropical fruit, exactly the sort of thing the branding and tasting notes had led me to expect. But when I actually tasted it, I found Tropic’ull intensely bitter, hop-forward and, for my palate, astringent.
In fact, I initially pretended to like it while filming.
I'd got to know Henry and Lauren while putting this feature and the accompanying HopperCast together. I genuinely wanted Schmaltz to succeed, and my immediate thought was that I didn't want to damage a new independent brewery before it had even launched.
But I couldn't publish a review that wasn't honest.
I tried a can from a second batch and had the same experience. I then spoke to Schmaltz, who explained that Tropic’ull is intended to be a bitter and hoppy beer. That was important. This wasn't evidence of a faulty batch. It was a beer that simply wasn't to my taste.
My main criticism became the expectation created by the branding and tasting notes. I was expecting something juicy, smooth and fruit-forward, with bitterness balancing the tropical fruit.
What I experienced was a considerably more bitter beer.
On my Alcohol Free scorecard, Tropic’ull scored 4.5/10.
That's my score, not an instruction not to buy it. Other Alcohol Free drinkers who've experienced the same pronounced bitterness have enjoyed the beer. If bitter, hop-forward IPAs are your thing, you may have a completely different reaction to mine.
Perhaps most importantly, nothing about the review has changed my opinion of the people behind Schmaltz. Henry and Lauren have been open, helpful and remarkably good-natured about receiving criticism of their very first beer.
Sometimes an honest review is better than a good one. I genuinely hope mine helps.
Watch my full Tropic’ull Alcohol Free Beer review:
External links worth checking out!
HOPPER OUT!
What a compelling story and so beautifully written. Well done to all involved.