It's not taken long for Heaps Normal to feel at home in Australian drinking culture. The Sydney-based non-alcoholic brewer only debuted six years ago, but it's quickly cemented itself as one of the most popular brands for inclusive drinking. It's also not the sort of brand to rest on its laurels, as its latest innovation of non-alc beer that's tap-compatible proves. To celebrate this new frontier, Heaps Normal is partnering with over 30 pubs across the country to pour the new brew for free this Friday, March 27. Now, a tap-compatible beer may not sound like an innovation, but it is for the non-alcoholic kind. To summarise, beer taps are kept at a frosty temperature (because nobody likes a warm beer), but the lower density and sugar content of non-alcoholic beers typically causes them to freeze in these conditions. Heaps Normal has cracked the code for its brand-new draught, utilising a preservative-free approach of naturally derived fibre and the 100 percent malt body of the beer to prevent freezing inside the lines and protect the liquid from contamination. "A lot of non-alcs are thin and watery by necessity," said Heaps Normal's co-founder and chief product officer Ben Holdstock. "We've always brewed with body and balance in mind, and it turns out that approach was the key to making draught work." The revolution comes just in time for a broader shift in Aussie drinking culture, indicated by a 2024 study that revealed non-alcoholic beer popularity had risen to 10 percent of total beer sales in Australia, and that the global non-alcoholic beer market is due to hit $43 billion USD in value by next year. "Jumping from the fridge to the tap, and really nailing the most traditional of Aussie swill formats, is symbolic of how far the non-alc category has matured and developed. For knock-offs, mid-week sessions and everything in between, it's a new normal for the bar," says Heaps Normal co-founder and CEO Andy Miller. Now, after testing the beer at select pubs in Sydney and Melbourne, Heaps Normal's National Bar Shout will get pubs and bars pouring 3500 schooners of the good stuff for free, you just need to visit a participating venue between 5 and 7pm this Friday, March 27. See the full list of participating venues in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and ACT on the Heaps Normal website. Images: supplied Like what you see? Subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter to get stories just like these straight to your inbox.