How a 40-year beer veteran helped Spider-Man’s Tom Holland launch nonalcoholic Bero

A new brand in the nonalcoholic beer space is turning to a comic book superhero to stand out, but the work of an alcohol veteran is what could determine its success.

Bero, founded by Spider-Man star Tom Holland, debuted in October with three beers inspired by the actor’s British heritage. The three varieties, each under 0.5% alcohol-by-volume, include Kingston Golden Pils, Noon Wheat and Edge Hill Hazy IPA.

This month, the beverages debuted at Target stores and on Amazon, which expanded Bero’s reach to nationwide consumers.

Grant Wood, the brewmaster at Bero, brings 40 years of beer category experience to the company. He previously served in an executive role at Boston Beer and founded Revolver Brewing Company in 2012, which was previously owned by Molson Coors before being sold to Tilray last summer.

Wood’s foresight of the category’s eventual growth led him to the startup. While attending a beer conference in 2018, he noticed an opening for ​​​​​​alcohol giants in the category to capitalize on nonalcoholic beer. Athletic Brewing had just made its debut.

“I thought that it would be a great thing for [Molson Coors] to do, that they could probably own the category if they got in and started, particularly with craft offerings,” Wood said. “I couldn’t get any traction, no one was really interested in it.”

Wood retired in 2020, but Bero CEO John Herman — a CPG veteran who previously served as the president of Nutrabolt — called him in 2023 with the pitch of joining a nonalcoholic beer startup with a celebrity. He said the offer was one he couldn’t refuse.

“We really wanted to keep it as simple as possible, as close to brewing without any specialized equipment, just like you would in a regular brewery,” Wood said.

Compared to other nonalcoholic brews that remove alcohol from brewed beer, Bero aimed to develop beer that was nonalcoholic from the start. According to Wood, this helps maintain characteristics unique to fermentation without needing to add them back in.

Bero joins the nonalcoholic beer market at a time of rapid growth. The category is projected to be worth $23.9 billion in 2025, growing annually by 9.3% through 2030, according to The Business Research Company.

Holland said in a statement last fall his inspiration to launch the brand stemmed from two years of sobriety, and the desire for alcohol-free craft brews that don’t compromise on taste. According to Wood, the actor previously enjoyed European lagers and an occasional IPA, and he wanted to improve them.

The two discussed what they liked about particular beers on the market. The movie star sampled many test brews before deciding on characteristics, including how much hop character the drinks should contain.

Growing interest in beverage ingredients, along with the wider legalization of cannabis products, are both factors driving young people away from alcohol, Wood said. At the same time, he doesn’t believe large beer producers selling zero-proof varieties of their flagship brews are fully invested in getting consumers to ditch their alcohol-laden counterparts.

“They’re doing it to have something on the shelf, so if someone walks in and they’re looking for something nonalcoholic, they can deliver that,” Wood said. “It’s a ‘me too’ thing to have that line extension. But it’s definitely not a main focus for them. It is for us.”

Wood said his four decades in beer gave him insight into the cycles of the industry and how to tackle changing trends. While he believes Bero has runway to innovate, the company sees itself as just a nonalcoholic beer and brewing maker — at least for now.

“The consumer market demands innovation and choices,” Wood said. “You can be conscious and deliberate about how you do that, you don’t have to just keep throwing things at the wall in hopes that they stick.”