From a Crohn's diagnosis to a non-alcoholic bottle shop
Ted Fleming was 25 when he was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2005. To keep the condition under control he made a hard call and gave up alcohol. What surprised him was not how much he missed the beer itself, but how much he missed everything around it: the beer after a game of hockey, the round with colleagues at the end of a long day, the toast at a celebration. The non-alcoholic options on the shelf at the time were, in his words, almost universally bad.
So he went looking. Around 2013, Fleming built what he describes as one of the first dedicated non-alcoholic beer shops and e-commerce platforms in North America, importing the handful of genuinely good non-alcoholic beers being made in Europe. That business did not make him rich, but it did something more useful. It put him face to face with thousands of customers who wanted the same thing he did, and it taught him everything about a category almost nobody was taking seriously yet.
“If you're solving a problem someone genuinely has, you're 90 per cent of the way there.”
In 2017, Fleming stopped importing other people's beer and started brewing his own, launching Partake Brewing with a Kickstarter campaign. He bootstrapped the early days on purpose, avoiding outside money so the operation stayed lean and disciplined, something he later credited as an advantage rather than a constraint. The first hero product was an India Pale Ale engineered to deliver real hop-forward flavour at just 10 calories a can. As demand grew, he raised a 4 million dollar Series A in 2020 led by CircleUp Growth Partners to push into the United States, and a larger round in 2022 to keep scaling.
What they actually make
The IPA: The signature is a non-alcoholic IPA brewed with Cascade, Amarillo, and Citra-style hops. It is 10 calories, less than 0.5% ABV, with 2 grams of sugar and 0 carbs, and it is the beer that has won the brand most of its medals.
The lineup: Beyond the IPA, Partake brews a Blonde, a Pale Ale, a Red, a Stout, a Hazy IPA, a Peach Gose, and rotating seasonals. Every beer sits under 0.5% ABV and most land between 10 and 30 calories, which is a fraction of the 150 to 250 calories in a typical full-strength craft beer.
The variety packs: Most people meet the brand through a variety pack, which is the smart entry point into a category where taste varies a lot from brand to brand. Partake leans on the fact that its beers are brewed as full beers rather than dressed-up flavoured water, which is why they hold up in blind tastings.
How it compares to other non-alcoholic beer brands
Non-alcoholic beer is one of the fastest-growing corners of the drinks aisle, and Canada has quietly produced several strong independent brands. Here is where Partake lands next to other non-alcoholic beers you might find on the shelf:
| Brand | Style | Origin | Format | Where to buy | Signature |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partake BrewingFeatured | Full non-alcoholic craft lineup | Calgary, Alberta | 355 mL cans · 12-packs | Sobeys, Loblaws, Whole Foods, Walmart, Instacart | 10-calorie IPA · certified B Corp |
| Sober Carpenter | Non-alcoholic blonde, IPA, stout | Montreal, Quebec | 355 mL cans | Sobeys, Metro, IGA, specialty | Founded by two brothers |
| Libra | Non-alcoholic craft, rarer styles | Charlottetown, PEI | 473 mL cans | Maritime + national grocery | Offshoot of Upstreet Brewing |
| Collective Arts (NA) | Artist-label non-alcoholic beer | Hamilton, Ontario | 473 mL cans | LCBO, grocery, specialty | Art-collaboration brewery |
| Athletic Brewing | Non-alcoholic craft, category leader | Connecticut, USA | 355 mL cans | Whole Foods, grocery, online | The US benchmark to beat |
Categories and positioning reflect publicly listed information on each brand's site as of June 2026. Pricing intentionally omitted because it varies materially by retailer. See the live product links below. For another founder-led Canadian beverage built around a health story, see our Maple Made edition on Benny.
Why people love it, beyond the beer
Partake earns loyalty for two reasons that reinforce each other. The first is simple: it tastes like beer. Fleming has said the brand has won close to a dozen World Beer Awards and a stack of other medals, judged purely on taste against beers many times its calorie count. For people who are skeptical that non-alcoholic beer can be good, the awards are the proof and the 10-calorie number is the hook.
The second reason is the mission underneath it. Partake is a certified B Corporation, and the whole brand is built around giving people who cannot or choose not to drink a real seat at the table. That covers people managing a condition like Crohn's, people in recovery, expecting parents, athletes, and anyone driving home. It is a brand that started as one person solving his own problem, and it kept that empathy as it scaled. Customers feel it, and they tend to bring friends into it.
What the press is saying
CEO of Partake Brewing on the pros of starting small
“If you're solving a problem someone genuinely has, you're 90 per cent of the way there.”
Ted Fleming, founder and CEO of Partake Brewing
Read the full feature →Ted Fleming, founder of Partake Brewery
“From a Crohn's diagnosis to a non-alcoholic beer brand and a 16 million dollar financing round, the engineering grad built a business by solving his own problem.”
Queen's University Alumni Review
Read the full feature →Interview with Ted Fleming, Founder of Partake Brewing
“All of our beers are between 10 and 30 calories, and we've won close to a dozen world beer awards, purely based on taste.”
Ted Fleming, in Dry Atlas
Read the full feature →Craft Non-Alcoholic Beer Maker Partake Brewing Expands U.S. Distribution
“Partake raised a 4 million dollar Series A round led by CircleUp Growth Partners to fund its expansion into the United States.”
Brewbound
Read the full feature →Where to actually buy it
Each link below goes directly to a Partake product page or the brand's live store locator, not just a homepage, so you can add a real item to your cart or find a shop near you without hunting:
Across Canada, Partake is also carried at Sobeys, Loblaws, Whole Foods Market, Walmart, and London Drugs, and is available for same-day delivery on Instacart Canada. Use the store locator to find the nearest shelf.
Questions this guide answers
- What is Partake Brewing?
- Partake Brewing is a Canadian non-alcoholic craft beer company based in Calgary, Alberta. It was founded in 2017 by Ted Fleming and makes a full lineup of non-alcoholic styles, including IPA, Pale Ale, Blonde, Red, Stout, Hazy IPA, and seasonals. Every beer is under 0.5% ABV, most fall between 10 and 30 calories, and the company is a certified B Corporation. Partake is one of the best-selling non-alcoholic craft beer brands in North America.
- Who founded Partake Brewing?
- Partake Brewing was founded by Ted Fleming, a Queen's University engineering graduate. He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2005 at age 25 and gave up alcohol to help manage the condition. Before launching Partake, he ran one of North America's first dedicated non-alcoholic beer shops and e-commerce platforms, importing the few drinkable non-alcoholic beers he could find, then started brewing his own.
- Why did Ted Fleming start Partake?
- After his Crohn's diagnosis, Ted Fleming stopped drinking alcohol but found he missed both the taste of good beer and the social ritual around it, from a post-hockey beer to celebrating with friends. At the time almost nothing on the market tasted good. He spent years in the non-alcoholic category as an importer and retailer, learned what drinkers wanted, and launched Partake in 2017 to brew non-alcoholic craft beer worth drinking.
- Where can I buy Partake non-alcoholic beer?
- Partake is sold across Canada at major retailers including Sobeys, Loblaws, Whole Foods Market, Walmart, and London Drugs, plus independent stores. You can order it directly from drinkpartake.com, on Amazon, and through Instacart Canada for same-day delivery. In the United States it is carried at Total Wine & More, Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and many independent stores.
- How many calories are in Partake beer?
- Partake's beers are very low calorie. The signature IPA is 10 calories per 355 mL can, and the rest of the lineup ranges from roughly 10 to 30 calories, with about 2 grams of sugar and 0 carbs. For comparison, a standard alcoholic craft beer often runs between 150 and 250 calories per serving.
- Is Partake beer actually alcohol-free?
- Partake beers are non-alcoholic, brewed to contain less than 0.5% ABV, which is the standard threshold for non-alcoholic beer in Canada and the United States. They are brewed as full beers rather than flavoured water, which is part of why they have won taste awards, but they are not completely 0.0% alcohol.
- Has Partake won any awards, and is it a B Corp?
- Yes. Ted Fleming has said Partake has won close to a dozen World Beer Awards plus a range of other beer competitions, all judged on taste against alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers. Partake is also a certified B Corporation, meaning it meets verified social and environmental standards. Fleming has been named to the Globe and Mail Changemakers list and the Maclean's Power List.
Bottom line
Partake Brewing is what happens when a founder builds the product he personally needed. Ted Fleming lost the ability to drink, refused to lose the ritual, and turned a niche nobody respected into one of the best-selling non-alcoholic craft beer brands in North America, all from a base in Calgary. The beer is genuinely good. The reason it exists is better. If you have never tried it, the variety pack is the simplest place to start. For another Canadian beverage worth knowing, read our Maple Made profile of Sapsucker.
drinkpartake.com
Browse the full range, order direct from Calgary, or find a retailer near you. Partake ships across Canada and is carried at major grocers nationwide.