002 — Here’s why
Almost every non-alcoholic beer is an ordinary beer with the alcohol boiled off. Heat strips the flavour, and sugar gets added back to cover the gap. You’re drinking leftovers.
There is another way
Alcohol molecules are smaller than flavour. We remove them cold, in a separate step — no heat, nothing added back.
003 — How Yesa is made
No alcoholic parent beer. The recipe and the brewery exist for one thing.
Like any beer. Never arrested early, so it never tastes thin or unfinished.
A year in development with our equipment partner in China. Cold is what lets a real lager work without alcohol.
004 — Method, compared
| Method | How it’s made | The trade-off |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial NA | Brew beer, then boil the alcohol off | Heat strips flavour; sugar added back |
| Craft NA | Stop fermentation early | Thin and unfinished; leans on heavy hopping |
| Yesa | Fully ferment, then remove the alcohol cold | Keeps the finished beer — minus the alcohol |
005 — What Yesa means
禮辭 (Korean 예사) is the classical term for the gracious first refusal before an offer is accepted — an honour, a gift, a toast. In the 향음주례, codified in Korea’s National Five Rites in 1474, a cup is offered three times, and each offer is first met with that restraint.
Not abstinence. It keeps you at the table, and in command of the evening.
006 — Who made Yesa
Co-founder · CEO
Eight years in private equity across Asia — GIC, then EQT — before dropping out of a Wharton MBA to fund this instead. Quit alcohol in February 2024 when his own wearable data showed one beer wrecking his sleep. Cold-emailed brewers across Singapore and China; nine said no.
Co-founder · Head Brewer
A mechanical engineer who built data-centre thermal systems across Europe and Asia, then walked away in 2020 to mill grain and wash kegs. Head Brewer of Hong Kong’s largest craft brewery within three years, and behind the city’s best-selling craft non-alcoholic beer. MCIBD.
“If a beer has everything a great beer has but no alcohol, I’d choose that one a thousand times over.”
007 — Guangzhou
Our own brewery, built for one product. Opening late 2026.
008 — Invite-only
Tell us who you are and how you found Yesa. We’ll only use this to contact you about early access.