Apple Beer is a food and drink brand founded in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1964.
The Germans call it Fassbrause, which the company translates as keg soda, and the original went out in barrels by horse-drawn carriage. Larry Stillman tasted it as a young man living in Germany, and in 1964 he began selling it in Salt Lake City as Apple Beer. There is no beer in it. The apple flavor comes from the peels, not the pulp, so it isn't juice either.
Stillman figured it would sell in Utah, where many residents don't drink alcohol. For 30 years it came in 12-ounce cans. Long-necked glass bottles arrived in the 1990s, and in 1999 the Deseret News reported that sales had doubled since the switch. The family now sells under the SodaBeers name, and butterscotch beer joined the lineup in 2021. It contains no beer either.
Stillman's daughter, Ashley Simmons, is president. In 2014 CompanyWeek described a company with five employees that ran virtually, with a production facility in Florida for its export cans. Those cans went to Curacao, where Apple Beer was poured at weddings. Simmons called it "the perfect toasting beverage" for guests who don't drink but still want to raise a glass.
For its 50th anniversary in 2014, Apple Beer rolled out a gold can, and the company says that while the can keeps getting redesigned, the flavor has never changed.
