Seven-time country hit singer-songwriter Brantley Gilbert has experienced more than one occasion in his life where his 14 years of sobriety left him feeling like he was on the outside.
“There’s nothing like a cold beer when you’re grilling or watching a game with your friends, your family. And as a country music songwriter, we write about cold beer in every other song,” Gilbert told Fox News Digital.
“It’s an opportunity for those of us who have removed alcohol from our lives for one reason or another to drink a cold beer,” he said, “and share one with our friends.”
America’s oldest and youngest generations are drinking less, with U.S. alcohol consumption hitting its lowest level in nearly a century, according to the Gallup Consumer Habits 2025 investigation. Only 54 percent of adults reported drinking alcohol in the last year, and half of 18- to 34-year-olds don’t drink at all — a sharp decline from the 72 percent of young adults who did so two decades ago.
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The desire to reduce consumption of alcoholic beverages has spilled over into a burgeoning market for non-alcoholic beer and wine, which Gilbert is now proud to be a part of.
Country music star Brantley Gilbert tells Fox News Digital why he’s investing in Real American Beer’s first alcohol-free offering. (FOXBusiness)
Moving from fan to owner, the country music powerhouse is Real American Ale (RAB) last major equity partner. He is spearheading the launch of RAB Zero, the brand’s first non-alcoholic beverage that promises “real beer energy” without compromise.
For every case sold, RAB plans to donate $1 to the USO.
“The RAB people are just upper-level people, and they are patriots,” Gilbert said. “They talk about God and family and country, and it’s easy for me to understand.”
Real American Beer aims to stand out from its competitors by integrating beer into a meaningful experience rather than focusing on the product itself. The brand launched in 2024 and pays tribute to its late founder, Hulk Hogan.
Led by former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive Terri Francis, he previously told FOX Business that Hogan dreamed of “being bigger than Bud Light” before his death in July 2025 at the age of 71, just over a year after launching the company.
“[Growing] Watching wrestling, I thought Hulk Hogan was almost the second coming, and having the chance to meet him and knowing what he was doing with Real American Freestyle, I had the chance to kind of become friends with him and write the theme song for it, what he wanted it to sound like,” Gilbert mused. “Really, you know, the conversation had to develop, what do you want this brand to be about? And of course, it was simply American. »
“I don’t really associate with people I don’t believe in or products I don’t use myself,” he added. “Having a stake in the game obviously adds to the equation.”
Gilbert, who has been sober since December 2011, explained why he wanted a product that allowed people to participate in “beer times” without alcohol.
“I finally accepted the fact that I’m allergic to alcohol, like I was being handcuffed and making bad decisions,” Gilbert said.
“It’s not that I can’t drink. It’s that I choose not to, you know what I mean? It’s a choice. And I think people are a little more respectful of that… It’s an option… for beer lovers like me, to still open a bottle and cheer for their friends and have a cold beer without having all the bad decisions, all the negative things that come with it.”
The sobriety shift: Generation Z is turning away from alcohol Soft Bar founder and reality TV star Carl Radke describes the decline of alcohol consumption in the United States, his journey to sobriety and building a business around the alcohol-free movement on “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street.”
The country music star sees the partnership as a way to carry his late friend’s torch while celebrating his personal redemption as a married father of three.
He also sees 2026 as “one hell of an adventure,” teasing him even more. new music is coming.
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“My story is one of blessings… My wife comes back into the picture and gives me a chance to love her after not seeing or speaking for six or seven years,” Gilbert said. “It’s that kind of redemption story without which, frankly, I wouldn’t be in a good place.”
“Years later, God willing, we applaud and celebrate not only the success story of this brand, but the success story of American patriotism.”
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Daniella Genovese of FOX Business contributed to this report.