(FORTUNE Magazine) – NONALCOHOLIC BEER, once dismissed by lovers of the real stuff as a pale potion without a punch, is coming out of its corner for another round. Brewers are introducing brands they say taste better, and as the beer-drinking season nears they are hawking old products with new advertising. ( Sales of nonalcoholic beer rose 25% last year, to 549,000 barrels. The total market, far huger at 183 million barrels, grew only 0.3%. Makers of nonalcoholic beer are benefiting from the trends toward fitness and moderate drinking: sober suds contain only about 50 calories per 12-ounce bottle, compared with 100 or so in light beer, which is about 4.2% alcohol, and 150 in regular beer, with 4.7% alcohol. Low-alcohol beer, with 2.3% alcohol, looked like a potential winner a few years ago but has flopped. Sales fell some 7% last year to about 500,000 barrels. The battle among the biteless brews has been foaming in the past few months. In March, Stroh Brewery Co. began importing Barbican, a nonalcoholic beer produced by Britain's Bass Brewery. Last year G. Heileman Brewing Co., whose Kingsbury brand is the top seller in the U.S. with 33.7% of the market, introduced Black Label Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage. And industry experts say Miller Brewing may be cooking up a nonalcoholic beer, though the Milwaukee brewer denies it. In May, Switzerland's Moussy, the No. 1 imported nonalcoholic beer, launched a $2-million ad campaign, spending 25% more than last year. Even Guinness, the high priest of dark and bitter stout, has plunged into the market with Kaliber, which Guinness executives compare in taste to Heineken, the No. 1 U.S. imported beer. Guinness began selling Kaliber in New York last year and has expanded distribution to 30 states. Beer industry executives say that nonalcoholic beer is aimed at adults over 25, primarily male. Concern about getting too tipsy to drive could boost sales at bars and restaurants, but marketers hoping to play up that angle face a new problem: if the brew can't make you drunk, you can't call it beer. In April a ruling by the Treasury Department went into effect prohibiting brewers from calling their beverages beer if the products are less than 0.5% alcohol. Permitted terms include malt beverage and brew. If the brews contain just a trace of alcohol -- and most do -- sellers cannot call them alcohol free. Nonalcoholic is the strongest claim allowed. Beer executives admit the rules could hurt sales, and Moussy executives say they will fight them.

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