Roasty & Alcohol-Free | Brewing Non-Alcoholic Stouts

While Stouts and other dark beer styles can be enjoyed any time of year, their comforting roast flavors of chocolate, coffee, toast, and burnt caramel provide a cozy accompaniment to the winter season. Many non-alcoholic (NA) producers are brewing NA Stouts both as seasonal releases and year-round core offerings. Brewing these styles without alcohol presents unique production challenges.

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Sierra Nevada Enters Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer with Trail Pass

Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is entering the growing non-alcoholic (NA) beer space with their new Trail Pass series, which hits shelves this month with two initial beers: Golden and IPA. The iconic brewery known for standard alcoholic brands like Pale Ale, Celebration Ale, and Hazy Little Thing debuted their new NA offerings at Denver’s Great American Beer Festival in September, and expects the beers to hit shelves across their full distribution footprint by the beginning of January.

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Great American Beer Festival 2023 Preview Guide: Non-Alcoholic Beers & Beverages

The Great American Beer Festival is all about trying some of the best beers in the country, but what if you’re trying to be mindful of how much alcohol you consume, or aren’t drinking at all? No worries! There are dozens of delicious non-alcoholic beers, hop waters and other NA options at the Great American Beer Festival 2023. Here’s our guide to all the options.

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Hoppy and [Alcohol] Free: Non-Alcoholic Hazy IPA Takes Flight

Hazy IPAs have been the most popular style in craft beer for half a decade now, so if the nascent non-alcoholic (NA) segment of craft was going to gain a foothold, it was critical for this style to be a big part of that movement. Fortunately, numerous NA producers are now brewing excellent Hazies, and the style seems to adapt well to the NA format. Non-alcoholic Hazy IPA is thriving, and drinkers are appreciating the chance to enjoy their favorite hoppy style without the effects of ethanol.

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Fruity and Alcohol-Free: Non-Alcoholic Fruited Sours

Sour ales brewed with fruit have grown in popularity in recent years, and they have proven to be particularly attractive options for non-alcoholic (NA) craft brewers. Fruited sour ales—particularly kettle sours that don’t take nearly as long to brew as some more complex historical sour styles—offer a playground for brewers to experiment with flavor outside the strictures of traditional guidelines. They also offer some unique advantages for the non-alcoholic brewer. As NA craft beer surges in popularity, it’s not surprising to see these non-alcoholic fruited sours being offered by many prominent brands.

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Big Drop Brewing | Galactic Extra Dark

Many craft beers featuring chocolate — or more commonly its main ingredient, cacao — are high alcohol behemoths. Pastry Stouts and related styles are like liquid desserts, and match the luxurious character of chocolate with the indulgence of double digit ABVs. However, one of the most awarded chocolate beers in the world — Big Drop Galactic Extra Dark — has almost no alcohol at all.

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Brewery Showcase | Best Day Brewing

San Francisco-based Tate Huffard is an avid outdoorsman with a passion for craft beer. The two typically go hand-in-hand quite well – what better way to finish off a bike ride or a day on the slopes than stopping at a local brewery afterwards? However, over time, he noticed that the “question of a hangover” started to get in the way of the things he wanted to do.

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Southern Grist Brings Non-Alcoholic Beer to Nashville

Southern Grist is all about southern hospitality, and with this new series, they’re making room at the table for a different type of beer drinker. They take a lot of pride in pushing the boundaries of beer, from massive stouts, thick fruited sours, over the top IPAs, and everything in between. But where do you go when you’ve explored so many possibilities?

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Wellbeing Brewing Company | Hellraiser NA Dark Amber

Dry January looked much different this year. Now, more than ever, local breweries need consumers’ support to survive. We continue to live through the pandemic and continuous major historical events. As a result, many have decided this isn’t the year to cut out drinking for a month (or at all).

However, for those who participated in alcohol abstinence, you didn’t have to sacrifice flavor. Recently, there has been a surge of non-alcoholic (NA) options in the market. Additionally, there are breweries solely dedicated to it. Meet Wellbeing Brewing Company, a Missouri-based craft brewery focused on non-alcoholic beers. They offer a range of NA styles, all consisting of 0% alcohol but thankfully–plenty of flavor. Read More

Athletic Brewing Co. | Upside Dawn Golden Ale & Run Wild IPA

Have you set a New Year’s resolution? Are you participating in #DryJanuary? If so, Athletic Brewing Co. out of Stratford, CT, has you covered. As the first non-alcoholic beer taproom in the country, they have a great line up of options that are both low in calories and contain less than 0.5% ABV. Whether you are a “hop head” and love IPAs or if you are a more malt-focused beer drinker, they have you covered.
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Hairless Dog Brewing Co. | NA IPA

Ah, January–that month when the misdeeds of the previous weeks (or more) of debauchery catch up, and New Year’s resolutions are front and center. For some, this means getting back into an exercise routine or “eating better”. For others, Dry January is the key to starting the year off right.

I completed my first Dry January last year. To be honest, it was easier for me to simply stop drinking altogether than try and find a non-alcoholic (NA) beer that was worth drinking. However, this year’s experiment might look a bit different because of Hairless Dog Brewing Co.

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2020 Michigan Best in Beer Year-End Honors

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What a year we’ve had in Michigan, eh? Nothing went the way anyone expected and for many, it went worse than they ever imagined. If you’re still standing, congratulations. However, one thing that definitely stayed as expected: Despite shutdowns and sickness and protests and kidnapping threats and endless elections, Michigan brewers once again made some of the best beer in the country in 2020. Which, of course, makes my job that much more difficult. I’m certainly not new to beer, but I am brand new to picking the Michigan Best in Beer Year-End Honors which, at 300+ breweries, is a daunting task, to say the least.

That being said, I still get the good news–and there certainly was plenty of it. So, I’ve compiled what I can of the best in Michigan. Here’s to an absolutely horrible, but completely wonderful, 2020.

Cheers!
~Jess, Michigan Editor at PorchDrinking.com

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Athletic Brewing Announces Major Expansion, Closes Series B Funding Round

Non-alcoholic craft beer is starting to have its moment, and perhaps no brewery encompasses this moment more than Athletic Brewing Company, who today announced a massive expansion with the purchase of a large production brewing facility in San Diego, California.

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Athletic Brewing Company | Run Wild IPA

An interesting thing happened while prepping annual GABF coverage here at PorchDrinking this year. We noticed a growing trend of breweries bringing craft alcohol-free beer to the beer-lovers event. Now of course, alcohol-free beer isn’t new. Can you recall the times of “near beer” and O’Doul’s? And most recently Heineken introduced their version to the market. Out of curiosity we gave the latter a try, and to our surprise it tasted like a regular Heineken. Needless to say it was intriguing, so we did more research into the non-alcoholic craft craze. Read More

2019 Great American Beer Fest | Non-Alcoholic Beers Enter the Scene

Non-alcoholic beers were an emerging category of beer at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival with several breweries participating in both the festival and the competition. While they played a small part in the overall event, their addition to the competition this year may be a harbinger of things to come if this trends continue in the right direction.

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