A Quick Guide to Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer
by David Nilsen
Lots of articles have been published (some by me) about non-alcoholic (NA) craft beer in the last few years. The first paragraph of these articles usually mentions how much NA beer is improving, there’s an obligatory joke about O’Douls, and some growth numbers are cited.
Let’s pretend I did all that and just get to the purpose of this article: to give easy recommendations for NA beers to seek out and ones to avoid (for now).
I’ve been trying a lot of non-alcoholic beer these last few years, and posting short video reviews of most of them to my Instagram account. Here is most of what I’ve learned from the experiential side of things.
A few things to keep in mind when approaching non-alcoholic craft beer:
- Don’t expect even good NA examples of a style to taste just like the “real” thing. They aren’t. They’re brewed with different processes and often different ingredients. As with any change in brewing variables, those differences are reflected in the finished beer. It’s not fair to compare these to their alcoholic versions. They can be good, but they won’t taste the same, and that’s okay.
- Styles that, in their standard version, have high ABVs are going to be difficult or impossible to approximate in an NA version. Alcohol does more than get you drunk—it has an impact on flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel, and interacts with and alters the characteristics of other ingredients as well. In strong beers, these affects are amplified, and it’s pretty much impossible (for now) to replicate those dynamics in an NA beer.
- Styles that, in their standard version, depend upon specific fermentation flavors are difficult to replicate in NA form. Fermentation processes in NA beer production are different than they are in standard beer, and even if a standard fermentation is completed and then alcohol is removed, this will still impact fermentation flavors. Generally, styles that derive most or all of their flavor from malt and hops will be easy to transfer to an NA version than styles that have expressive fermentation flavors. The exception is with sour beer, which we’ll get to.
- Styles that, in their standard version, are light and dry bodied will generally do well as NAs. The needs of NA beer production generally dictate low starting and finishing gravities and correspondingly minimal fermentable sugar content. Styles that are light and dry to begin with have less of a gap to bridge when brewed as NAs.
- Styles with additional flavor ingredients tend to do well as NAs. Those extra ingredients, such as fruit, cacao, or a spice like coriander, can help cover over what’s missing. That said, sharper spices can quickly become harsh in the light-bodied NA format, so there are exceptions.
Styles that consistently translate well to the NA space:
- Hazy IPAs and Pale Ales
- Fruited Sours
- Lighter-bodied Porter & Stout styles
- Light-bodied styles like Pilsner and American Lager
Styles that consistently have trouble in the NA space:
- Easy-drinking styles featuring mid-color malts, such as Amber Lager, Oktoberfest, and Amber Ale. The difference in processes for making NA beers can leave behind the flavor of unfermented beer (“wort”), which these malts will amplify.
- Fermentation-driven styles like Belgian ales.
- Strong beer styles like Imperial Stout and Barleywine.
This isn’t a technical article, so we aren’t going to get in to the nitty-gritty of how these beers are produced. There are a number of good articles out there about NA beer production (check out my articles on NA Fruited Sours, Porters & Stouts, and Hazies). In general, NA producers haven’t been as forthcoming about their ingredients and processes as we’ve come to expect from standard craft brewers. Writer Mark Lafaro addressed this dynamic and the frustrating cultural problems of NA craft beer in his excellent article for Final Gravity Issue 01.
This article will be updated as more beers are tried and breweries improve. In the brewery section immediately below, I’m just listing producers that make multiple NA products rather than one-offs.
Non-Alcoholic producers I’m consistently happy with:
Dedicated NA breweries - Self Care, Go, Athletic, Beaglepuss, Partake, Big Drop, Good Times, Ceria, Two Roots, Momentum
Standard breweries producing an NA line - Sam Adams, Untitled Art, Sierra Nevada, Brooklyn, Talea, Rescue Club (the NA line from Zero Gravity), Two Roads
NA producers I haven’t been terribly impressed with, but hope will improve:
Bravus, Wellbeing, Safety Glasses (Industrial Arts)
NA producers I’ve had mixed experiences with, so I’m withholding judgment for now:
Gruvi, Atmos, Surreal, Alesmith
Recommended NA Beers by Style:
Hazy IPAs and Pale Ales:
- Self Care Freak Flag and others
- Sam Adams Just the Haze
- Untitled Art Juicy IPA
- Go Prophets Hazy IPA
- Athletic Free Wave
- Beaglepuss Strange Hoppenings
- Partake Hazy IPA
- Two Roads Juicy IPA
Standard IPAs, Pale Ales, and Amber Ales:
- Sierra Nevada Trail Pass IPA
- Go Not Just Another Story Double IPA
- Partake IPA & Pale
- Big Drop Pine Trail Pale
- Beaglepuss Inverse IPA
- Good Times IPA
- Lakefront Riverwest Stein Amber
- Brooklyn Hoppy Amber
- Two Roots IPAs
Stouts/Porters:
- Big Drop Galactic
- Athletic All Out
- Untitled Art Chocolate Milk
- Deschutes Black Butte Non-Alcoholic
- Guinness 0
- Two Roots Black Out
Sours:
- Untitled Art - multiple
- Partake Peach Gose
- Self Care - multiple
- Athletic - multiple
- Southern Grist Parallel
Lagers/Light Ale Styles:
- Sierra Nevada Trail Pass Golden
- Sam Adams Gold Rush
- Best Day Kolsch
- Momentum Golden
- Two Roots Enough Said Helles
- Self Care Scherler Easiest Lager and others
- Seventh Son Assistant Manager NA Brew
- Big Drop Coba-Maya Mexi-Style
- Rescue Club Pils
- Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing Lager Day Saints Munich Helles
German Wheat Ales/Belgian Ales:
- Blue Moon Non-Alcoholic
- Chouffe Alcohol-Free
- Weihenstephan Hefeweissbier Alkoholfrei
- Ceria Wit
- Athletic Wit’s Peak
- Sober Carpenter White
Miscellaneous:
- Santa Clausthaler Holiday Brew
