Non-alcoholic beer?
Yes, I know. We’re a homebrew club. What’s with the non-alcoholic beer? Does this have something to do with Dry January? And when did Dry January become a thing, anyway? You mean, I don’t have to make a starter? How much does it cost? How do they taste?
Fair questions, all. And at our January meeting, David Todd gave us the lowdown on non-alcoholic beers and brewing, with samples, too. Which I have to say…were a far cry from O’Douls if you ever had the, er…. pleasure.
David provided a brief history behind these low-to-no alcohol beers, going back to the Prohibition era, when the alcohol content of brewed beverages was limited to no more 0.5% ABV. While many breweries turned to producing soft drinks, malt syrups and even ice cream to survive, many others produced these low-to-no alcohol beers called “near beers” or “tonics.”
The brewing process is much the same, but there are recipe considerations to make, all of which are detailed in a Brew Your Own article, “Brew A Great Non-Alcoholic Beer.”
The non-alcoholic beers we sampled at the meeting were Lagunitas IPNA, Athletic Brewing Company’s Upside Dawn Golden Ale, and an Italian Style Pilsner from Untitled Art. They were all surprisingly flavorful and worth checking out for those times you may want the taste but not the buzz.
That was an interesting meeting and David did a great job researching and presenting the Non-Alcohol beer.
This was very timely as more and more craft breweries are entering the market with NA options. The Untitled Arts NA pilsner was pretty good actually. Although it probably didn’t have too far to drop to reach 0.05% 😉