I’ve gone on medication that makes drinking kind of problematic, but I really love beer of all kinds, IPAs, sours, etc. I like flavorful and varied beers. I’d like to try some interesting non-alcoholic options. What is your favorite non-alcoholic beer?
Athletic brewing company has a a stout…that if they billed as an ESB would be amazingly convincing.
I swear to you, I am (or I guess used to be) a BJCP certified beer judge. (former) Cicerone ii
Athletic is the best out there for NA, that I’ve seen. And that stout… I was intrigued to see how you could make beery. And you can’t. But… an ESBs flavor profile is, for all intents and purposes, a watered down (Still spritzy) dry stout.
I’ll bet there are better for hopheads. Hell, I prefer lagunitas’s NIPA offering more than athletics pale ale. So… yeah.
I read this twice and have no idea what you said.
ESB means “extra special bitter,” which is a beer style
One that BJCP judges need to know. They also need to know a variety of stouts. BJCP stands for beer judge certification program.
And cicerone is like sommelier.
Sommelier is like wine expert but certified.
Idk about wine, but cicerone has three levels.
Level 1 is trivial and about glassware and cleanliness and beer style general knowledge.
Level 2 is a bit more intense (identifying specific problems with a slightly imperfect beer)
Level 3, to me, is wizardry. It’s like mouth-brain-beer turning completeness. Basically.
Thanks for the rundown.
Thanks! This helps. I really wish they made a decent non-alcoholic beer. I don’t drink alcohol by choice, but I love the taste of beer.
I tried a few non-alcoholic things that are local, but they are all pretty water downed tasting.
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Guinness has the best NA stout because it tastes just like regular Guinness. When I had to stop drinking, I really missed this and none of the other NA stouts scratched the itch. Once this came out, I was really happy. Other than that, anything from Athletic Brewing Company is awesome. They have some good IPAs, their sour and gose options are really good, there’s a cerveza that tastes similar to negra modelo and a bunch of their seasonal offerings are really good. A big problem with a lot of NA beers is that they don’t get the carbonation right (brew dog has some good tasting ones, but their carbonation is no good). Athletic nails it. After that I’d say Brooklyn Brewing and Partake both have a few really solid ones; just pick whatever looks interesting from them and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
I’ve never had a NA beer, so this is kind of a joke answer, but I actually wonder it technically counts.
Root Beer?
In the same vein- Ginger Beer. Specifically the great Jamaican brand in the yellow labeled bottles
Agree with everyone on Athletic I like their upside dawn golden. I also like Black Butte Port which is a NA I’ve only seen at BiMart of all places. I go through a lot of the Claushaller dry hopped.
I love Athletic Brewing Company. Their Oktoberfest is very good, and their Blueberry Lemon Mango sour is my favorite NA beer on the market. I also really like Best Day, especially their Kolsch.
Guinness 0 is remarkably good I have to say.
For IPAs: Brooklyn Special Effects and BrewDog Punk AF
I agree with BrewDog Punk AF. It has the mouthfeel of a real IPA.
Another mention of Athletic, sours for me.
So far the Athletic IPA
Solid hops hit. It’s a bit thin in the mouth feel. But the. Hops hit home.
Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is fantastic, but it’s not trying to be a beer or anything.
Lagunitas IPNA tastes fucking awful, DO NOT BUY.
Brew Dog NAs are great.
All Athletic Brewing offerings are great as well!
I had a NA Guinness Stout that I really enjoyed. Had I not followed it up with an actual Guinness, I may have been convinced it was the real thing.
Anything root!
I make my own! From real roots!
Clausthaler Dry-Hopped (the brown bottle, not the green). It actually tastes like a beer.
Give mulled cider (NOT spiked) a try. Super easy to heat up a batch, fairly inexpensive (and Simply Apple works for cider if you can’t get apple cider out of season), and, to me, at least, it “feels” like something alcoholic but with zero alcohol (unless you make the spiked version).
Fremont Brewing Non-Alcoholic IPA. Tastes real.
Guinness 0 is surprisingly good as well.
