The growth of non-alcoholic beer is now well-documented. There was a time when the taste of non-alcoholic beer bore little resemblance to alcoholic beer and options were very limited. But with new brewing and de-alcoholising technology, beer lovers now have many flavorful options, some of which are from the very same breweries that introduced the American palate to flavorful beer during the initial boom in craft beer.
So while the craft beer industry overall is struggling, the growth of non-alcoholic beer continues unabated. Athletic Brewing, the tenth largest craft brewer in America according to the Brewers Association, makes exclusively non-alcoholic beer. But other craft breweries now have their own non-alcoholic offerings.
Here are new non-alcoholic beer options from some of the world’s best craft breweries.
Sierra Nevada Trail Pass Variety Pack
Last year, Sierra Nevada, one of America’s most beloved craft brewers and most famous for their iconic Pale Ale, entered the non-alcoholic beer space under the Trail Pass banner. A year later, the original Trail Pass IPA and Trail Pass Golden have been joined by Trail Pass Hazy IPA and Trail Pass Brewveza, all four of which are now available nation-wide in a variety pack, the first ever nationally-available non-alcoholic beer variety pack.
Firestone Walker 8ZERO5
Since 1996, Firestone Walker Brewing of Paso Robles, California, with satellite locations in Buellton and Venice, has been brewing great beer. Early success came on the back of Double Barrel Ale, a beer made from a unique fermentation system made with connected oak barrels.
As the craft beer market evolved, so too did Firestone Walker, not just with nerdy beer geeks seeking limited releases, but also with a broader beer loving crowd. One of those latter commercial successes was Firestone Walker’s 805 sub-brand, named after the local telephone area code. Extending 805’s success, in 2024, Firestone Walker released a non-alcoholic version of 805, dubbed 8ZERO5.
Patagonia Provisions x Deschutes Brewery Kernza Golden Brew
Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon, with a second location in nearby Portland, has been brewing great beer since 1988. While the west coast built its beer reputation on hoppy beers, one of Deschutes’s flagships is the dark and broody Black Butte Porter.
As an early pioneer in craft beer, Deschutes has the ability to influence beer trends. For this reason, Deschutes was one of the breweries Patagonia Provisions partnered with to promote the use of Kernza, a sustainable grain, in brewing. Pairing on-trend Kernza with on-trend non-alcoholic beer, Deschutes now offers the only non-alcoholic Kernza beer in the world. But using Kernza is not just marketing; the beer recently won a Gold Medal for Specialty Non-Alcohol Beer at the Great American Beer Festival.
Non-Alcoholic Kernza Golden Brewing is one of four beers in Deschutes’s non-alcoholic lineup, the others being Fresh Squeezed Non-Alcoholic IPA, Black Butte Non-Alcoholic and Super Stoked Golden.
Samuel Adams Golden Non-Alcoholic Lager
Boston Beer Company, makers of the Samuel Adams line-up of beers, is the second largest craft brewery in America. Founded in 1984, the brewery’s success truly is a reflection of the growth of craft beer over the past four decades. Their entry into the non-alcoholic beer space is a clean, crisp golden lager brewed with Boston Beer’s proprietary blend of malts and with imported German hops.
Heineken 0.0
Is globally-available Heineken really craft beer? Yes.
Heineken takes great care in making its beer, using non-financially-driven techniques like horizontal fermenters—which allows its proprietary A-Yeast to express more flavor due to reduced hydrostatic pressure—and all-malt brewing to craft great beer, albeit on a global basis.
Using all of the same quality ingredients as in its regular Heineken Original, this Amsterdam-based brewery is making perhaps the best non-alcoholic light lager in the world, Heineken 0.0. “It tastes like the real thing, and that’s a bonus,” said John Holl, via email. Holl is one of America’s most respected beer journalists and has access to some of the best, rarest and most exclusive beers in the world.
But Holl chooses to stock Heineken 0.0 in his fridge. “So many of the NA beers taste like NA beer, and that’s not necessarily a good thing. With the Heineken 0.0 it tastes remarkably close to the genuine article, so I can make the switch from full-strength to not without alerting my palate,” he said.
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