N/A Beers for the Craft Beer Lover (Dryuary Experiment)
I like the craft beer. But, like a lot of folks, I’m doing Dryuary. “Are there any decent N/A beers I could enjoy this month?” I wondered. Then I did some research.
Take these with a grain of salt. By no means a comprehensive or exhaustive list. And this is according to my tastes. I’m not SUPER picky but Ii'll say I primarily stick with IPAs. Prefer 'em juicy. But love em clean and pine-y, too. And a clean pilsner or kolsch from time to time. I’m no beer nerd, but I have experience and I know what I like.
This is an attempt for a craft beer lover to have a little fun during #dryuary. That’s it. Don’t @ me.
West Coast Sierra Nevada Trail Pass IPA (95 cal / 20 carb)
Was especially curious about this one, since they’re pros. Solid. Less beer-flavored than beer. Duh. But it’s heading that way. Probably somewhere between Hopwtr and an actual beer. Good flavor, nothing weird. 4.5/5
Bravus Peanut Butter Dark (110 cal / 25 carb)
Excellent. Holy crap. Only negative is it’s missing the bite I expect at the end of a porter. But dang has it got flavor. Roasty, mild peanut butter and very smooth. 4.8/5
HOP WTR Classic (0 cal / 0 carb)
Classic. Tastes like hoppy water. Not beer. But it’s refreshing, for sure. 4/5
Bravus Blood Orange IPA (90 cal / 21 carb)
Pretty fantastically delicious after a long walk (3.25 miles) with one of our dogs. Hits the spot. Tastes spot on to what I expected nothing bitter, just slid flavor. 71° and this is refreshing. 4/5 (not even my flavor either)
Bravus Golden Light (65 cal / 16 carb)
Nope. Missed here. Guess they were going for the easy drinking, all day light beer. But it’s missing something or several somethings. 2/5
Bravus West Coast IPA (0 cal / 20 carb)
Pretty good. I mean, it ain’t a “real” one but it’s damn close. Milder than “real” but still has a little bite. 3/5
Hop Splash (0 cal / 0 carb)
Fire. Prefer this one to hopwater. 4.5/5
Guinness 0.0 (17 cal / 3.8 carb)
The gold standard. They about nailed it identically to the OG. 5/5
Sam Adams Just the Haze (98 cal / 22 carb)
Crushable. Enough haze to be believable. Totally down with this as a gold standard. 5/5
Ceebo Classic (55 cal / 9 carb)
Local (is) and delicious. This one of the most straight up beer-flavored non-beers I’ve had. Full endorsement. 5/5
Partake IPA (10 cal / 0 carb)
Not bad. I had a preconceived notion coming into this tasting since I’ve had it. Fire. I remember it tasting like the first gluten-free and -reduced beers (Redbridge, New Grist, early versions of Omission - Estrella Damm Daura is the best in that category) that came out 12-15 years or so ago. Kinda just meh, and off. But this ain’t so bad. Not my fav, but also not the worst. 3/5
Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher ( 0 cal / 0 carb)
Another of the hopwaters, this is a bit... fruity-er? I guess is how I'd describe it. NOt in a bad way, by any means. It's quite good. Just has a bit more flavor than HOP WTR and Hop Splash. 4.5/5
I’ll also add in there that, like Guinness, a lot of the “big guys” also do 0%ers pretty well - Stella Artois (quite refreshing and Pilsner-esque), Heineken, Corona…
Summary thoughts. Grab a couple I like to satisfy the flavor itch, but mostly stick to the 0 cal and 0 carb. At the end of the day, it’s not really worth the carbs for the hint of beer flavor. Same with the fake boozes. Better off with the canned N/A beverages than the fake spirits. At least, what I’ve tried thus far.
Over ‘n out.
Written By: Carter Lewis
