c/w Alcohol mention

This year I started a medication regiment that meant I couldn’t have any alcohol. While this was a little sad as a big fan of beer it gave me a new world to dive into: Non Alcoholic Beers! Non Alc Beers ended up impressing me a lot more than I was expecting, both in terms of quality and as well as in how much the selection has grown over the course of 2024. There was enough variety and things to explore that I began to embark on a journey to document every non alc beer I’ve had and rate them! At the time of writing, I’ve tried 42.

tl;dr list is here and will live update as I try more https://chrismillerxyz.notion.site/Non-Alc-Beers-I-ve-Tried-c98e915bd85f481b8ea99dd8e01bccd0

My Criteria

Flavor

I love a really flavorful beer. In terms of alcoholic beers my favorites are trippels and stouts, so a lot of my non alc favorites are those that feel like I’m not sacrificing something to take the alcohol out. While I haven’t looked too deep into it, it seems there’s also a few different dealcoholization processes that seem to affect the resulting brew. In my brain, one of them is a lot better than another: there’s a whole grouping of super bitter, body-lacking beers that taste all the same so I’m curious if it’s all the same process (Clausthauler is an example). I’ll follow up on this post when I research more.

Funky

Maybe biased to the PNW markets, there’s sooo many non alc IPAs. And trust me, I love a crispy IPA but a lot of non alcs in this category feels pretty samey. So on this list I definitely reward brews that are a bit more unique in the type they’re going for. This ends up helping boost a lot of the beers I’ve tried in the Toronto market since they love their lagers.

Not a Sour

I am cursed with canker sores when I consume anything too acidic, which means I have to pick and choose my sours very carefully. I only have a few on the list and they were very enjoyable, but they are not very represented in the tiers (sorry to the sour enjoyers! I wish I could be you)

So with that, here’s the list (if you didn’t click on it above)!

https://chrismillerxyz.notion.site/Non-Alc-Beers-I-ve-Tried-c98e915bd85f481b8ea99dd8e01bccd0

Some S tier highlights

I wanted to take a moment to highlight the S tiers because they were so tasty

Athletic Brewing Company - Oktoberfest

Athletic’s lineup is all Non Alc beer options and they are usually pretty solid. However, their Oktoberfest?? I was so happy they came out with this flavorful piece of fall and gave me something to get excited about alongside the rest of Oktoberfest’s celebrations. Fantastic white ale, easily accessible, I’ll be sad when it’s gone after the season.

Feldschlösschen - Weizenfrisch

Maybe it was being jet-lagged in the Zurich airport at 10am, but this beer models how non alcs can be no-compromise. I had to double, triple check this was a non alcoholic beer because it tasted like I was missing nothing. Super wheaty and flavorful!

Muskoka Brewery - Veer Hazy IPA

Even though I was poo-pooing on how many non alc IPAs there are, Muskoka Brewery (as with most of their beers) is the exception. What makes it stand apart against the other IPAs on the list are those all important elements of funk and flavor: their lack of filtration to claim the hazy label was also done without the introduction of overwhelming hoppiness that blow out your palette. This leads to a very delicious beer that is also very crushable.

Partake - Peach Gose

Goses are a type of beer I need to explore more, because damn Partake killed it with this one. Another sour I need to be careful of, but these are crazy refreshing on a summer day. I’m very back and forth on Partake’s selection (their IPA is the reason funky is a criteria), but their Gose keeps them on my word of mouth recommendation list alongside their delicious Red and Blonde ales.