Still learning what to expect from NA beers. I appreciated the light citrusy hop aroma and flavor. Enough grainy taste to let me know it’s beer. Not much else going on. 3/5 stars.
Gone are the days when the only non-alcoholic beer options were named O’Doul’s or Sharp’s or Rolling Rock. Recognizing a shift in consumer sentiment, and possibly an untapped niche in the market, many brewers are trying their hand at creating the next best NA or near beer (up to 0.5% ABV). Today, let’s dive into what makes these beers different from a traditional brew.
Beer, according the the Reinheitsgebot, must (only) contain yeast along with water, barley, and hops. NA beers haven’t broken from that tradition, yet science tells us that there’s a problem with the process. Yeast, in the presence of sugar and absence of oxygen, produce alcohol and carbon dioxide. So, if a NA beer or near beer is made with yeast, where does the alcohol go?
There are many different methods, some of which require an extra step in the process of making the beer. The most common are vacuum distillation, reverse osmosis, and arrested fermentation. All three have drawbacks, the biggest being that the flavor can be drastically different either because of adding heat or removing aromatic molecules along with the ethanol. Craft brewers are instead developing other proprietary methods to give you the best (flavor) bang for your (calorie) buck. One such is BrewDog, who uses a process of microfermentation to get full-flavored beer without the drawbacks of other methods. That means they have just enough fermentable malt to get the yeast working and the remaining malt is unfermentable (adds flavor but yeast can’t digest it). I would assume that other breweries have developed something similar, but everyone is keeping their cards close their chests on this one. It’s not surprising, since the NA beer market is gaining lots of media attention and a winning process could help a brewery corner the (small, but mighty) market.
Since the amount of beer I have to consume to keep this blog going all year isn’t sustainable (while maintaining my health!), look forward to more NA and near beer offerings in the future. Prost!
A Beer a Day 