ENAY is a recently launched non-alcoholic beer brand based out of Virginia. They now ship direct to consumer nationwide and are available in many NA bottleshops across the country through the wholesale site Air Goods. The brand is started by Precarious Beer Project who are fully committed to the non-alcoholic space to offer the growing sector more choices and be more inclusive to their loyal patrons beyond just Dry January. Precarious is one of many craft breweries across the US to launch their own, separately branded, non-alcoholic beer in the past several years. Author’s Note: I recently tried both of their beers, purchased from Bendicion Bottleshop in Chicago, a great way to buy a...

In 2023, for the first time excluding 2020, craft beer in the US saw an overall decline in sales and was the first year almost as many small breweries closed as new ones opened. A prominent and potential component of this decline is the  growing trend toward “Mindful Drinking”. A bright spot during an industry-wide decline has been the significant growth of the non-alcoholic beer category. The NA (non-alcoholic) beer segment hit 1 percent of overall US beer sales, a major milestone, while the leader in the craft subsegment of the category, Athletic Brewing, surpassed $60MM in sales.  While  these numbers are well behind some of our European counterparts like Germany and Spain, where...

It’s no secret that NA craft beer is growing rapidly, especially driven by the rise of Athletic Brewing. One would think that this makes someone who likes craft beer have an easier time of transitioning away from alcohol. Well, six months ago, after a weird blood test, I decided to stop drinking. 14 pounds and 6 months without a hangover later, I’m happy with my decision. That doesn’t mean it was easy though. There are two components to fulfill when trying to replicate a craft beer enthusiast experience in the non-alcoholic market; the variety and the ability to go hang out in the local craft brewery drinking their beer. The first part isn’t as challenging as there are many brands...

One new and amazing partnership style emerged in 2023. This is something that we think can really grow the smaller and local NA craft industry, local bottle shops and brewery collaborations. To date, we know of three who have collaborated, two of which made NA beer together. Since beer in the focus of this site, those two stories are being told with a goal to inspire and share lessons with the industry and highlight their success. The first up is in Lafayette, Indiana, where amazingly 4 of the local breweries have some form of NA. Three of them are NA Beers. Lafayette is also home to Generation NA, one of the largest NA bottle shops and bars in the US. This is not a coincidence. Rob...

This past week, on my way to DC for the Mindful Drinking Fest, I took a brief detour to NYC to visit a friend and attend Third Place Bar’s collaboration NA beer tasting with Talea Beer.  It was nothing short of amazing and I barely scratched the surface of the city’s NA scene. I was also there in July, so some reflections from that visit are in this post too. (Talea has 4 locations across NYC and all the breweries in this blog and locations are on my map.) The first stop on the trip was to drive a bit north to visit Captain Lawrence Brewing, one of the hosts of ABV Technology’s Equalizer Machine. With this, they take their normal beer and remove the alcohol, creating two products: an NA...

16 Small(er) Breweries Across the US with their own NA Beers you maybe didn’t know about The 16 breweries below are across the US and have been working on NA beers for a while. Some can and ship nationally, while others have their beer on draft only in the taproom. A variety of methods, from different brew techniques to not produce alcohol, new NA yeasts, and vacuum distillation are used. Some even have documented their processes in depth on their website. Navigate to our map page to view their location directions, online ordering and/or taproom menus, and their own beer finders if available. North Dakota – Half Brothers Brewing– Half Brothers has had an NA beer offering always available...

The growth of the non-alcoholic beer, wine, and spirits industry the last 5 years in the US has been nothing short of astounding. From bland tasting, to bad tasting, few options the industry has grown to many restaurants having multiple craft options and major breweries like Heineken and Corona introducing non-alcoholic options of their core beers that are nearly indistinguishable from the original. Athletic Brewing, a craft brewery devoted only to non-alcoholic beer, has grown into one of the largest independent craft breweries in the US. Others have exploded onto the scene, with national distribution in under a year or two. Many of these “breweries” however, don’t have a physical...

A lot of people ask why and complain that non-alcoholic beer is expensive. “If it doesn’t have the alcohol, why does it cost so much?” Alcohol, however, is not something that is “added” to beer it is a byproduct of a process, and while it adds to the body and flavor, the remaining flavor comes from the malts and hops used. Making a non-alcoholic beer uses a similar amount of the most expensive ingredient, hops, and plenty of malts (sometimes the same), along with additional safety processes. Many NA Beers begin as full-strength beers which the alcohol is then removed from. While they maybe benefit from lower taxes, this alcohol now must be dealt with either by turning it into a separate...

Non-Alcoholic beer is growing rapidly across the US. At the moment there are over 120 breweries producing their own non-alcoholic beer, either solely non-alcoholic breweries or breweries with one or more NA versions alongside their standard offerings. There are two categories of producing NA beer; ways that produce less than 0.5% alcohol during the brewing process or the removal of alcohol from a full-strength beer after production. The good thing is that today, both methods and variations of them have produced excellent tasting NA beers. Brewing Without Creating Alcohol: Many of the more recent, and rapidly growing, brands in the NA beer sector proudly state they brew in a way that...