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There are certain styles that I feel would work better than others within the non-alcoholic realm and one of those is the out of favor, Brut IPA and Athletic Brewing has tackled it…
…the dryness of Brut combined with hops should cover that N/A deficit that many low alcohol beers show even in great examples.
Athletic Brewing has a beer named (I want to believe after my favorite team) Trailblazer! And, 100% of the profits will be donated to nonprofit organizations championing women in brewing. And, it uses the Pink Boots hop blend!
Athletic Brewing is the leader in N/A beers, in my humble opinion, and it is good to see that their pilot program is stretching out and this Coconut Thai IPA looks fun to try.
Athletic Brewing Company is entering the festbier ring with “America’s first non-alcoholic Oktoberfest brew. In honor of the traditional Oktoberfest beers, this Festbier is brewed with German Vienna and Munich malts, and German Hersbrucker hops.”
And they sent out their intro to the beer email in September like normal non PSL in July people!
Hazy and N/A? Let’s dive into the next Free Wave from Athletic Brewing
First item of visual business is that it is not holding the haze very well. It isn’t crystal clear but a little added murk is in order. The aroma is very much orange candy or soda. That carries over into the taste which has a pretty good level of piney dank bitterness but I am not getting the pillowy quality that should be in the style. Then the body fades at the end a bit. If this was labeled West Coast, it would get higher ratings but for a hazy, it misses too many marks
Non-alcoholic brewery Athletic is bringing the N/A haze full time with…
Here is the brewery description: “Free Wave Hazy IPA is a medium-bodied IPA, aggressively hopped with Amarillo and Chinook hops. Free Wave has just 70 calories and features a softer and simpler cloudy wheat body that showcases the hops. Drinkers will experience notes of orange blossoms, orange, citrus, and wheat. The hops are gripping and aggressive.”
This is the one brewery (so far) that has made a beer beer without the alcohol so you Haze fans should jump on this. It can be shipped anywhere.
When next you are at a brewery taproom or bottle shop picking up a local beer, make sure to look for the latest Beer Paper LA….
…why? Because page 4 has a piece of mine about the soon-to-come rise of the Non-Alcoholic beer style. Check it out!