Market trends are always fluid in the craft-beer industry, and over the past several years, there’s been a shift toward less-impactful, lower-calorie, lower-alcohol brews. And thanks to companies producing non-alcoholic (N/A) beers that taste far better than their weak and watery predecessors, the N/A craft-beer segment is experiencing an all-time high in interest and sales.
Spurred on by the success of beermaking interests such as bi-coastal Athletic Brewing (which operates a large manufacturing facility in Miramar), a number of near-beer startups are looking to cash in, while established breweries are adding N/A offerings to their portfolios. In the case of Oregon-based Deschutes Brewery—the country’s tenth-largest craft brewery—they’ve released a non-alcoholic version of their flagship porter, Black Butte, which leads with recognizable roasty flavors minus the alcohol.
Recently, Miramar’s AleSmith Brewing became the first existing San Diego County brewery to enter the booming market segment, doing so with the March release of an N/A IPA. A new single-hop creation meant to be recognizable as the most popular beer style in the country, conveying plenty of hop-borne aromas and flavors, it was developed in response to consumer interest.
“With the increasing demand for non-alcoholic beverages, AleSmith has jumped into the growing beverage segment. The non-alcoholic IPA caters to the well-focused beer-drinker looking for a refreshing alternative,” says AleSmith President Brandon Richards. “There has been an increase of customers requesting non-alcoholic options in our tasting room and we want to be able to have an offering for those guests.”
It was 18 months ago that AleSmith Director of Brewery Operations Ryan Crisp and his team turned their attention to the challenging goal of developing a method for making an N/A beer. Figuring out a workable process was difficult, but after a great deal of trial-and-error, AleSmith’s team was successful. Crisp says he and his team are better brewers for it and they are pleased with their inaugural N/A beer.
“Our biggest goal from the beginning has always been to make a product that tastes like a beer that we would want to drink—clean and flavorful with a big hop presence,” says Crisp. “Our N/A IPA is a crisp, lightly malty, clean, and has a big hop presence of citrus and tropical fruit. I personally enjoy drinking ours on Saturday afternoons when I’m at home, but I would enjoy a really good N/A on the same occasions I would any other beer.”
In addition to allowing AleSmith to enter a new segment of the beverage market, due to the lack of alcohol content, they are able to sell their N/A IPA direct to consumers across the country on their website.
When asked if AleSmith will begin releasing N/A versions of some of the beers it’s built its quality reputation on over the past 27 years, Crisp says it’s too early to know.
“What we end up releasing will depend on what product we’re the most excited about, so only time will tell,” says Crisp. “An N/A .394 Pale Ale would be pretty sweet, though.”
AleSmith Brewing is located at 9990 AleSmith Court in Miramar