For the past couple years, there's been a surge of new nonalcoholic beverages entering the market: everything from alcohol-free beer and wine to mocktails and even sparkling water flavored with hops, simply called hop water.
Here in Spokane, Lumberbeard Brewing makes the readers' favorite bubbly, hoppy, canned NA drink.
Since opening in January 2020, Lumberbeard has made a name for itself in the Inland Northwest's craft beer world, brewing a variety of beer from IPAs and sours to barrel-aged stouts, lagers and more. So it makes sense they'd be good at making even a tasty 0% ABV beverage.
Around four years ago, Lumberbeard's head brewer and president, Bret Gordon, says the brewery decided to create a nonalcoholic option after seeing such drinks at other breweries around the country.
"We wanted an NA option that we made in-house instead of buying nonalcoholic beer, so that was kind of the spur to do it," Gordon says.
The brewing process for a nonalcoholic beer is much more involved than making hop water, plus, hop water isn't as expensive to produce.
"We want to make the product as safe as possible because with beer you have alcohol so it kills anything that wants to grow, but with hop water you don't have any alcohol, so you want to make sure that your pH is low enough so that nothing's growing," he explains.
Lumberbeard produced a small test batch, which Gordon says was an immediate hit with customers.
"I think it's nice for people who either are not drinking that day or they had two beers but they still wanted to drink with the other people, and they're like, 'Oh, well, I'll just have a hop water and I can drink that here and be fine and drive home safely.'
"We sell a ton in grocery [stores], so I think people kind of do the same thing at home if they want something that tastes like beer or tastes like hops or has flavor that's not just plain water," he adds.
Hop water's flavor profiles can range widely. Many feature a fruitier profile that pairs well with or tones down hops' bitterness. Gordon says Lumberbeard's hop water intentionally showcases hops' flavor.
"I think it's a bit more potent than everyone else's. That's usually the comment we get back, like, 'Oh my goodness, that's a crazy amount of flavor,'" he says. "We also tried to basically make it taste like hops. I think other hop water is even more fruity, and ours is more hop-forward, so I think people who like beer really enjoy it."
2nd PLACE: Humble Abode Brewing
3rd PLACE: Whistle Punk Brewing
