Anthony Ward was tired of drinking seltzer.
He had decided to cut back on alcohol after drinking a few too many beers out of sheer boredom during the pandemic. He felt better physically, but bubbly water after bubbly water still left him feeling, well, bored.
"I just wanted something that satiated the urge to drink beer without having a negative effect," Ward says.
His father-in-law, Jerry Porter, wanted the same thing, albeit because he had gone gluten-free and couldn't drink beer anymore. A hobbyist brewer for years, Porter started experimenting with making hop water, a sparkling water infused with hops instead of a malted grain fermented with them. The result was alcohol free, gluten free, sugar free, calorie free, and still, somehow, delicious.
Hop water was a hit for Ward and Porter, and they wanted other people to try it, too. The family created and began selling PNW Hop Water in 2022. The business more than doubled its sales in 2023.
During the summer, they sold at the Perry Street Market and Kendall Yards Night Market, but the product is available year-round at Main Market Co-op downtown Spokane, Wildland Coop on Green Bluff, Crepe Cafe Sisters in Kendall Yards, and soon will be sold online at pnwhopwater.com.
Things look promising for the young company, which is taking off at the same time as nonalcoholic adult beverages are becoming trendy across the country. According to consumer spending analyst NielsenIQ, nonalcoholic beverage sales grew to half a billion dollars in July 2023. The year before, hop water alone accounted for $5.5 million in sales, up by over 40% from the year before, while craft beer sales dropped 7%. NPR's Marketplace reported that while close to half of millennials drink regularly, only about a fifth of Gen Z drinks that often.
"It feels like we're reaching that tipping point where people are really starting to understand how bad alcohol can be for you," Ward says. "This is just a really well-timed product in terms of where we are going culturally."
Brian Porter, Jerry's son, grew up brewing with his dad and ended up a culinary professional.
Now an instructor at Lewis and Clark High School, Brian used his restaurant experience to perfect the brewing process and extract as much flavor as possible from Yakima-grown hops. He also created alternate flavors, preferring the way citrus pairs with the fresh hops. Along with the original "Hoppy" flavor, PNW Hop Water also comes in grapefruit, tangerine and yuzu, the latter being another trendy ingredient and a huge hit at farmers markets.
Hop water isn't nonalcoholic beer. It's not trying to mimic Budweiser. It's a completely natural, carbonated tea infused with sophisticated adult flavors.
"I always try to make a point to explain to people, most alcoholic beers are brewed as regular beer and then they process it afterwards to remove the alcohol," Brian says. "When they do that, they're changing it chemically. Whereas we're taking a product and building it from the ground up so we don't have to remove anything."
Ward still drinks alcohol occasionally, but he changes out some beers for hop waters instead.
PNW Hop Water is also taking on a life of its own in other parts of the beverage world.
"We've found a lot of people are using it to make cocktails," he says. "They'll use it as a mixer for nonalcoholic cocktails as well as alcoholic cocktails. It's a nice base for a lot of citrus type drinks, or with gin or tequila or vodka."
Ward is realizing he doesn't miss the alcohol. He can still celebrate or relax or take part in any social ritual that usually includes a delicious drink in hand, but without a foggy memory or headache the next day.
"I've had some of my best times without alcohol," Ward says. "The best moments I spend with my family are always the little moments, just simple things. I don't feel like I can be as present if I'm drinking in those moments. No disrespect to drinking — I enjoy a good beer. But as I get older, the moments that are most important to me are generally the ones where I'm sober." ♦
