Sustainable drinking has certainly evolved over the years. Long gone are the days of barely palatable non-alcoholic wine–essentially glorified grape juice–and Prohibition Budweiser, as many quality Canadian producers have modernized their offerings with zero-proof spirits and a more recent wave of actually delicious non-alcoholic beers.
Advances in technology have allowed brewers arouind the world to move on from empty, flavourless “near beer” to make versions that are flavourful and full bodied. By using processes like reverse osmosis and low fermenting yeast strains, they’ve created something worth drinking for those who miss a cold pint.
Many Canadian brewers are now pumping out non-alc offerings as well. Here’s a hit list of some of my favourite near-zero per cent brews (plus a cider for good measure).
Fahr Alkohofrei (Turner Valley, AB)
This relatively new release from Fahr Brewery just won silver for best non-alc beer at the Canadian Brewing Awards, and for good reason–it tastes just like real beer!
They use a special yeast strain that allows the beer to fully ferment, but it is low performing so it doesn’t convert sugars to alcohol in the way that conventional yeast would. The result: a fully fermented beer with minimal levels of alcohol that tastes like your favourite crisp, delicious lager (0.5% abv).
Libra North Street Pale Ale (Charlottetown, PEI)
Upstreet Brewing in Charlottetown recently launched their Libra line of non-alc craft beer as a way to enjoy a beer when socializing in the community while still being productive later in the day; in their words, “All the fun, none of the headaches”.
Their first release, the North Cape Pale Ale delivers all the citrus and malt flavour of a classic Pale Ale with a balanced amount of tropical notes and only 0.4% abv.
Red Racer Street Legal IPA (Vancouver, BC)
The hopheads from Central City Brewing in Vancouver have finally answered our call for a legit delicious near beer IPA.
They take their classic IPA that we all know and love and run it through a cross filtration system that uses reverse osmosis to remove the alcohol (the final product has 0.5% abv). By using this method the beer keeps all of its body and resinous pine and hoppy notes so you’re not left feeling like something is missing.
Partake Red Ale (Calgary, AB)
Partake got their start in 2017 and quickly climbed the ranks to become recognized as one of the best producers of non-alc beers in the nation. As of recently, they've begun expanding into the United States, which might just make them the most successful (craft) non-alcoholic beer on the North American market.
Red Ale, or traditional English Style ale, is a style that isn’t common in the non-alc category and they’ve done an excellent job of building the rich malt flavours. The body is lighter than it’s boozy counterpart but all in all, this is a great alternative if you’re in search of non-alc options with sweet caramel and nutty notes, coming in at 0.3% abv.
Village Local Stout (Calgary, AB)
Village, a staple in the Calgary beer scene, introduced their Local line a couple years ago, offering quality craft beer with low levels of alcohol (0.1%). It is quite a feat creating a full-bodied, malty stout but they pulled it off. Their Local Stout comes in hot with notes of coffee and bitter cocoa and finishes crisp, clean and just a little lighter than your traditional dry stout.
Sea Cider Temperance Eden (Victoria, BC)
If you’re a cider drinker looking to avoid alcohol, you could easily go buy a bottle of sparkling apple juice off the shelf at your local grocery store...or you could grab yourself a bottle of beautiful, sparkling cider from Sea Cider on Vancouver Island.
Over the years, Sea Cider has truly set the bar for quality craft ciders in Canada and their Temperance line lives up to the hype. They use locally-sourced B.C. fruit to create all their ciders and this zero proof creation is no exception, being spritzy and sweet with a refreshing dose of acidity.
