NA Beers that dont taste like monkey butt

Halincandenza

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So which ones are the best ones from Athletic to get? A little background, I don't drink and never have but do enjoy an NA every now and then. I did not like Odouls and thought Kaliber wasn't bad but I would like to try more NAs and really don't have a preference besides being non-skunky.

In other words, I'm a newbie beer drinker but don't drink alcohol.
My favorite are the golden ale, run wild ipa and the Cerveza Atletica
 
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GrindingAway

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I just got my monthly order from Tavour and they had a 4 pack of NA beers I thought I'd try just to see if it was possible to have a good NA beer. Pack includes -

Cerveza Athletic Light Copper - Athletic Brewing
No Mo Hazy IPA - Crux Fermentation Project
Orange Wit - Fremont
NA Black Butte Porter - Deschutes

I haven't cracked one yet but when I do I'll report back.

I used to be in the camp of others that said what is the point of drinking NA beer. Idk if it's age or what the issue is but alcohol seems to hit me harder these days as far as not sleeping well, hungover etc. I still love the taste of a good ipa so if there was an option that maintained the taste but was NA I'd buy it. I wouldn't move all of my beer drinking to that style but some.
 

Halincandenza

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I like having NA beers during the week especially because I work out most days and feel like I can still enjoy a beer without feeling like I am undoing all the work i did during the day lol
 

Cy Hard

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I want to know how does one go about tasting monkey butt to then use it as a comparison to how other things taste? Do you have to travel somewhere to try it, do they charge or is it like a dare thing?
 

VeloClone

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I want to know how does one go about tasting monkey butt to then use it as a comparison to how other things taste? Do you have to travel somewhere to try it, do they charge or is it like a dare thing?
You can volunteer at the zoo, but you need to be a little bit clandestine about it.

Not that I would have any first hand knowledge about that sort of thing...
 
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ISU_Guy

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Awesome thread. This scene has really exploded lately. Love the taste of beer and this gives me a lower calorie fix.
Hy-Vee has a really good selection
 

Ozclone

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Those are legit. We had one and I loved it. The only reason we quit using it is I live way up in NEIA and the Decorah Wal Mart is the only place within 20 miles that restocks the air cartridge and while I'm in Decorah pretty much every week, I just don't want to go to Wal Mart for the refill.
You might look into a refill adapter for the cartridges. Like everything they are available at Amazon. Then you get a tank of food grade CO2 from some place like Airgas and refill the cartridges yourself. Or Sodastream has a cylinder exchange program if you want to go that route.
 

Al_4_State

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Awesome thread. This scene has really exploded lately. Love the taste of beer and this gives me a lower calorie fix.
Hy-Vee has a really good selection
Unless you’re doing hop water, there isn’t much calorie difference between NA beer and light beer. Definitely less than craft beer. Just gotta watch the labels
 

Mr.G.Spot

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I am probably in the minority here (shocking, I know), but I really like Heineken Zero.
 
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Al_4_State

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I am probably in the minority here (shocking, I know), but I really like Heineken Zero.
Same. It was the first NA beer I really liked.

During the 2019 football season, we had a really wet fall and there were like 3 Saturdays in a row where it was soggy and we waited until 2PM or so to decide if we were gonna harvest. I'd hang out with my buddies who were watching football and drinking beer all day and drink Heinie 0's until we'd decided to not work for the day, then I'd go get real beer.
 
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GrindingAway

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I just got my monthly order from Tavour and they had a 4 pack of NA beers I thought I'd try just to see if it was possible to have a good NA beer. Pack includes -

Cerveza Athletic Light Copper - Athletic Brewing
No Mo Hazy IPA - Crux Fermentation Project
Orange Wit - Fremont
NA Black Butte Porter - Deschutes

I haven't cracked one yet but when I do I'll report back.

I used to be in the camp of others that said what is the point of drinking NA beer. Idk if it's age or what the issue is but alcohol seems to hit me harder these days as far as not sleeping well, hungover etc. I still love the taste of a good ipa so if there was an option that maintained the taste but was NA I'd buy it. I wouldn't move all of my beer drinking to that style but some.
Reporting back.

Cerveza Athletic Light Copper - Athletic Brewing

This one was straight ass. I finished it but barely. Looked amazing, great copper color and nice foamy head (I've heard this is an issue with NA beers). The taste of a good malty amber was there but it was covered up by a weird off flavor. I can't really place what it tasted like (and I'm pretty decent at picking out beer flavors). If this was a home brew I made I would have assumed it got infected and dumped it. 12oz was all I could take.

No Mo Hazy IPA - Crux Fermentation Project

This was decent. Poured really light colored with almost no head. Good citrus aroma. First taste a astringent tang hits you pretty hard, but there was good citrus hop flavor there too. The astringent/bubbly part was almost like a seltzer and really strong and contributed to being a watery low body beer. Other than that it was a decent beer. Not sure I'd identify it was a Hazy IPA without the label. I haven't had this in years so probably not a fair comparison but reminded me a bit of Dog Fish Head Sea Quench Ale but more bubbly. I could drink a few at a hot tailgate or other hot day outdoor event.

Orange Wit - Fremont

I'm not a big wit guy and not a big add fruit to a beer guy but this was probably the best of the three. Poured very light like a Wit, not much head. Aroma is basically all orange. The orange flavor is really strong. There's a spice/bitterness there, but the orange almost covers it. I feel like there is a bit of an odd flavor in there similar to the Cerveza Athletic but they just upped the orange flavor to cover it. Basically think a Blue Moon with extra orange flavor. Again I could have a couple at a tailgate or similar.

NA Black Butte Porter - Deschutes

Haven't tried this one yet. I haven't had a Black Butte in a while and was going to try to find it as a good comparison. I'm hopeful on this one since I wouldn't think Deschutes would put the Black Butte name on it without it being at least decent.

Overall a couple drinkable ones. In the right spot I might have a few, but no where close to making me think about giving up real beer.
 

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