Dry January Beers 🍻
I normally enjoy a good IPA, or bourbon, or wine for the right occasions (sports, friends, and family). And I also like to take breaks yearly or whenever, and this year joined some friends to keep January Dry. Being a pretty big football and basketball and gatherings month, I thought I’d still try to enjoy a fake beer no matter how fauxmy (fauxny?) it might feel. I was super surprised to find a ton of IPA/Craft options – the local store must have had ~50 different labels to try from?!
Did 11ty just put the 🍻 beers emoji into the URL? how cool is that?
I hadn’t thought to write anything about this journey, but if Dave Rupert and Snook can write about chips then certainly I can throw a few words down about hops?! So here’s a quick review of my favorites so far.
The aim is to update this post, so check back over time
Top Shelf Winner(s) 🏆
Sam Adams Just The Haze IPA - 🎉 wow, tastes like an actual hazy IPA. Maybe a bit more sugary or even closer in flavor to a summer shandy, but overall super tasty! A clear winner. I should note, I gravitate towards the Hazy IPAs when not grabbing a usual lite beer. Even my wife didn’t mind the taste of this one, and she doesn’t really go for IPAs, so it is a bit more on that summer shandy side of things.
Athletic Brewing Run Wild IPA - Pretty good flavor. A bit of that IPA bite to it but overall tastes great. Would recommend.
Not Bad Options 🍺
Guiness Zero - Pretty good! Close to a real Guiness in flavor. A bit more watery but I’d have one again for sure
Our doodle Finley is mildly amused
Athletic Brewing Free Wave Hazy IPA - It was alright. Wasn’t super smooth like the Run Wild, so I bumped this down my list and probably won’t pick it up again.
Pour it out - Stay away 🙅
- Heineken 0.0 - oh man this was not my thing. I read some other blog that claimed it was the best. Now I’m convinced they must have got paid off by Heineken because this thing was no good. I suffered my way through the 6 pack without wasting any though – so I guess it wasn’t completely terrible. 🤷
On Tap – my list to try next 📋
- Coors NA - heard good things, haven’t tried yet, but still looking for a solid light NA option
- … we’ll see what Hy-Vee surprises me with next
All hop’d up summary
Some great non-alcoholic choices! And still a ton more to try. After a few weeks now I’m enjoying the dry-ness of the month. And the added benefit that these NA beers are like 1/2 the calories is kinda nice too! But really overall I’m just super impressed by how many options are out there. Maybe I’ll keep this dry thing going even longer or take more breaks during the year. Really not 1/2 bad at all.