Penn's Best N.A.
Genesee Brewing Co.

I guess it looks like beer. Overall it is a really nice seltzer water with an odd suggestion of beer flavor. Maybe mix some lemonade with it to make a summer shandy. It's cheap but also tastes cheap.

From a 12 oz can with a smudged marking on the bottom. Sampled on April 18, 2026.

It looks like a lager with its yellow-golden color and fizzy, fading white head.

The aroma is pretty vague. Some grain, Some grass.

Thin mouthfeel.

The taste is forgettable with its sweet grainy character but a kind of fruity finish. Crisp and clean but nothing extraordinary.

Tasted Penn's Best and Genesee NA. They are the same beer yet Penn's Best scores 6 points higher? Anyhow, this is my favorite lawn mowing beer. Having grown up drinking Miller High Life Light and Miller Lite after sweating in the yard, this ranks the same for me although I have to admit it is likely psychological. If Busch NA came in at a lower price point, I would rely more on that one, but at half the price, this hits the spot!

Poured from a can into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a clear golden color with a small head of fizzy white foam. The head fades rather quickly, leaving a trace of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The smell is heavy of a sweet corn and caramel smell mixed with a bit of a metallic and off cat pee like smell.
Taste – The taste is rather sweet for a NA, with a pretty decent showing of corn and caramel sweetness alongside some rice and a bit of toast. At the end there does show up some light paper and metallic tastes, leaving a not so pleasant taste to linger on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body is light and thin with a moderate to slightly higher carbonation level.
Overall – Not for me. There are much better and more refreshing NA out there.

A: crystal clear; medium to deep gold in color; less than a 1 finger fizzy white head that receded quickly to nothing;

S: virtually no aroma; what's there is slightly oxidized;

T: almost no flavor either; a hint of malt sweetness; almost no bitterness;

M: light bodied; moderate carbonation; moderately dry finish;

O: there's really no point in drinking this - just have plain seltzer; on the other hand, there's really nothing bad about it either;

Tasty. Inexpensive. Satisfying. Aroma is subtle with a bit of graininess. Competes well against most N/A's and many cheap regular strength AAL's. Sorry I didn't pick this one up sooner.

Nearly half the price of other NA brews, so I nabbed it. Very little head, filtered, & no scent. A light pleasant flavor with no off-notes, just a thin but enjoyable beer taste. The grain & hops come through more like a real brew than any other NA I've tried. Much better than expected. On a warm summer day, this rules.

 

 

I was over the moon that a single of this only costs me 99 cents, you can’t even get anything at the Dollar Store for that price anymore. Had an odd bit of a spice note to it, and basically zero carbonation, it will not be a repeat purchase sadly.

Style: Non Alcoholic Beer | Tap/Can/Bottle: Can | Abv: 0.5% | Rating: 2

 

From the can, it pours a clear very light yellow color with a large white head that slowly reduces. The nose gets a dose of floral hops. The taste is muted and light - notes of malt and a pinch of hops. Unobjectionable overall.

Poured into a Seattle Beer Week pint glass. Pours a light to medium golden amber with a fizzy, two finger head that dissipates to a thin film with light lacing. Faint aroma of malt and maybe a hint of hops. Flavor follows, with very subdued malt and a hint of hops that do show up at a slight astringent bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light creaminess, sharp carbonation. Well, I had low expectations for this but it is interesting in a banal way. The light color and fizzy head seemed just right for something from an adjunct brewery, but the near complete lack of aroma was a real surprise. The light amber color distinguishes this from a flavored seltzer, but that might be the only reason I'd know to look for the malt flavor in this one. Hops too are nearly absent, except in the finish. I've been sampling all the available NA brews and hopped teas and seltzers (which I liked better than I expected). This tastes pretty much what I'd expect if I combined about 1/4 adjunct lager with 3/4 seltzer water. Definitely the tamest of anything I've tried so far. On the plus side, except for the very light hop astringency in the finish, quite drinkable as a very, very light quaff with faint hops. No surprise, I passed this one up a few times, then decided I could tick Genesee (other than this, blissfully absent in our market) and a new NA brew. Won't get it again, but it's refreshing this afternoon.

(12 oz can, E042 13; purchased single off shelf... poured into a 14 oz mug)

L: brilliantly-clear, near pale gold liquid; lots of frothy, yellow-tinged white foam... actually keeps a collar; scant thin lace top ring

S: Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray soda?!?... grassy-floral, almost citrus peel-ian hop overtone... something 'green' about its tones... fair amount of potency

T: wow! almost like a dry-hopped pale lager, wtf?!... notable absence of alcohol apparent in its underbelly... aftertaste of woody-earthy top note of hop bitterness with a cool, clean, if somewhat diluted malt pool on the palate floor

F: light-bodied, glassy and smooth in texture and flow, perfect amount of subtle sizzle... somewhat dry aft, with a touch of residual grease

O: seriously one of if not the most beer-like NA lager I've tried... do not judge a book by its cover... I could honestly see this being my go-to if and when I start an NA kick (1924)

For a NA beer, this one is alright. In blind taste test, the only thing that would probably give it away against the macro light lagers is the mouthfeel, but other than it holds its own against any of the name brands especially after working up a sweat on a hot sunny afternoon. And at $2.99 a sixer, I'm grabbing a pack of these on every beer run.

The appearance isn't really going to win any awards. It starts spritzy and the head dies down almost immediately. No lacing observed. 3
Smell - Very muted smell, and since I'm usually drinking these ice cold, there isn't much I can sense. Faint biscuity smell of mildly toasted grains, and that's about it really. No hops to speak of.
Taste - Toasted grains, and just a kiss of earthy hops to even out any semblance of sweetness. Very balanced in terms of taste. Impressive.
Feel - Thin, but for a NA lager, this works to its advantage. I can easily put down a few of these in a hurry.

Overall - a fantastic take on a NA lager. All of the chilled hydration and none of the effects of alcohol.
Well done!

 

 

Honestly, no better and no worse than your average light AAL. It's really just sort of, I don't know, almost unfinished. Anyway, at barely 3 bucks a sixer, if you're a busch lite/bud light drinker I'm, guessing this would do fine? I'm not sure what I'll do with the rest of them, maybe I'll throw em into a session, maybe just leave to hang out in the pantry, gravy? Marinade? I dunno. I will say, there's nothing off about it. It's just very much barely beer.

Edit: I'm finding NA lagers seem the hardest to hit, not sure why that is. But just good old bitter pale lager so often seems to be hit or miss. I don't want to rate this too low however because I'm certain it has a market and it does that job well enough.

From a can, pours as a clear nicely carbonated gold with essentially no head. Practically no aroma but perhaps "mineral water" and slight malt. Taste is like a carbonated beverage with a bit of malt and hops with just a slight sweetness. If I were to drink this in a blind test, I'm pretty sure I'd declare it to be a "novelty soda" rather than a type of beer.

tastes like a solid cookout beer, good all around imo, will definitely buy again ;)