Non-Alcoholic (ABV < 0.5%) Beers (2023)

States tax beer in two ways. They levy an excise tax on beer, usually per gallon, which is paid by the brewer and/or the wholesaler. This tax is included in the retail "shelf" price. Non-alcoholic beer, by Federal law, must state on the label:
"Non taxable under section 5051 I.R.C." (see page 191)

Which refers to the Federal Excise Tax in the Internal Revenue Code:

Although it seems most brewers add the fact that the above refers to Federal tax laws (probably to avoid register arguments), like this Busch NA label snip:


And most state now charge sales tax on beer, paid by the consumer, just as they may do on other (non-alcoholic) beverages and groceries, all goods, etc. Very dependent on state sales tax law, so no overall answer can be given re: sales tax on NA beer, I'd imagine.

Here's a list of the States Excise Beer tax rates, which include a column for sales tax "General Sales Tax Applies". As I understand it, charging the normal State Sales Tax on beer became more and more preventable in recent decades (illustrated by the fact that the above list has only 5 state that don't - "n.a."). Pretty sure NJ's beer sales became subject to the sales tax in the early 1970s, for example while according to industry records, Massachusetts exempted beer from the 6.5% sales tax up until 2009.

On top of that, many states and even some counties and municipalities, have additional taxes on beer - on-premise, per drink, wholesale, recycling taxes, etc.

 

Voters got rid of the sales tax on all alcoholic beverages in MA with a ballot referendum in 2010. There is a state excise tax, though, and there have been some rumblings by state legislators about increasing it in recent years.

 

Ha! See, there's the problem with using the 2010 edition of The Beer Institute's Brewers Almanac to pull out some examples - it lacked the election results from that year. Should have double-checked on the other link I gave from 2023.

 

Crushed 3 Heineken 0.0 last night. Not too shabby! Nice refreshing malty carbonation. Drink em ice cold though.

 

Been house & pet sitting for friends and their fridge is currently stocked with NAs from Athletic and Crux. Had the latter's No Mo, an na IPA, and while it's not going to inspire me to give up the real thing anytime soon, it's really not bad as near beers go.

 

Another NA went down last night.

Okay, nothing great. Seltzery lager with a hint of honey. Still would prefer the one from Crux.

 

Crux is a good one. I have an upcoming west coast trip and I'll be looking for it.

 

My wife signed us up for a 5K and we decided to go a month without beer/alcohol so I've been on a SN HopSplash and Athletic kick. I did try an IPA from Wellbeing and it wasn't bad. It wasn't as bitter as I thought it might be, but it did hit the spot nonetheless. I do want to try Lagunita's IPNA and Just The Haze from Sam Adams next.

 

I haven't had any real beer or alcohol since Dec 1, so I've had quite a few NA beers lately. Overall, I have to totally agree to @digitalflood when he says "the longer you drink NA and the longer it has been since you drank a "regular beer" the more your taste palate changes." By that I mean when I was drinking the real thing, NA beer seemed to be a far cry from that real thing and never really appealed to me. "What's the point, if I'm not going to drink, I'd rather have seltzer" was the thinking. But when I stopped drinking, I missed the taste of beer so I started drinking NA beer. And now I seriously enjoy it. Well, the ones I enjoy, I enjoy at least. More than I used to enjoy them when I was drinking drinking. As for which ones are my favorite, Athletic is by far the most well made, easily accessible ones out there, in my territory at least. Guinness, sure, good too, but Guinness was never really my favorite beer anyway so the 0.0 version doesn't wow me. I've found Sober Carpenter IPA at one store around here, I really like that one, it's the most West Coast style I've had, but I have to go to that one out of the way store for it. I was excited to find the Bitburger Drive last week, but when I got home I discovered it was almost a year past it's best by date(!). It was till surprisingly drinkable. I'd like to find that fresh. I had Lags IPNA recently but didn't enjoy it as much as the Athletic IPAs, so that's probably a one and done. So overall, I'm enjoying trying new NA beers and am happy that there's a explosion of the style right now. It's definitely filling a void that's been created from being off the sauce. I'll check back as I try some more, I'm glad there's a thread for us sober fellas to contribute to!

 

You could do what I do...I run a 5K to the brewery, have a couple beers, and then run the 5K back.

Admittedly the last mile or so is a bit rougher than the first 4-5.

Since you're both in CT, does Athletic actually have a tap room and serve their beer on draft? If so, I wonder how good it is super fresh.

My biggest gripe with NA beer and trying to honestly evaluate it, is the freshness and the fact it's almost always stored warm.

 

Currently consuming: Industrial Arts Safety Glasses



BA Beer Link: https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/42049/635887/

Really, really good. 4.27 out of 5.

 

I'm almost positive Athletic does not have a tap room. But yeah, one of the main reasons I buy Athletic is because it's usually the freshest available option, usually about a month old. Especially compared to the European options.

 

Nice, I saw that at Whole Foods the other day but didn't grab it. Will do so next time I'm there.

 

I mean, don't get me wrong, that was absolutely my first suggestion, LOL! Truth be told, I haven't really gone a weekend without beer in....close to 10 years I'd say. Feels good to get out, run, burn some calories, etc. I am looking forward the post race beer though!

 

@AlcahueteJ

Athletic does have a taproom. I've mentioned a couple times in the previous thread that they used to offer curbside pickup, which was priced several dollars cheaper per 6. (I mentioned at the time because that kind of pricing and freshness affected my reviews, which I thought bore acknowledging). I would go in for a few pours most times, because, well, I could drive immediately after haha.

The beers on tap were great. I remember a "Cherry Dark" I had which was truly outstanding. That and Tucker's whatever iteration IPA, both really stood out. I recall also making a point to have some of the styles I had had in cans. Forgive my memory, but I think they did a single hop version of one of their core beers, maybe it was the "double hop" offering. I can't quite recall.

Another thought, I recall, pints were... I wanna say $3 and they offered flights too. I always wonder if those experiences are just rose tinted or if the beer was truly better

Makes me wonder why they don't sell kegs to restaurants or bars?

I know the taproom was still open late 2022, but I know they also have a new location somewhere else in CT, I don't know if that's customer-facing or if the intent is to be, but hey. In summer they usually have food trucks and so on. It's kind of fun going to a taproom and not thinking about having to drive or being limited in how many you can reasonably have.

Seems they're still open per here

 

I posted this on Tues, 2/21/23 on the Welcome forum. Anybody found pine, resin, perhaps continental floral forward NA beer with IPA/APA bitterness?
Back when I was young, nimble, and up to carrying 50+ pounds in a backpack I covered many miles in the High Sierra of California. I lived close by near the coast in Palo Alto. I adopted the German word for 'timberline,' Baumgrenze, along with an image of Mt. Brewer as my label, avatar, and alias. Now I am pushing 83 and pleased to be able to walk 2 miles of hilly terrain in Charlottesville each day.
In the early 80's I signed up for a class on home brewing at Davis taught by Professor Michael Lewis. I brewed for several years until craft brewing took off and I found I could find IPA's to my taste in the store. I like a brew made with resinous hops combined with floral hops as opposed to the mango, tangerine style so popular today.
I've been drinking Star Hill's Northern Lights, Hardywood's Great Return, Tröegs' Perpetual, and Founders' All Day, and in the past, North Coast IPA, Pliny the Elder, Full Sail IPA, and others.
Recently I've been challenged by my PCP (the Doc) to reduce my alcohol intake for the sake of my remaining functioning brain cells.
I would deeply appreciate any guidance from this community about alcohol free IPA's that most approach the flavor profile I like. I like the way that Athletic's Run Wild is put together but the 'juicy' flavor profile prevents my enjoying it. Partake's IPA is less juicy, but it lacks pine.
Thanks for indulging an old man,
baumgrenze

 

Perhaps Ceria Indiewave, West Coast IPA by Untitled Arts (pricey), I would've said run wild - funnily enough I find it much less "juicy" than their actual West Coaster (Tucker's). Some of what brewdog does might fit the bill but their beers are quite light (Elvis, ghost walker and punk).

 

Get yourself one of the IPA's from RationAle Brewing....they have a West Coast IPA and Hazy New England IPA that are damn tasty....

 

I am not yet drinking non-alcoholic beer due to my age. But I am preparingmyself, seriously preparing .
I'm just curious to ask "experts" .... considering that there are a lot of ways to produce NA (less than 0.5%) beer now (from "reverse osmosis" to "special yeast"), and does it taste different (depending on the method of preparation)? The question is subjective, of course.

 

Earlier in this thread (or maybe the 2022 edition) I had negative comments about the few styles of Athletic beers that I had drunk when they were around 7-8 months old. I finally had one (Run Wild IPA) that was two days short of two months since it was canned. It's pretty close to a good west coast IPA. So it looks like I've proven to myself that freshness is very important with NA beers. This beer has a nice hop character without much raw wort taste usually found in NA beers. I'm changing my rating from 3.5 to a 4.0 (but that rating is still relative to other NA beers).