How to give your body a booze break in Dry July and still enjoy amazing tasting beers

Dry July is a chance to raise cash for cancer and give your body a booze break. Here are some top-tasting, non-alcoholic beers to help you on your way.

Dry July is coming up in a couple of weeks and that can create a dilemma for dedicated beer drinkers.

One the one hand there are the undeniable health benefits of giving the body a break from alcohol while also raising money to improve the comfort, care and wellbeing of people affected by cancer. On the other hand, well, there’s none of your favourite tipples for four long weeks.

But thanks to the explosion in quality and quantity of no-alcohol beer (which means an ABV of less than 0.05 per cent), consumers can have the best of both worlds.

Recent stats have shown that alcohol-free beer is the fastest growing sector in the market, and is growing at 62 per cent year on year. Mainstream options include the new XXXX Zero (also the country’s first carbon-neutral alcohol-free beer, currently in Queensland), Carlton Zero and Heineken Zero, which are all lagers, and craft breweries have stepped up their game with a range of options including pales ales, IPAs and XPAs.

XXXX Zero Non-alcoholic beer.

Mornington Breweries released their Mornington Free Non-Alc Pale Ale in May of last year – fortuitously but not necessarily strategically in the lead-up to Dry July – and it was an immediate hit, quickly becoming the Victorian brewer’s most widely distributed product and selling 50 per cent more than their next best-selling beer. The success was such that they added a Non-Alc XPA just a few months ago, which has also proven to be popular.

Jesse Malin, NSW state sales manager for Tribe Breweries, which handles Mornington Breweries, says that consumer attitudes have changed towards alcohol-free beers in recent years. That, coupled with advances in the way they are produced – specifically changing the way yeast is used rather than burning off alcohol – have led to their recent success and widespread acceptance.

“People sort of stumbled into that category by saying ‘oh, I’m driving’ or some functional reason and then from that entry level they are able to transition because they’re more comfortable in that space,” Malin says. “So, there is less stigma around that because it actually tastes good. It feels like a beer, looks like a beer, tastes like a beer – it pretty much is a beer.”

Mornington Peninsula Free Non-Alc Pale Ale

Malin also says that in addition to the health and safety benefits that come with them, the very broad spectrum of the craft beer market means that alcohol-free beers can just be another facet to explore. It stands to reason, he says, that if drinkers are interested in the other end of the spectrum of double and triple-hopped IPAs, for example, with very high ABVs, then “it actually makes sense to have something to balance those out”.

“There’s obviously multiple factors in the market and what people’s choices are, and better health reasons, obviously, less stigma, and then the craft guys innovating and doing something that supports their ability to have comfort in their venues and people having a good time without being totally hammered after beers.”

ALCOHOL-FREE AND EASY

Brew Dog Nanny State Hoppy Alcohol Free Ale

BrewDog Nanny State Hoppy Alc-Free Ale

Full of hops, with none of the alcohol. Full flavour, light in colour, and completely unpretentious. A very strong execution of what the non-alc space is all about as it delivers as a high-quality beer first and foremost. No alcohol doesn’t have to mean watery, no taste or the dreaded “thin” profile that entrants in this category are quick to be labelled as. This delivers on the brewery’s tagline of “All attitude. No compromise” as well as any example in the market.

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Mornington Free Non-Alc Pale Ale

When choosing and wading through all of the non-alc options new to the market, you want something that is balanced, easy going and has some cut-through without tasting like an overly fizzy soft drink. With a light golden pour and crisper than a usual pale ale, this is a great starting point into the world of non-alc, which will have you coming back for more.

Gage Roads Yeah Buoy Non Alcoholic XPA

Gage Roads Yeah Buoy Non-Alc Xpa

Refreshing, without being too light, this packs a delicious punch. What it lacks in alcohol, it does not lack in any flavour department. Lots of haze, a light bitterness, zesty fruit summer flavours, this is everything you want in an XPA at only 0.5%

Visit smartcraftbeer.com.au to join the SMARTcraft Beer Club and access the following offers.

● Offer 1: Mixed Case (16x) of Mornington Free Pale Ale & Gage Road Yeah Bouy XPA for $29

● Offer 2: Case of Mornington Free Pale Ale (24x) for $39

● Offer 3: Case of Gage Road Yeah Buoy XPA (16x) for $39

Originally published as How to give your body a booze break in Dry July and still enjoy amazing tasting beers