The New Year is special to a lot of people. It means new beginnings, new perspectives on life, and for a lot of people: Dry January. Dry January is simply a campaign to help people think about their alcohol consumption, challenging them to question whether or not they drink more than they should and reflect on how that affects various aspects of their life.
Update: Check out our updated post for a list of new non-alcoholic beers hitting the market in 2024
Our challenge to our readers isn’t to necessarily go completely sober for the month (although we do recommend it), but rather challenge yourself to drink less. Dry January comes with a lot of benefits, and substituting non-alcoholic beer for your leaded beer a few times a week can do wonders for you.
In order to support you this month, we wanted to present a handful of new non-alcoholic beer brewers who have challenged the status quo of brewing and decided to create new, delicious craft NA beers for you to enjoy this year. Browse the list below and find a few that you’d like to try.
Go Brewing
Go Brewing, based out of the Chicago area, launched in late 2022. Founded on our shared belief that beer “is just one of those things” a lot of us like to enjoy with friends in the ambiance of bars and breweries, not necessarily because of the alcohol. Realizing that non-alcoholic beer allows us to get back into the world without feeling like we need to avoid a good time, founder Joe Chura assembled a team with co-founders Bruce Etzcorn, James Bigler, and his wife Heather Chura to start creating delicious, non-alcoholic craft beer.
Currently, Go Brewing features seven NA beers in its lineup including three IPAs, a pilsner, a witbier, and a nitro, with a grapefruit IPA in the works.
Their taproom in Naperville is quite the experience. Equipped with a stage, outdoor patio, and plenty of room for a good time, Go Brewing hosts a variety of events for all kinds of people including music, yoga, group runs, and masterclasses throughout the week.
One of the most interesting things about the Go Brewing taproom is that it’s an NA brewer that happens to have leaded beer on the menu, not the other way around. We think that’s awesome and hope to see more of it around the country.
Go Brewing hosts a Dry January challenge of their own. Check it out and sign up to join. In the meantime, order some beer online and give them a visit if you’re in the Chicago area.
Lord Hobo
Lord Hobo was born out of a Boston craft beer bar in 2015. With a lineup of leaded beers, they offer one non-alcoholic beer in particular: Life Non-Alcoholic.
Not to be confused with the leaded version of the Session IPA Life, the non-alcoholic version, listed as an IPA, is bright and hazy with hints of fruit and citrus.
As a way to prepare for Dry January, Lord Hobo launched Life Non-Alcoholic in December of 2022, brewed on the belief that you don’t need to sacrifice flavor to make a non-alcoholic beer.
Lord Hobo is running a Dry January contest on social media to win a free Yeti Cooler. The winner will be announced February 1st. In order to enter, all you need to do is:
- Follow @lordhobobrewing
- Tag them in a photo or video showing how you’re enjoying Life Non-Alcoholic this Dry January
- Use the hashtag #getalifedryjan
If you’d like to the Life Non-Alcoholic this Dry January, find Lord Hobo in Massachusetts or order it online.
Rick’s Near Beer
As you know, we love a great-tasting non-alcoholic beer. However, we’re absolute suckers for a great-tasting NA beer back by a fantastic brand.
Based out of Austin, TX, Rick’s Near Beer is a non-alcoholic beer reminiscent of the beer your daddy used to drink. A good old-fashioned American drinking beer.
While they don’t refer to themselves as a “non-alcoholic” beer, they prefer to call their beer “low strength” instead, which we think is great and super creative.
Eighteen Twenty Brewing
It’s great to see a new non-alcoholic beer pop up. It’s even better to see five of them.
Eighteen Twenty is doing some really incredible things. Not only are they a complete line of premium non-alcoholic beers, but they are also a company with a strong mission toward sustainability.
Their logo? Charlie the Chickadee. Each year, chickadees shed old brain neurons which allow them to grow new, stronger, and more adaptable ones, leaving them better prepared for the new year.
What a better metaphor for Dry January, or any effort, to clear your mind and mentally prepare yourself for the new year?
The lineup of non-alcoholic beers from Eighteen Twenty Brewing include:
- A Better Blonde – Blonde Ale
- All That Razz – Raspberry Sour
- Peek Interest – American Pale Ale
- Stand Up & Stout – Stout
- Wave Finder – IPA
Find their beers online or around Maine.
Did we miss any?
Don’t see one of your new, favorite craft NA brewers on this list? Or are you a brewery that has recently started brewing NAs? We’d love to hear about it. Send us an email and let us know who we left out.
