Planning a road trip? We’ve got you covered. Our series of road-trip itineraries focused on exploring all of the great non-alcoholic beer America has to offer can help guide you on an unforgettable adventure.
This itinerary is focused on the NA beer found along the Interstate 70 highway.
I-70 runs from Cove Fort, Utah all the way to Baltimore Maryland. It’s over 2,000 miles long and spans 3 different time zones.
While we won’t be covering the entire thing, we’re going to get pretty darn close.
On this road trip, we’re starting in the east and heading west, stopping in almost every major city along the way. It’s a solid 24 hours of driving, but we personally think it’s worth it.
Below you’ll find our destination cities and the breweries located in each one.
Let’s get started!
Frederick, Maryland
Frederick, Maryland is located right outside of Baltimore and Washington D.C. Just off the East Coast of the USA it will be our first stop on our I-70 NA beer road trip.
Flying Dog Brewing
Flying Dog Brewing was started in Pakistan of all places, about 30 years ago. While the brewery itself didn’t start there, the idea for the brewery did.
After a run-in with author Hunter S. Thompson, he convinced the founder to hire famed British artist, Ralph Steadman, to design labels for their beer.
Today, Flying Dog still makes “good beer“. Especially their non-alcoholic IPA “Deep Fake“, a smooth drinking IPA bursting with flavor. At only 39 calories, you can drink as many as you want.
While this may seem like a bit of a tease, Flying Dog Brewing actually doesn’t have a taproom where you can visit them, however, you can find spots around the area that carry their beer via their beer finder.
Columbus, Ohio
After a very long drive from Maryland through Pennsylvania, we’re making a stop in the heart of America, Columbus, Ohio. Home of NA Beer Club and another famous non-alcoholic beer brand.
BrewDog
Just off of I-70 in the outskirts of Columbus, we’re driving to Canal Winchester, home of the US headquarters of BrewDog.
Here we’ll visit the BrewDog main campus where we’ll find everything from an on-site dog park, a hotel with beer taps in every room, as well as a taproom with BrewDog’s many NA beers on tap.
If you don’t want to drive all the way to Canal Winchester outside of the Columbus proper, you can find another great Brewdog taproom in the Franklinton neighborhood right off of I-70. There you’ll find a rooftop patio and full kitchen.
St. Louis, Missouri
A little further down I-70 we’re hitting up St. Louis, which is world-renowned for being home to one of the biggest breweries in the world.
Wellbeing Brewery
Wellbeing was one of the first NA craft brewers in the US, which makes for a must-stop on our NA beer tour.
We’re going to stop by Schlafly Beer Taproom to try some Wellbeing. In 2022, Wellbeing and Schlafly teamed up to create and distribute more NA beer for the world to try. Now you can find Wellbeing NAs stocked in the Schlafly taproom.
Wellbeing has a whole line of non-alcoholic craft beers such as their Hellraiser Dark Amber, Heavenly Body Golden Wheat, and Victory Wheat.
Budweiser
Just a little further down the road is one of the most recognizable beer brands in the nation: Budweiser.
We’re going to visit the brewery for a grand tour and tasting. If you haven’t been, the tour sometimes feels like you’re in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but with beer instead.
During this stop, we’ll be seeing some heavy-duty brewing machinery, tasting some delicious beer in the biergarten, and seeing their gigantic Clydesdales.
At this brewery we’ll find Budweiser’s Bud Zero, the non-alcoholic version of the American classic, Bud Light.
We hope that this brewery tour lives up to expectations because you probably will never see another brewery like this again.
Kansas City, Missouri
Continuing our journey, we’ll be making a quick stop in Kansas City for some delicious NA beer and perhaps some barbeque as well.
Enjoy your time in KC, because after this, you’ll have a very boring drive ahead of you!
Boulevard Brewing
Next, we’re stopping at the taproom of Boulevard Brewing right off Madison Avenue.
While we’re here we’ll take a tour of the brewery and grab a quick bite to eat. We’re going to hang out up on the “Rec Deck” where we can enjoy the KC skyline, drink some NA beer, eat some food, and play some shuffleboard and foosball.
The taproom has over 30 beers on tap including their Flying Start IPA. So stop on by and give it a try.
On the way out, don’t forget to visit the gift shop!
Denver, Colorado
The last destination city on our trip is just before we hit the Rocky Mountains: Denver, Colorado, which some consider to be the Napa Valley of beer.
Living up to that title, we have a few beers to try while we’re here. And you’ll need them after a very long drive through the Kansas plains. Let’s go!
Ceria Brewing Company
If you haven’t heard of Ceria Brewing Company, you’ve probably heard of its forebear, Blue Moon.
Ceria was founded by the original brewer of Blue Moon. After leaving the company, he decided to bring his mastery of Belgian wits to the non-alcoholic space and created Ceria Brewing Company.
You won’t be able to find a Ceria taproom anywhere in Denver, but you will be able to find both their Grainwave Belgian White and Indiewave IPA at various stores, bars, and restaurants around the area.
You can even find their THC-infused beers in many dispensaries as well — hey, when in Rome.
Grüvi
Grüvi has been in the non-alcoholic game for quite some time now. They make an excellent variety of craft non-alcoholic beers and wines.
Personally, we think they make one of the best NA stouts and NA sour beers around.
Unfortunately, their Denver tasting lounge has shut down for the foreseeable future. However, if you are able to find their NA beers or wines around town we recommend getting your hands on some.
Tommyknocker Brewery
Our next destination was founded on legend. The legend of the Tommyknockers says that Cornish miners brought over mischievous elves when they came to mine the Colorado gold fields. These elves, known as the Tommyknockers, would cause trouble for the miners unless they left out food for them to eat. In return for the food, the elves would lead the miners to rich gold veins and fend off danger.
Tommyknocker Brewery has won hundreds of awards over 25 years for its delicious craft beer.
But out of all of those beers, the reason for our visit is for their Blood Orange Non-Alcoholic IPA.
We’re going to stop by their tasting room in Idaho Springs, right outside of Denver, to give it a try.
The Blood Orange IPA comes as both a leaded and non-alcoholic version and both are on tap so make sure you make the distinction while you’re there!
RIP Strapless…
While we’re on the topic of NA beers in Denver, we should bring up that Bootstrap Brewing used to make a non-alcoholic line of beers under the name “Strapless”. They had both an NA IPA and an NA Golden Ale.
While you won’t find these around town anymore, you should stop by the brewery and tell them you’d like to see them bring it back!
That’s it! That concludes our tour of the I-70 Non-Alcoholic Beer Road Trip. We hope you had fun and aren’t too sick of driving after all this.
Let us know what you think about these NA beers and breweries after you give them a try!
