Celebrate Father’s Day with some AF beer
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Summer’s here and the time is right for enjoying alcohol-free beer – with dad
By Antoine Tedesco
Alcohol-free beers in North America were once relegated to the soft drink and juice aisles of your local grocery store, with only a few big beer brands choosing to venture down the AF road.
Not so long ago you had the choice of, well, two styles if you wanted an AF beer: a bland lager or uneventful pilsner. A lot has changed in recent years, with more and more big brands developing AF beer – Heineken, Peroni, Budweiser, Hoegaarden, even Molson and Labatt – but let’s look at some AF choices from smaller (craft) breweries available to Canadian AF drinkers (the selection of beers available is much larger in the U.S. but many are not available north of the border just yet).
These smaller brewers are creating styles and flavour profiles that easily compete with the alcohol varieties. You can enjoy more than lagers, ales and pilsners; now you can grab an IPA, double-IPA, stout, bock … you name it, there’s an AF beer out there. You won’t miss the alcohol, because the flavours are all there.
For Father’s Day, we take a look at a few smaller brewery options to help celebrate all that is dad!
Big Drop Brewing Co.
Another award-winning AF brewery, Big Drop offers a huge variety of styles to enjoy, including their Pine Trail Pale Ale, winner of the World’s Best Pale Beer (Low Strength) at the 2020 World Beer Awards. Pine Trail is a little floral on the nose, tastes limey, is a bit biting, with a bitter finish that balances out the flavours. Big Drop runs the gamut of styles, including a Brown Ale (Woodcutter), Hazelnut Porter (Off Piste), a few IPAs (Paradiso and Tailwind), and even a Pumpkin Spiced (Firesider). This US brewery has a Canada Shop, so order a few cans and taste your way around styles this summer. It’s also available through AFBev.ca across Canada.
Le BockAle
Quebec-based Le BockAle Microbrewery happily states their success in creating great AF beers was an accident, “a series of little mishaps” which makes sense when considering the names of some of their “dumb luck” AF beers: Surprise! (a Berliner Weisse with notes of lemon and luscious pear), and Oh! Damn. (a chocolatey Stout with flavours of coffee, and hints of toasted grains). Visit their online store for more limited editions as well as their regular line of AF beers. Le BockAle is available on their site, or through Apero Zero, AFBev.ca or Soberdry.com.
Rival House
Rival House serves up more than wine and spirits; they also have a craft beer brand, Brewdog. The styles, which sport some great musical names, are hop-forward with a few noticeable differences on the palate: Elvis (Grapefruit IPA) is bright with piney undertones and the mouth-puckering of grapefruit; Nanny State (hoppy Ale) is a cornucopia of hops and eight malts, all mixing and mingling to create a complex hoppy ale with a malty sweetness. They also have non-alcoholic lagers in their So.Beer line which contain built-in immune support – “beer with benefits”.
*Note for the west coast that Brewdog is now also available at AFBev.ca with curbside pickup available in Kitsilano.
Free Spirit Brewing
The alcohol-free sibling of Toronto brewing company Rorschach Brewing Co., Free Spirit Brewing has brewed up a very tasty beer in the Adventure IPA. Their flagship brew finishes a bit bitter with flavours of stone fruit – plum, apricot, nectarine, but most prominently peach – that make this an enjoyable, easy-drinking beer. The addition of oats to the mash gives it a rich and pillowy body.
Village Brewery
Thankfully this Calgary, AB brewery delivers within Canada because there are two Village Local options for the (AF) beer lover to enjoy. Pouring golden in the glass, the Pale Ale, with flavours of sweet Alberta caramel malt and citrusy hops make this a well-balanced, easy-drinking beer. It’s not the darkest pour, but their Stout is smooth with the familiar notes of chocolate and coffee with the slightest of hop bitterness. Also, 10% of the brewery’s bottom line goes toward supporting the local community.
Partake Brewing
This award-winning Ontario brewery offers a diverse range of AF beers from Pale to Stout, and even a limited-time Peach Gose. You can really taste the craft in these brews. The Blonde is a crisp sipping beer, perfect for enjoying on a hot summer day. Hands-down one of the best beers on the market, AF or not, is their IPA with tons of hoppy citrus flavours and a balanced malt, providing a nice sweetness.
Editor’s note: Brian Anderson, The Sober Barkeep, also suggests One For The Road - his quote “You guys (Canadians) have something we don’t have down here in Texas, and that’s One For The Road. Every one of their products is just great.” Thanks Brian!
About the Author - Antoine Tedesco
In an online world [said in a deep, booming movie voice] that demands never-ending content, Antoine has been a pioneer. From journalism to government to charities and nonprofits, Antoine’s passion lies in telling compelling and impactful stories. He loves anything that makes his taste buds smile and his ears dance.
