At long last: Wellington Brewery’s craft sparkling hop water a winning AF product
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(Wellington Brewery)
(Wellington Brewery)
A lot of breweries are getting into the alcohol-free beer space, but only a few creative brands like Wellington Brewery have made the smart decision to leverage the booming sparkling water trend and brew a sparkling hop water. The local Ontario-based brewery known for its incredible craft beer craftsmanship has recently released a sparkling hop water as their freshman effort in the non-alcoholic category. Called Cascade and Chinook after the Ontario-grown hops they’re using, the product fits into a really unique category in the craft beer and drinks space.
“We have a hard time explaining this to a lot of people, as sparkling hop water is not widely available in Canada so awareness of the product is low,” Marketing Director Brad McIntyre tells Some Good Clean Fun. “People say, ‘Oh, so it’s a non-alcoholic beer, then?’ or, ‘Oh, it’s like a LaCroix?’ It’s really neither of those things, but better.”
For the uninitiated, a sparkling hop water is carbonated spring water that has been lightly infused with the familiar hoppy flavours of a craft beer. With a 0.0% alcohol content, sparkling hop water is appealing to both beer lovers and those who may not like beer as much. The brewery team has been toying with both a non-alcoholic beer and sparkling hop water for several years. Cascade and Chinook started out as an option for staff only, as a way to provide something non-alcoholic for them to enjoy during their workday.
(Wellington brewery)
“It was so popular internally that we knew we were on to something,” McIntyre explains. “And it’s our process that makes it stand out. We’re actually brewing the hops first rather than just infusing cold hop flavour. That’s what we think people will really enjoy about this product, particularly people who may not necessarily like beer regularly.”
The sparkling hop water was a way for the team to gauge the market, as they work on developing a non-alcoholic beer.
“We’ve really ramped up the effort in this category the past year,” he says. “We don’t want to release something until we have it right. It needs to be a really well-made alcohol-free beer. And we’ve done our research. We’ve spent a year drinking every alcohol-beer we can get our hands on!”
In the meantime, you can get a taste of Wellington’s craftsmanship through their hop water. It’s available directly through the brewery right now, but will soon be launching in grocery stores across the country.
