Chris Clemens NA Drinks - NonROCaholic - Bravus and Sierra Nevada

Chris Lindstrom: Before we dive into this episode of the Food about town podcast with Chris Clemens talking about NA beverages, just wanted to throw out a plug for one of the other shows on the Lunchadore podcast network. Hope you listen to them and all the shows that we have on the network. Really excited about what's going on. So, without further ado, let's go into the intro and this discussion with Chris Clemens.

Chris Lindstrom: And we are back with another short episode of the Food about town podcast with my good friend, Chris Clemens. We're talking about NA beverages, and it's a great day in Rochester to talk about this stuff. I'm excited to have you again, man. What's going on?

Chris Clemens: Excited to be back. happy new year.

Chris Lindstrom: Happy new year. This is our second recording of the day. We're going through another four NA beverages.

Chris Clemens: Ran it deep.

Chris Lindstrom: And four I have not tried again, first episode, I hadn't tried any of them. This is another. I haven't tried any of these.

Chris Clemens: Do you know anything about any of these?

Chris Lindstrom: I've had a limited amount from. I mean, I've had regular beer from sierra nevada. They're kind of the. One of the pioneers of the modern, like, West Coast IPA.

Chris Clemens: Okay.

Chris Lindstrom: Like, they drove a ton of business on that side. I've had the blood orange IPA from Bravus, which I really enjoyed.

Chris Clemens: Yep, yep.

Chris Lindstrom: One of my favorite IPAs. I've NA IPAs. I've tasted, and I know nothing about this dutch company.

Chris Clemens: I don't know if there's too much to know. The. I will say the, I follow a lot of non alcoholic beer people online, and when this sierra nevada came out, they have. I think there's two. There's an IPA and a golden.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: and people, like, lost. Lost their minds. They were so excited when it comes out, and there's. I mean, a lot of times there's excitement with new brands are coming out, which is crazy. It's almost like once a month, month at this point. There's a new non alcoholic beer brand, or at least, maybe a brewery that's released an NA beer.

Chris Lindstrom: Well, I think there was one recently that. That I think went really big on social media. Was Blue Moon just came out with. With the na. Blue moon?

Chris Clemens: Yes, they did.

Chris Lindstrom: You did you have it?

Chris Clemens: I did. I'll, tell you, I've searched all over.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: And the only place that I could find it locally was beers of the world.

Chris Lindstrom: Okay.

Chris Clemens: That's as of right now, today. so I bought a couple. You can buy them by the can or by the case.

Chris Lindstrom: Ooh, look, all that. That sounds good.

Chris Clemens: but I gotta tell you, ah, it was fantastic.

Chris Lindstrom: interestingly so, if anybody is interested in learning, like, the history of blue moon, there's a podcast series, from vine pair called tap lines, by Dave Infante. And he actually just had, just had athletic brewing on recently, on the last month. So they did a full interview with, the creator of Athletic. And two people have been, like, the core of that company for a long time, but they also did a two part series on Blue Moon. The person who came up with the recipe. Really, fascinating. And all the discussion is Blue Moon craft and all that stuff was part of it. The idea behind it and the work it took to bring it there. highly recommend going to listen to that episode by Dave Infante from, vine pairs, taplines. Great show. And if you want to learn about beer, it's an amazing series.

Chris Clemens: And do they touch on the non alcoholic version?

Chris Lindstrom: he didn't in that one, but just out of the blue moon was interesting. And then he did athletic recently, in the last month or so.

Chris Clemens: Okay, yeah, the blue moon's very, very new release. Like, in the last couple of months, maybe.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, absolutely.

Chris Clemens: which is, It's interesting because. So I got sober in the nineties, and during that time, period, every once in a while, it becomes cool to be sober. Like, some celebrity will get sober and everyone will be like, yes. And then they're sober, and a couple years later, no one cares anymore. But the fact that there are huge brands now investing and recognizing that they need to hold on to their audience. Brands like Blue, Moon Corona, all these brands that are starting to do it. This is a weird one. I don't know if you know, this one yet. White Claw is releasing a non alcoholic version of their hard seltzer.

Chris Lindstrom: Isn't that just a regular seltzer?

Chris Clemens: Maybe.

Chris Lindstrom: I never.

Chris Clemens: I mean, seems like it would be.

Chris Lindstrom: I'm too old. Where

:: 05:00

Chris Lindstrom: Where seltzers were not a thing that ever appealed to me. But I've also been, as you well know, a, irrepressible tasting nerd for the entire time I've known you. And white claw isn't the kind of thing I particularly like.

Chris Clemens: It's not.

Sierra Nevada is a great example of companies investing in sober curiousism

But again, and the reason I bring it up is the fact that these businesses are now saying, like, hey, we're going to be losing our, customer base if we don't invest in it.

Chris Lindstrom: For sure.

Chris Clemens: That shows that there's some staying power to this new trend of being sober curious.

Chris Lindstrom: I think so. And to see something like Sierra Nevada, which, again, is one of the, like, legendary West Coast IPAs, that came out.

Chris Clemens: I gotta tell you, that was a great transition back to what we're currently trying to do.

Chris Lindstrom: Isn't that great? Yeah, man. Every so often, it almost seems like I know what I'm doing.

Chris Clemens: Well, like, so I'll take that as a challenge to, like, purposely derail us just to test how good you are at bringing us back onto the subject at hand.

Chris Lindstrom: It's my favorite thing to do when I'm not running the show is if I'm on the show, I just go on a tear.

Chris Clemens: I think I remember you talking, with polygliamo specifically about that.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. In an episode, I am a problem. Anytime I go on a show that's not mine, I'm like. I'm calling out the transitions that they're doing. I'm calling out, like, going to ad reads and it's like. It's just annoying, but I love it so much.

Sierra Nevada Trail Pass is a non alcoholic IPA

Chris Clemens: All right, so we're holding the trail pass.

Chris Lindstrom: Yes.

Chris Clemens: Sierra Nevada IPA. It's totally an IPA, right from the smell.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, I'd say it's got that classic West Coast smell with that, like, lemony citrus, a little bit of pine, a little bit of malt. But it's. It's very classic West Coast smell. Maybe a little bit dusty, but it's not unpleasant. Oh, okay. Yeah. You're taking it. Yeah, it's very lean. This isn't, like, super hard hopped or anything like that? Nope.

Chris Clemens: Agreed. for an IPA, I feel like this is more approachable, for sure.

Chris Lindstrom: and that's what Sierra Nevada was for a long time. It's a very approachable IPA.

Chris Clemens: Okay.

Chris Lindstrom: This kind of plays. You definitely get some of the malt. So it doesn't play like a hop water, but it is not, like, super malty, not super hoppy. this is very pleasant. It's, direct to the point. Tastes like West Coast IPA. And it's simple and clean and low body. I'd say it's a, light body. It plays, like, almost like a light beer in a pretty pleasant way. Yeah, not. Not. Certainly not unpleasant.

Chris Clemens: So this is the first time I've had this one. I have had the golden by sierra Nevada. this is the first time I've had the IPA. And I guess I can see why people are so excited about this.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: again, ten years ago, you didn't have any non alcoholic IPAs like you. We had St. Pauly girl.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: Stuff that we were stuck with. So the fact that there's a whole bunch of options and they're now really approachable is pretty exciting. And I can totally see why non alcoholic beer nerds are stoked for this.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. And I know you're not a big IPA guy, so that means. That does mean, like, oh, this lives in that world of, like, maybe it's not my favorite, but it's a world that you appreciate for what it's doing.

Chris Clemens: Yeah, totally. Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: and I think we forgot to do it last time, but something. People actually think about this stuff. 90, five calories for a can for this one, which.

Chris Clemens: And I thought you were actually going to refer to something else. I thought we were going to refer, to the alcohol by volume.

Chris Lindstrom: Oh, please do. I mean, you know a lot about this stuff.

Chris Clemens: Well, it's less than 0.5, right?

Chris Lindstrom: Yep.

Chris Clemens: Is that so? There are some people who can't have any alcohol at all, so less than 0.5 doesn't cut it. I, think based on what I've learned, the majority of people who require 0.0, are, ah, for religious reasons.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: but I've posted things to my Instagram account and people have said, like, hey, what's the percentage on that? so I'm more aware of it now than I was before.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. And I think also legally they have to use the term less than 0.5%.

Chris Clemens: Sure.

Chris Lindstrom: And I would assume that the vast majority of them are close to zero.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: But I think legally the designation is because there's likely not exactly zero. I think they should say less than 0.5%.

Chris Clemens: Yeah. Somewhere in between. but that's a us thing. The, alcohol by volume requirement to be non alcoholic is definitely different in other parts of the world.

Chris Lindstrom: M. Oh, that makes sense.

Chris Clemens: So here it's 0.5 or less.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. so Sierra Nevada, non alcoholic trail pass. Yeah, that's a

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Chris Lindstrom: pass.

Chris Clemens: Yes. Wait, that means. Because that can mean a couple different things. That's a pass saying it's a pass fail.

Chris Lindstrom: I'd say it's a passing pass.

Chris Clemens: Like, I'm passing on this.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, it's a passing grade. Yeah. it's like I said, it's not one it would be my everyday, but another one. I would be perfectly content if this was the option. Apple. Yep.

Perfectly, perfectly. If this was the option at a pizzeria or somewhere else

Perfectly, perfectly. Ah. Happy. If this was the option at a pizzeria or somewhere else, this would be a great pizza beer. You know, it's got that crispness, that same profile. Be really good to be. let's go on to. Let's do the IPAs back to back.

We're tasting two West Coast IPAs from Bravus Brewing Company

Okay, so next one we have is a brewery. We talked about the beginning. This is Bravus. I, think they're one. Oh, there it goes. Foam everywhere. Oh, man, I'm gonNA have to get a clip for that. Foam everywhere.

Chris Clemens: Too bad you're not video, recording soon enough. Sorry that I messed up your table, man.

Chris Lindstrom: I think it'll probably be okay. This table seen things. So, Bravis, I believe, is another one of those companies that is a full na, brand. Am I correct?

Chris Clemens: Yeah. I should know this, but I don't.

Chris Lindstrom: Okay, well, let's. We'll take a look while we're. While we're pouring. So I know they have a. We're going to taste two from them. So we're tasting the West Coast IPA and then their peanut, butter dark beer. As I mentioned at the top, I've had the blood orange IPA, which, I was very, very happy with. so we're basically tasting two West Coast IPAs back to back to see which one we like more. both of these are pretty clear, you know, straw colored in the. This has a more, foamy foam to it. pretty pleasant.

s Clemens: Bravus started, in: 2015

Chris Lindstrom: Okay. So I think they're pretty comparable in time to when athletic started. Maybe athletic was a little bit later, but they're kind of both living in that world. athletic being, obviously, east coast bravas being on the West Coast. but on the nose, this smells very classic. West Coast IPA and getting you a little bit of that grapefruit, a little bit of the pine. pretty pleasant. It's got a little bit of dank to it.

Chris Clemens: Tell me what dank is.

Chris Lindstrom: So usually that's like, pine resin is what I'm thinking of.

Chris Clemens: Right.

Chris Lindstrom: So, there's a few things that are like, you'll often get that in West Coast IPAs, but one of them that has a lot of that is like the Vermont style IPA, which used a lot of the same kind of hops, but in huge concentrations. Like they used a ton of them. They're kind of the, predecessor to the modern, New England IPA. Vermont style came first and then it really just tweaked into different hops that went into the more, new school juicy IPA, which is really an offshoot of the New England IPA.

Chris Clemens: Boy, that's a lot.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. This one or the information. Okay, I was gonNA say. So, this one smells pretty pleasant. Almost has a little bit of, a little bit of a candy, like wafer note to it, like neko wafer. It's something like that. I'm not sure what is. Maybe it's like almost banana. I'm not sure. I have to taste it now.

Chris Clemens: just by smelling this, I'm getting a ton of hops and a slight bitterness to it.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: That I recognize even just before sipping.

Chris Lindstrom: I gotta say, this is one of the, look, when it comes to West Coast, this is very not bitter on the palate. The only bitterness I get is I almost get like a post bitterness, like it's when we're talking about finish finishes. Yeah. And then almost after the regular flavors go, then there's bitterness. and it's, that's where it comes in. But the rest of it, there's almost none. It's almost no bitterness in the mid palate. Like when you first taste it, it's pretty lean. again, I think it's, it's made, well, I, think I'd probably go for the Sierra Nevada first.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: Out of the two, I prefer that. but I think this also captures West Coast IPA in a different way. I want, I'd want to be a little more crisply bitter.

Chris Clemens: Okay.

Chris Lindstrom: In the regular taste of it, maybe a little bit more hops or something, but certainly, fits the style is what I'd say.

Chris Lindstrom: I, also gotta say Bravus, really, nice branding on all their stuff. Really consistent. I like the style of what they're doing. Simple, to the point.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: Identifiables on their cans. Yep. Identifiable stuff.

The local options for purchasing have expanded greatly. Although the shipping does get really, uh, expensive really quick

and I think we're gonna, we're gonNA pivot away from going to the, to the last bravis because that one is a dark, and I figured we should go to this, this one out of, out of Belgium. Right.

Chris Clemens: This, ah, old school non

:: 15:00

Chris Clemens: alcoholic imported malt beverage from Holland.

Chris Lindstrom: Okay.

Chris Clemens: this is one we were talking about our previous, episode of this, that the local options for purchasing have expanded greatly.

Chris Lindstrom: Absolutely.

Chris Clemens: But I've been looking online and just trying to find every interesting thing that I can possibly find. I purchased from this very random japanese website that I assumed all my money was going to be gone, but turns out.

Chris Lindstrom: Turns, out not gone. You were able to get the stuff back?

Chris Clemens: Yeah. so this is one that I found online.

Chris Lindstrom: Okay. and this is one of the benefits of this, by the way, is, since it's non alcoholic, most places will just ship it as a normal shippable beverage.

Chris Clemens: Yeah, totally.

Chris Lindstrom: which is nice that we have that option. Although the shipping does get really, expensive really quick.

Chris Clemens: I was talking about that this morning with someone. I had that problem when I was really deep into coffee.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

ris Clemens: Spend, you know,: 1920

Chris Lindstrom: Oh, that's nice.

Chris Clemens: So, there are ways to find, economical ways to purchase online.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

This one has that skunky, totally skunky cannabis weed kind of smell

Well, when we're talking about beer from beer from here, I think the one that people always think of is, Why am I forgetting green bottles?

Chris Clemens: Oh, oh, duels.

Chris Lindstrom: No, no, no. They're, from Holland. I think it's, regular leaded Heineken.

Chris Clemens: Okay. Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: So Heineken is the one people think about. I believe that was originally from Holland as well. Right.

Chris Clemens: I did not realize that was a Holland brand.

Chris Lindstrom: Yep, it is. That is also. That is also a dutch product. originally dutch. Ah. Pale lager. And this smells a lot like that.

Chris Clemens: Yeah, it does.

Chris Lindstrom: It has a bit of that, but that skunky, totally skunky cannabis weed kind of smell to it.

Chris Clemens: which is funny because you used this word earlier, but dank was always a word that I associated with pot.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. And it's. It has come on with a lot of the heavy hopped products because they really echo those.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: they echo those flavors. this one's definitely on the skunky versus, like, rich, resin y side of things. Like, it has that going on in spades.

Chris Clemens: Not a lot of body.

Chris Lindstrom: No, it's a little bit sweet.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: The palette is neutral. It's got that malt taste, but not like super malty. Has a little bit of lingering bitterness. I don't love the nose. The palate is beer.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: which I actually don't dislike the palate at all.

Chris Clemens: Classic beer.

Chris Lindstrom: Again, this is another one where if it was with food and if I were drinking out of the can, I'm not sure a aroma. Ah, focusing glass is the best option for this.

Chris Clemens: Probably not. But, in fairness, they're probably not trying to.

Chris Lindstrom: No, I think if I was drinking out of the bottle or drinking out of a can, this is a beer that tastes like beer. And if you want any beer that tastes like beer, this is a good option.

Chris Clemens: Yeah. In the last few years in the United States, non alcoholic or near beers have exploded on the scene. There's. There's been tons of new brands. But if you look at the history of near beers in other countries, like Buckler, Heineken has been around forever. It's, actually pretty common. and I don't know that they're trying to be, this, ridiculously on the nose craft, high end brand. They're just trying to offer another option.

Chris Lindstrom: And also, I do have to say that now that some of the. Now that it's sat in the glass for a minute, a lot of those, like, intensely, you know, those skunky flavors have, like, I think, aired off a bit now. It just smells like beer, at least to me.

Chris Clemens: Yeah. I still. I recognize, that they're there still.

Chris Lindstrom: At this point, for sure.

Chris Clemens: traditional pass.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: Like, again, not pass on this, but pass fail.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. I'd say it's a pass if you. If you're a Heineken person and you want to try something else in that realm as an na. Yeah, this is definitely a buy when it comes to that.

Chris Clemens: I've been finding lately that I'm definitely leaning more towards lagers and ales.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. Simple, to the point.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: and this one running 100 calories per bottle, which is pretty reasonable. Yeah. it's weird because they're. The variation is pretty high now. Like, you'll see stuff as low as zero for hop waters and things like that.

Chris Clemens: We could do a whole episode just about hop waters and what they mean for people.

Chris Lindstrom: I would actually kind of enjoy that because I had one recently that

:: 20:00

Chris Lindstrom: I would love to cover on that, which is the one, from New York state was the omagan one.

Chris Clemens: Right.

Chris Lindstrom: Would love to cover that on there because I was. It was a fascinating product.

Chris Clemens: I like it a lot.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. one of my favorite any things I've tried in a while.

Chris Clemens: No kidding.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, it's. I mean, very. It's bright and really delightful.

I'd be excited to dive into it alongside other local hopwaters

but I'd be excited to dive into it side by side with other things in its category.

Chris Clemens: Well, there are other local hopwaters.

Chris Lindstrom: Oh, I'm interested. Yeah, we'll have to. We'll dive into that another time. That would be cool. That would be a blast. Yeah, man.

I love tasting with you because there's always an opportunity to annoy you

well, let's pivot on to where.

e got enough to do the entire: 2024

Chris Lindstrom: I know, right? I'm really. This is so much fun. I just love tasting with you because there's always. There's always an opportunity for me to annoy you at one time or another, and I just relish the opportunity. Yeah.

Chris Clemens: But don't you get annoyed with me as well?

Chris Lindstrom: Oh, always, yeah.

Bravus brewing peanut butter has a dark roast that almost echoes coffee

Chris Clemens: All right, so this is the Bravus brewing peanut butter. Dark. Have you had this before?

Chris Lindstrom: No. This is one I've seen on. I've seen on the shelves that at first it's like, oh, I'm really intrigued to see how did they go after this? Because this could be a lot. It could be super sweet. It could be out of balance. It could be, you know, a darker roast. It could be many different things. I'm excited to see what they did.

Chris Clemens: Well, darker roast, I think, already is accurate.

Chris Lindstrom: And I smell that peanut butter powder kind of smell on the nose, for sure.

Chris Clemens: So I've had this before, and I'm curious to hear what you have to say after you take a sip, because I agree, there's totally, you recognize peanut butter aroma immediately.

Chris Lindstrom: And I definitely smell that dark roast right away. That almost. It almost echoes dark roast coffee.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: plays in that world for sure.

Chris Clemens: It kind of looks that way as well.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, absolutely. No, I like the darkness of the foam. And this one is. I'd say it might technically not be opaque, but you definitely can't see through it.

Chris Clemens: Yeah, agreed. I'm waiting to see the look on your face now that you've taken your first sip.

Chris Lindstrom: Interesting. too much. I want it to be more bitter again.

Chris Clemens: Oh, yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: I want it to have a little bit more bitterness. I think it plays a lot of that peanut powder taste. I'm getting a lot of that.

Chris Clemens: You still get a lot of the peanut butter taste in this?

Chris Lindstrom: A lot of it. Really?

Chris Clemens: Yeah, I get way more in the nose.

Chris Lindstrom: Interesting. Yeah. So for me, it's. Yeah, it's the first thing I'm getting in the top of my palette. It's almost like. It's almost like the entire top of my palate is peanut taste. Yeah.

Chris Clemens: see, this is why I don't like tasting, because I feel wrong.

Chris Lindstrom: No, it's. I think it also does merge with some of that dark roasted flavor, too. I think the roasted flavor echoes with the peanut. So, like, how you perceive it, I think we're tasting the same thing. Cause there's this toasty note that's kind of big, dominating, like, this dark caramel, roasty, toasty note. But I'm pulling out the dark roasted peanut part of that because it really merges as that.

Chris Clemens: I'm pulling out, like, coffee.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, I don't. I don't dislike this, but I wish it was more roast for me.

Chris Clemens: Okay.

Chris Lindstrom: I'd want it a little bit more roasty, but again, as something that is supposed to be peanut butter.

Chris Clemens: Sure.

Chris Lindstrom: That peanut flavor, I get it pretty clearly. You do get some dark roast. It's a lot of, like, a lot of toasted. Dark toasted notes.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: Again, if you're. If you're a stout person, I could see somebody quite liking this.

Chris Clemens: Yeah. But I guess if I'm comparing it to, like, guinness, I think it's very, very different. Like, I wouldn't say that this is creamy.

Chris Lindstrom: No.

Chris Clemens: or smooth.

Chris Lindstrom: No. They're very, very different products. you know, the Guinness, which I think we. I think we both think that that's certainly one of the, like, top tier. It's impressive things on the market.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: but that also is. That also is nitrogen infused versus CO2 infused, which makes a huge difference for texture. But I think if you did that with this, I think you'd still have some of the same. There still be some big differences when it comes to flavor profile.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: Between the two, I think this is ambitious. I wanted a little bit more bitter, but again, if I had somebody like.

Chris Clemens: Would you say you're bitter about it?

Chris Lindstrom: Buttons. Buttons. I wish I had the buttons ready. I'm on all of my intro music. Buttons. no, I'd say overall, I'm pleased, but it's not something I would go back to.

Chris Clemens: That's how

:: 25:00

Chris Clemens: I felt.

I cracked it at one point this summer, I cracked it open, and it was like summer months

I cracked it at one point this summer, I cracked it open, and, it was like summer months. And I thought, you know what? Maybe this is the wrong time of year for me to enjoy this.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah.

Chris Clemens: But it just doesn't. It doesn't hit me.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah, I think that's the other thing. Like, let.

Chris Miller: Non alcoholic beer market has exploded in recent years

Yeah, let's finish off with, like, this is where we've, you know, we've talked about this in the past where, like, the something being good for somebody on, this product. I think this somebody will love this product.

Chris Clemens: Yeah.

Chris Lindstrom: And I think a lot of people will like it a lot. is where I differentiate, I think it's well made. I don't. There's no faults. I think the flavors are pleasant, but it's not for me.

Chris Clemens: Right.

Chris Lindstrom: But I think at the same time I could see this being a core thing in their lineup for a long time. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense to me.

Chris Clemens: there is a non alcoholic beer that someone posted about somewhere online and they, like, they said they hated it and they took two sips of it and they dumped it out. And I thought, oh my God, what's wrong with me? Because that's one of my favorites. and again, to your point, I know we've argued about this ad, infinitum over the last decade.

Chris Lindstrom: Hm.

Chris Clemens: I don't know if it's just something that wasn't brewed well or there was something done wrong or just different flavor profiles for sure. Different strokes for different folks.

Chris Lindstrom: Yeah. And it's, ah, I'd say as this, you know, this segment of the market has just exploded. We're just going to see huge variations of quality between brands as they learn how to do this. Well. Yeah, the place has been doing it for a long time. Like Bravus. Like they know what they're doing. They've made this the way they want to make it. I feel confident that they've made what they wanted to make. and that's a great thing. If you love it, you're going to love it. If it's not for you, it's not for you. But they've made what they wanted to make. And as we see all these new brands pop up, I think we're going to see that exploration happen and maybe find, you know, more options for everybody as we go forward.

the last year, if you look at: 2023

Chris Lindstrom: It really is.

Chris Clemens: I mean, seriously, five, six, seven years ago, St. Paulie's, girl O'Toole's Heineken zero.

Chris Lindstrom: Genny, na, maybe na.

Chris Clemens: That came out in 91 or 93.

Chris Lindstrom: Wow.

Chris Clemens: yeah, not a lot of options. So the fact that this even exists to debate is pretty amazing.

Chris Lindstrom: well, if people want to learn more about other NA products that are on the market, Chris, where can people follow your stuff to learn all about the obsessive research that you do on this field?

Chris Clemens: I do some obsessive research and sometimes, you know what, I just want to vomit content onto the Internet. But you can find it at non rockaholic.com and on Instagram. I'm, @nonrocaholic.

Chris Lindstrom: Awesome.

Food about Town is a proud member of the Lunchadore podcast network

Well, this finishes another episode of NA beverage taste down. We're gonna record another one, and we'll be back with another episode of the Food about Town podcast.

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