Category: Reviews

Craft NA Beers, Part Two

Intro – Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3

Despite the previous post, Athletic Brewery has not been the only place I’ve been trying. Luckily for me, in the past few months some of the local shops have been getting more and more variety of NA Beer, making it easy to try. Even one of our local pubs has started to carry a good selection of NA Beer, adding to their already impressive list.

I’ve noticed that the beers that tend to do well are doing one of two things:

  1. They are going out on their own and not trying to be a direct replacement for a specific alcoholic brand
  2. The fruity/sour/wheat beer types, where another, non-beer flavor was usually a strong component of the taste.

The strong IPAs tend to work as well, but as I’m not as into hoppy beers as I used to be, they weren’t usually my favorites.

Bravus

Bravus Brewing was started in 2015 and says it is the first non-alcoholic craft brewery. There were four staples when I found Bravus, and I tried three of them.

West Coast IPA (>%0.5)

This is hoppy. Well made, and mostly good. There is a little gap in flavor (hollow in the middle, my wife said), but overall I appreciated it for tasting like a hoppy beer—but it wasn’t for me.

Blood Orange IPA (>%0.5)

This is mostly the West Coast IPA with some citrus. Again, if IPAs are your thing, this has a good strong hoppy flavor and the orange helps fill in some of the gap in the original.

Peanut Butter Dark (>%0.5)

This one was good. Very much like the Sweet Baby Jesus from DuClaw Brewing. Sweet and chocolate, it is a desert beer for sure.

Wellbeing

Wellbeing has my favorite labels of all of these. I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by its label, but still. As ambers and wheat beers are some of my favorites, this brewery hits home with some great drinks.

I noticed some new ones I hadn’t tried yet on their site when I was writing this, so more beers are in the mail and will post how they are in the future.

Hellraiser Dark Amber (>%0.5)

Great name. Great label. Great beer. Slightly bitter amber, but still on the lighter side.

Victory Citrus Wheat (>%0.5)

This is the stuff. A solid wheat beer with a citrus addition, it even has electrolytes. Magic in a can, highly enjoyed this one.

Wandering Islands (>%0.5)

This is a collaboration between Wellbeing and 4 Hands Brewery. It is a good summer ale. Think somewhere between a Longboard and a Magic Hat # 9. A pale ale with some notes of mango, and peach, I highly recommend. I don’t think this one is for sale anymore, but hopefully they bring it again this summer.

Southern Grist Brewing

Southern Grist is out of Nashville and a hybrid brewery, meaning it makes both regular and unleaded beers. I’ve only had one of theirs, but am keeping an eye out for more.

Parallel (>%0.5)

This is a fruited sour, passion fruit and raspberry and is crisp and sweet with that sour finish the name implies. A great fruited sour beer! I’ve introduced a few people to NA beers using this one!

Next Time

Untitled Art, more sours! This one random German beer I found!

January Reads

I’ve not been reading much lately (as I mentioned in my end of the year post) and I decided to change that. 

And here at the end of January, I’ve already beaten my 2020 numbers, and hope to do so every month of 2021. 

In addition, I got a new Kindle to replace my broken Nook. I’ve got entirely too many ebooks and this is helping me read them. 

So, what did I read in January 2021? 

The Writing Life – Anne Dillard

A book length essay about being a writer. Short, and wandering the way a writer’s life and mind are. There were pieces of wisdom and asides I could relate to all throughout. Short, but enjoyable. 

The Rib From Which I’ll Remake the World – Ed Kurtz

I had missed this the first time around, so when it was rereleased I made sure to grab it. 

Noir, horror, a traveling movie show comes to a small town and everything changes. Recommended. 

The Poetry Handbook – Mary Oliver

This is a tech lit type book, meaning that it is about definitions and structure, rather than a writing book that works to inspire or teaches you how to practice. A pleasant refresher for me, and a great starter for anyone looking.

High King’s Tomb – Kristin Britain

I started the Green Rider series a very long time ago, having gotten the second book when it came out. This is the third, and despite the time away, it was so easy to drift back into this world and remember why I loved these characters. 

I’ve got more on my shelf, and look forward to reading the rest. 

Collected Poems – Rita Dove (1/7)

This is a large collection of 7 books of poetry by Rita Dove. I don’t like to rush through a book of poems, especially one written by someone as masterful as Dove. So I am taking my 1/7th credit for the first book. 

And Dove, like Clifton and Tracy K. Smith, should be on your bookshelf. 

Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte

This was the first book I read in my new Kindle. I wanted to read something gothic, and well, I got something gothic.

I’d read Wild Sargasso Sea forever ago, not knowing it was a prequel to Jane Eyre, making me a biased. (I may have said “BURN IT DOWN” a few times during the read)

I got the copy from Standard Ebooks a great site for well formatted public domain books. 

The Parable of the Sower – Octavia Butler

I’ve owned this one entirely too long for it to have been unread. Set in the near future (nearer now in more than just time), about a dystopian US and the formation of Earthseed. 

A difficult, beautiful read. 

The Path of Ice & Salt – Jose Luis Zurate

Translated from Spanish, this novella is about the boat ride from Europe to England in Dracula by a boat named Demeter. 

A dark tale full of thick prose, a quick but strong read.

Thunder and Lightning – Natalie Goldberg

I’ve read this once, at least once, before. It was a common one I’d pick up and read during moments at stores or breaks at work. Goldberg’s writing makes it easy to do so. A follow-on to Writing Down the Bones, a book I recommend so much, I keep giving away my copies. 

It’s essays about writing, but about introspection into writing, writers. Even a second or third time through it was a great read.

Ten Thousand Doors of January – Alix E.Harrow

Believe it or not I was about 30% into this book before realized the significance of the title. And January was the last book I read in January. 

And it was a great book! A family with secrets, an archeological society with secrets, books with secrets, door, so many doors!

Unfinished

Proensa – George Economou

A collection of Troubadour poetry translated into a more modern style than you’d expect. It is a fun, dense at times, reading with history and commentary as well. 

I got on a Troubadour kick this summer, and this was one of the titles I grabbed. A few more to read, or finish (like Songs of the Women Troubadours which I started in, uh, June?), this year. (And maybe two more purchased…)

Poetry and Poets – TS Eliot (1/2)

I’ve only read the first half of this book, the Poetry part, but I’m going to claim it here. This is not, as I had hoped, a book on poetics written by TS Eliot. It is, rather, a collection of professional lectures that Elliott had given over his life… and they read as such. 

They are interesting, once I understood they weren’t what I was looking for. But a bit on the dry side…

I’ll probably read the second half later, but this is a thick book.