There’s more than alcohol at your local brewery
Just because you’ve chosen to observe Dry January doesn’t mean you must forget about your local breweries and taprooms. January has always been a slow month for the alcohol industry. In recent years, the increased attention to January as a month to practice abstinence created an even more significant hardship for the breweries we love.
Pour Love Into Local
Whatever your approach to Dry January, don’t forget about your local brewery. That’s the point behind the Brewers Association’s Pour Love into Local campaign. It reminds us that what we love about our local breweries often transcends beer. The Washington Brewers Guild echoes the sentiment, noting that our brewery taprooms are gathering spaces, community hubs built to help patrons socialize sober or not.
“We all know that winter in Washington encourages hibernation, but going to your local brewery and connecting with friends, family, and your local community warms your spirit,” says Shawna Cormier, Director of Membership and Events for the Washington Brewers Guild. “No matter if you’re committing to Dry January or indulging in the best of winter beers, breweries throughout the state have incredible NA and seasonal favorites. There’s something for everyone!”
Explore the NA Options
Most brewery taprooms recognize the need to offer a good selection of impotent potables all year, not just during Dry January. In many cases, they select non-alcoholic beverages that offer the same kind of craft experience as house-made beer, offering a variety of flavors from carefully crafted beverages. Not just random selections from the uber-huge soft drink producers. Some of our breweries are even offering their own NA beers.
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Reuben’s Brews, for instance, now offers sparkling hop water alongside two NA beers in its Reuben’s Refresh series. The IPA is “Brewed with a pair of dynamic hop varieties for notes of citrus, pine, and tropical fruit.” The non-alcoholic sour beer is brewed “with cherries, raspberries and marionberries… this is the drink to reach for when you’re craving punchy flavor without the potency of alcohol. Tart, tasty, and totally refreshing.”
Fremont Brewing has also introduced a successful, award-winning line of non-alcoholic beers to serve alongside its sparkling hop water. The NA IPA won a silver medal at the 2023 Best of Craft Beer Awards (NA Hop-Forward Beers), and the NA Dark won a gold medal at the 2024 Great American Beer Festival (Amber to Dark Non-Alcohol Beer). The third NA beer in the collection is an Orange Wit, described as moderately sweet and lightly bitter.
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Both breweries offer these NA options for your enjoyment at their taprooms, with packaged products ready to go home with you. Fremont Brewing even ships its NA products anywhere in the nation. And don’t forget about Self Care, the spin-off company created by Three Magnets Brewing to do nothing but create NA beer.
“Breweries are more than just places to grab a pint—they’re hubs of creativity and community,” said Ann Obenchain, vice president of marketing and communications at the Brewers Association. “With Pour Love into Local, we’re encouraging everyone to explore what their local brewery has to offer, whether it’s a warm space to gather with friends, a chance to try a new NA creation, or simply a way to support a small business during the slower winter months.”
