The Non Alcoholic Beer Market
Bravus Brewing is a brewer of non alcoholic beers like Oatmeal Dark. The non alcoholic beer market has grown rapidly in recent years with the introduction of non alcoholic beers that taste more like regular beer. Non alcoholic beers have several health advantages over regular beers, including fewer calories, sugar, carbs and of course, alcohol. Non alcoholic means less than 0.5% alcohol, so non alcoholic beers can still have traces of alcohol.
Athletic Brewing is the current market leader in non alcoholic beers with an approximate 19% market share. More and more specialty non alcoholic breweries like Bravus Brewing are entering the market, as well as traditional breweries. Not a day goes by without some news story about the rise of non alcoholic beer and societal trends towards reducing alcohol intake.
Bravus Brewing
Philip Brandes started Bravus Brewing in his garage in 2015. A year later he started Bravus Brewing Company in Santa Ana, California as the first exclusively non alcoholic craft brewery in the United States. In 2020 the company expanded into a 23,000 square brewery in nearby Anaheim. Today they brew 9 different non alcoholic beers and other non alcohol wines and spirits. Their beers include IPAs, Blonde, Peanut Butter Dark, Oatmeal Dark, limited edition beers and more.
Bravus Brewing West Coast IPA
Oatmeal Dark is one of Bravus Brewing’s everyday beers. The brewery describes the beer as “If you’re a fan of Guinness, this is the brew for you! With hints of chocolate, caramel and roasted coffee, it is extremely smooth and delightfully refreshing. Silver medal winner at the 2019 Great American Beer Festival. Ingredients: water, malted barley, hops, yeast.” Oatmeal Dark has a “Okay” rating on Beer Advocate.
Oatmeal Dark has 110 calories, 25g carbs, 1g protein and 0g fat. It is vegan and gluten reduced but not gluten-free. There is no IBU information.
Our Review of Bravus Brewing West Coast IPA
If you read our post about ProofNoMore, I bought 35 single non alcoholic beers to try. I started with non alcoholic beers from large well known breweries and followed that up with craft breweries. Then I moved on to non alcoholic breweries, starting with Athletic Brewing Lite, which was better than expected, Partake Brewing, which were exceptional considering the low calories and carbs, and Collective Arts, which were disappointing. Oatmeal Dark is the second of four I am trying from Bravus Brewing. West Coast IPA was good, not necessarily great.
The Tasting
Bravus markets Oatmeal Dark as an alternative to Guinness. I am not a big fan of Guinness but I like it sometimes and it has its own unique place in the beer world. Guinness 0 tasted pretty much like regular Guinness although I did find it had a funny aftertaste.
In contrast, Oatmeal Dark tasted like carbonated chocolate milk. While that sounds bad, I might actually prefer it over Guinness 0. It had more flavor, albeit a chocolate flavor, and no aftertaste like Guinness. However, I doubt I would buy it again. Fans of Guinness looking for a non alcohol alternative should stick to Guinness 0. But if you like chocolate flavored beers, Oatmeal Dark may be a good choice.
Bravus Brewing Oatmeal Dark is available at Amazon at Oatmeal Dark.
As an Amazon Associate and a Proof No More affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
For another recommendation, try Guinness 0.
For non alcoholic beer nutritional information for all NA beers we have reviewed and more, see NA Beer Nutritional Information.
