The Non Alcoholic Beer Market
Sober Carpenter Brewery is based in Montreal, QB, Canada and brews Sober Carpenter IPA. 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 Sober Carpenter 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.
Sober Carpenter Brewery
Sober Carpenter is a non-alcoholic craft beer brewery created by two brothers. Passionate about beer for many years, they began trying their hand at craft brewing in their parents’ basement: experimenting with recipes and perfecting their style. Years later, after having brewed and tasted a wide range of beers, their passion remained though their lifestyle had changed.
After starting their own families, they wanted to keep their social life active while reducing their alcohol consumption. It was only natural when they turned to non-alcoholic beer. Unfortunately, after several searches they realized that the current offerings were very limited and not to the standards they expected in taste and mouthfeel after years of consuming craft beers.
That’s when they decided to create Sober Carpenter, with a range of non alcoholic beers so good that you won’t have to compromise on taste if you also want a healthier lifestyle. So good that you’ll forget it’s non-alcoholic. Sober Carpenter has a broad range of non-alcoholic beers, from IPAs to ales as well as craft cider.
Sober Carpenter IPA
Sober Carpenter describes IPA as “Loaded with hops, this floral West Coast style IPA offers notes of tropical fruit and citrus. Its sustained and balanced bitterness allows for a crisp finish that will have you coming back for more.” It has Citra, Simcoe and Cascade hops and Cara and Pale malts. A 12 oz. serving has 50 calories, 42 IBU, 11g carbs, 0g fat and 0g protein. (We had a 16 oz. can.) It has a “Good” rating on Beer Advocate.
Our Review of Sober Carpenter 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. Then I tried three from Bravus Brewing which were generally Ok but nothing special. Next are two from Sober Carpenter. Their Irish Red was one of the first non alcoholic beers I tried and was very good.
The Tasting
Sober Carpenter IPA tasted a lot more like an alcoholic IPA than several others I have tried recently. It also is lower in calories and carbs (in some cases significantly) than most all non alcoholic IPAs I have tried except for Partake Brewing. If you like IPAs with alcohol, it is a decent choice as a non alcoholic beer. While I liked it for what it was, it is too hoppy with too much of a bitter aftertaste for my preference.
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For more recommendations, try Athletic Brewing Run Wild IPA, Athletic Brewing Free Wave Hazy IPA, Sierra Nevada Trail Pass IPA, Partake Brewing IPA Non Alcoholic and Figueroa Mountain Hikers High Hazy IPA.
For non alcoholic beer nutritional information for all NA beers we have reviewed and more, see NA Beer Nutritional Information.
