The Non Alcoholic Beer Market
Woodland Farms Brewery is based in Maine and brews West 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 craft breweries like Woodland Farms are entering the market. Not a day goes by without some news story about the rise of non alcoholic beer and societal trends towards reducing alcohol intake.
Woodland Farms Brewery
Woodland Farms began in 1895 as a dairy farm but opened a brewery in 2017 with alcoholic beers. They have since introduced seven NA beers, mostly IPAs and stouts. The brewery says “Our kick ass line of non-alcoholic beers provide all the flavor with none of the guilt.” They have a 50 seat tasting room with a patio that has 8 beers and 4 non alcoholic beers on draft at all times. They are the first brewer in Maine to brew NA beers.
Woodland Farms Brewery West IPA Non Alcoholic Beer
Woodland Farms Brewery describes West IPA as “Dank hop flavor from all the “C” hops like Chinook, Cascade and Centennial. This west coast style NA boasts a sweet flavor up front with a long deep bitter on the back.” West IPA has 80 calories, 17g carbs, 0g fat and 3g protein in a 16 oz. can. There is no IBU information. It has no rating on Beer Advocate and 3.54 out of 5 on Untappd.
Our Review of Woodland Farms Brewery West IPA Non Alcoholic Beer
If you read our post about ProofNoMore, I bought 35 single non alcoholic beers to try. West IPA is the last of the 35. If you add in some others I purchased elsewhere, I have now tried close to 50 NA beers. Some have been very good and satisfied my desire to find drinks that taste like beer with little or no alcohol and reduced calories. However, many have not been good. A lot of those have had calorie and carb numbers close to a regular beer. Several of the ones I have tried recently have been weak, and I have found myself more and more craving regular old beers with alcohol. This is the first NA IPA have have tried in a while.
The Tasting
Woodland Farms’ description of this beer was a sweet flavor out front and a long deep bitter on the back. Unfortunately this description was incredibly accurate. If you watch the video, I really liked this beer at first. It reminded me of Racer IPA with a slight citrus taste and minimal bitterness. I could not even tell that it was non alcoholic.
Then I drank the rest with dinner. The more I drank, the more bitter it got. I had trouble finishing it. I know that many people like bitter IPAs, but I do not. Despite my recommendation on the video, I would not buy it again.
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For better 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.
