Sober October is upon us, so a merry booze-less month to all of you who celebrate.
I, personally, don’t, but I can appreciate the sentiment. September is a celebration month for me, filled with football and Oktoberfests and delicious, malty beers. But on Sunday nights, after I’ve filed my last NFL story, I wind up craving a beer but have zero desire to once again tax my overworked liver or make Monday’s 6:30 AM wakeup any more difficult than it already is.
This is where Athletic Brewing Company comes in. The Connecticut-based company stood out amidst a crowded landscape by offering non-alcoholic offerings covering a wide variety of styles. Where before there may have only been Clausthaler or O’Douls, you now had the opportunity to find pale ales and stouts that carried lower calorie counts and virtually none of the booze.
That’s where I’ve been turning lately on those Sunday nights. It’s worked out well enough for me to make these rankings.
Athetic’s beers are graded on a curve; while they stack up well against traditional brews, they don’t quite get all the way there. And that’s all right, because in the land of non-alcoholic beers they mostly stand alone. As such, these grades consider both how true to the regular, booze styles they’re replicating are as well as the overall quality and taste of the beverage itself.
Also, the only brews to make the rankings are the ones I’ve personally tried and reviewed thus far. Expect this list to be updated as I expand my palate — and allow me to apologize if I haven’t gotten to your favorite yet.