It’s a great time to embrace a sober lifestyle, for Dry January or a lot longer, and the local drinks community has responded. Here are some non-alcoholic beverages and mocktail ingredients made right here in Minnesota.

Look for these locally brewed non-alcoholic beverages to flavor your Dry January at these Twin Cities stories. Your author got together with a few friends and got silly — but stayed sober — while tasting the following and taking notes to help you find the best NA brew or bev. 

Bauhaus Nah 

• Helles - Helles Nah has been available all over the Twin Cities for a while at venues as a go-to for non-drinkers. This Helles is a favorite to pair with a burger at a bar for its crispness, light breadiness, and maltiness. 

• Dark Brew - The Dark Brew was lightly sweet but not cloying. It has a toasty element but remains bright and refreshing, with a subtle bitterness on the finish. The group who tasted it agreed it was a satisfying dark brew that would make a delicious cooler-weather beer. It’s not so heavy that we couldn’t enjoy a few without feeling overwhelmed or weighed down by the flavor. 

• Hoppy Brew - Hazy IPA lovers, this is the next best thing during Dry January! The beer is almost clear, with very little head once poured into a glass. It’s hoppy on the nose, with bright tropical notes, and has a juicy bitterness. The flavor is not piney but refreshing and mouth-watering.

Pomme de Vie Cider by Milk & Honey

Sure, the idea of an NA cider poses the risk that your drink tastes like sparkling apple juice, but Pomme de Vie is a far cry from the kiddie table. Its bright, tangy, and juicy notes taste like biting into a cold Honeycrisp, and its light effervescence highlights its sippable sweetness. Because it runs a little more acidic, we were unsure how many we could drink of these at a time, but we were sure it would be great with a meal or fireside with friends. 

Resolution by Arbeiter Brewing

While not on tap or in cans at the time of production, a quick phone call to the local Arbeiter taproom confirmed that their seasonal NA beer is back in production for January. The Mocha Stout is smooth and light-bodied, with strong burnt chocolate, roasted coffee, and smoky tasting notes. A touch of sweetness helps balance the intense flavors but does not overwhelm. Check Arbeiter’s Instagram for updates.

Nialas by Summit Brewing

• IPA - This IPA is startlingly close to the real deal. With sharp, pine-y notes on the nose and a more-bitter flavor, IPA lovers taking a break will enjoy this one. Because the alcohol is removed, it leans a little lighter for a sessionable IPA. 

• Latitude - This was your author’s favorite NA beer by far. Latitude smells like a perfect summer NA beer, and its color is a sunny, light yellow. It’s highly chuggable, light and crispy, but not bready. It’s light, refreshing, and would pair nicely with spicy chicken wings.

• Irish Dark - The Irish Dark is so roasty that it almost smelled like coffee to our tasters. With a smoother mouthfeel and slightly thicker head, this medium-bodied, warm, nearly nutty NA is richer than others on our list but still very drinkable. Because of its deep scent, we expected it to be syrupy, but we were grateful it was not. 

• Ambler - When this NA beer was poured into a glass, one of our tasters said, “Hey, now this looks like a beer!” It has a light, lacy head that settles quickly and features a sweet maltiness with a bit of toasty warmth. The bubbles on this one were a little sharper in their effervescence but had a thinner viscosity and mouthfeel. We considered this our closest to a “fancy” NA beer in flavor. 

Outlook Good N/A Hoppy Pale by Surly

This NA beer tastes a lot like a “true” IPA on the front but is a little less intense as it finishes on the palate. It smells light and refreshing and has a fruity hop profile. It possesses a clean bitterness and provides a little bit of dryness on the tongue. 

Sherab Shrubs

Perhaps one of the more unique offerings is shrubs that are non-alcoholic “drinking vinegar.” They are generally concentrated in flavor and require the addition of a bubble water, club soda, or a ginger brew to not be a tangy vinegar-bomb. Local Sherab Shrubs had a handful of flavors offered at Marigold, and we tried the Blueberry Poblano. We diluted it in a bit of plain bubble water and enjoyed the zippy, slipperiness of the drink. The concentrated blueberry flavor shone through the pop of vinegar, and a sizzle of warmth whispered from the poblano. For DIY mocktail makers, this may be one of the most fun things to play with.

Bootlegger Brewing Kombucha

• Lookout Lemon Berry - This kombuch ran a little sweeter. The lemon flavor is soft and floral, while the “berry” flavor appears to come from hibiscus. This one would be great alongside a heavy meal to lighten things up. 

• Sturdy Girl Apple Cinnamon - This one felt a bit more like sparkling apple cider, with the additional zing of the kombucha and a little kiss of cinnamon. If nothing else, the packaging is whimsical and features a tough blonde babe hoisting a barrel onto her shoulder. Lumber Janes, give this one a try.

Northstar Kombucha

• White Peach - This kombucha had a bit of a bitter aftertaste, which felt refreshing after so many of the beverages above possessed a bit of sweetness and tartness. The peach flavor is heady and the flavor in the ‘booch is juicy and delicious. 

• Raspberry Hibiscus - This one tasted like a ripe summer raspberry that’d been a little too long on the vine. The slight fermentation in the kombucha enhanced the jammy berry flavors, and the hibiscus added a beautiful red color to the fizzy tea.

Gentleman Forager Mushroom Drinks, brewed by Bauhaus

This beverage tasted somewhere between a bubble water and a soda. It is fresh, tart from the blueberries, and uplifting in flavor. Because it is sweetened with agave, it is not syrupy and feels light and “clean” in the mouth. On the back end, there is the slightest bit of a woodsy, tannic flavor from the chaga mushroom. It is a beautiful, rich, dark blueish-purple in the glass and was one of the more complex beverages we tried. 

Salinger NA wine by Dry Wit

This is labeled as “Comfortable and complex- sassy but you could still bring it home to meet your parents.” We interpreted this as a white wine with a light acidity reminiscent of kombucha. It’s the most fizzy of any of the beverages we tasted, which made it feel like a prosecco-adjacent treat. If I had to toast any of the above, I’d choose this one.