u/HashtagStache

This is surprisingly good! Local find carried by Total Wine.

It’s labeled a pale ale, but it drinks much more like an IPA. There’s citrus and a touch of tropical fruit up front, plus a really interesting subtle rose/floral note. The malt shows up more toward the back, lightly crackery and grainy.

Good bitterness, flavorful without turning into fruit juice, and none of that obvious sweet/worty NA character. It has sufficient body and dryness too. Head could be better, it disappeared fairly quickly.

Definitely one of the better NA surprises I’ve had.
Nice Job DC Brau!

Some of these cans/bottles are just too cool to crush and toss, so I started cutting the front panels into baseball card size souvenirs.

Now every new beer I try gets a little place in the collection, especially the hard to find ones and the vacation discoveries. It takes up almost no room, looks great in a sleeve, and gives the can a second life.

A little rough around the edges for now, but I’m dialing in the process. Anyone else save cans or labels from their favorite finds?

Let me know if you have any tips or tricks for me!

Went to Wegman’s and built my own 6-pack out of singles. 4 beers, 0 rebuys, 2 drain pours.

Founders Nonetheless Golden — pool water. Chlorine-like minerality. Thin, watery, okay breadiness. 30 calories.
4/10.

(2) Lagunitas IPNA — IPA-flavored soda. Little body, little flavor, disappearing head. Wanted to like this but it doesn’t hold a candle to better IPA’s.
5/10

(2) Best Day Kölsch — better than a funky can I had before, but still unpleasantly bitter with a medicinal edge. Maybe I just don’t like the style.
4/10

Brooklyn East IPA — fooled me at first. Fantastic creamy body and a head that actually stuck around… then the medicinal bitterness arrived.
5/10

Roast me or toast me!

Thanks to this group for prodding me to find Tecate after my last post. After striking out at Walmart, every 7/11, and Oxxo, I finally found Tecate 0.0 at a random neighborhood convenience store.

The hunt made it a fun find. Clearly distribution is more limited on this one.

My first impression is that it’s a very light, easy-drinking macro lager. The most distinctive flavor is a honey-like malt sweetness that reminds me of Honey Smacks cereal. Alongside that I picked up an earthy, slightly worty character that gives it a little more depth than I was expecting based on the commentary.

The body is definitely pretty thin, kind of leaning in to soda territory. It is refreshing though, smooth, and clearly brewed to be light, probably for warm weather.

Main criticism would be that I wish the finish were crisper and drier. The honeyed malt lingers enough that it comes across as sweet.

Having never tried a fully leaded one, curious to hear if this sounds familiar.

Not the best, not the worst.

5.5/10

I had seen on r/NABEER that you could find NA Modelo in Mexico and was really intrigued by that. I took a detour to the Cancun Walmart and found these there.

Modelo 0.0: A solid macro lager with great malt character. It’s a little on the light side, but very clean, easy-drinking, and unmistakably “beer.” Not skunky whatsoever. It reminded me of some of the lighter European macro lagers I’ve enjoyed. Not a standout favorite, but comfortably in the middle of the pack and one I’d happily drink again. Was very keen to try this as apparently Modelo is the best selling beer (revenue) in the US. I wanted to love it, but it’s just fine.

Modelo Negra 0.0: This one surprised me. It tastes very faithful to what I’d expect from the alcoholic version, deep, bold, malty, and has a distinct wood-smoke note. Definitely has a “boozy” smell, not sure how they accomplished that. A little chocolatey, but not veering in to coffee yet. The closest comparison I could make is if someone blended a Guinness and a Corona and landed somewhere in between. Really well made, even if it’s not quite my personal favorite style. Sober Carpenter NA Red Irish Ale is the closest thing to this I’ve had before.

Curious why these haven’t made it to the states, would probably be a part of my rotation.