THE LONG POUR: WET OR DRY JANUARY? WE’VE GOT YOU!
by Mike Stolese
January is upon us, and as we all know, some folks take it as a reset after the holidays.
On the plus side for those taking a break (and we are ready to have you back on February 1!) the N/A options that are available today are broad and incredibly tasty. From beer and wine to N/A cocktails, I’ve been very impressed with the selections and quality.
I recently sat down with some very knowledgeable beer aficionados to get their opinion on one of the fastest growing N/A brands in the country: Best Day Brewing. Best Day takes pride in creating non-alcoholic beers with the same taste profiles as their full-strength counterparts. They first brew their beer to full strength, and then remove the alcohol through state-of-the-art technology where the beer never rises above the fermentation temperature. The result is a beer that maintains a robust flavor profile and complexity, without the alcohol.
The “beer brains” basically stated that in a blind taste test, it would be very hard to pick out the N/A options…no higher praise needed.
Off to wine. In the past, I’ve been very disappointed with the N/A options, as they all tasted very “grapey” and one-dimensional. Well, that was then. It’s a new world.
Non-alcoholic wine, in its infancy, was made by preventing fermentation entirely…hence, the “grapey” profile. There are now new techniques being utilized to make non-alcoholic wine by first crafting traditional wine (fermenting grapes) and then removing the alcohol, primarily through a few techniques that separate alcohol while preserving flavors:
“Spinning Cone Technology” (wine is gently spun into a thin film, the alcohol is removed and the aromas are added back to preserve the flavor).
“Vacuum Distillation” (wine is gently heated under vacuum so the alcohol evaporates at a lower temp, with aromas removed first and added back later to preserve flavor)
“Reverse Osmosis” (wine is filtered through membranes that remove alcohol while keeping most of the original flavors intact).
We finish with what are called RTD’s, or ready-to-drink cocktails. I have been known to have a cocktail or two, so I was ready to be extremely critical of the N/A options. No need. Some I liked better than others, but that’s something you can say about any category of beverages. Just as many cocktails have very flavorful mixers, you can actually find some incredibly tasty N/A cocktails, including palomas, margaritas and espresso martinis
So, for those of you “drying out” this month, search these N/A options out. You will not be disappointed.
Mike Stolese is the owner of Vermont Wine Merchants, a wholesale distribution company based in Burlington.