My Favorite Non-Alcoholic Beers

On Drinking, and Its Place In My Life.

(But it actually starts with my husband.)

Five years ago, my husband Bjork decided he was going to stop drinking alcohol pretty much on the spot.

At a holiday dinner with friends in 2018, he leaned over to me and whispered, “I think I’m going to stop drinking for a year.” It was a total shock to me, but it also made sense; he was thinking about his health, his nightly routines, and our daughter, who was one year old at the time.

I had my doubts, but his on-the-spot decision at a restaurant in 2018 did, in fact, turn into a year of no drinking.

And a year turned into two years, and two years turned into five years.

I have never made any sort of grand declarations about my drinking in the same way he did, and I tend to be less of a black-and-white decision maker (there’s room for all types!). But an unintended consequence, or maybe benefit, of Bjork not drinking for the last five years is that I’ve also started drinking less, too.

These days I will drink socially, maybe one or two drinks per month when I’m going out to dinner with friends. But the biggest change for us with Bjork’s decision is that we no longer keep alcohol in our home. And honestly, this change has felt great for our family.

The hardest part with this decision is that I miss having something that can mark a moment as special. A nice dinner is one thing, but drinks? Drinks are a little extra, a little frivolous, and make it feel like it’s the real thing – whether for a birthday, a holiday, or even just celebrating being together on a Tuesday evening after work.

You probably see where this is going – it seems obvious, but what I’ve learned is that the drinks don’t have to have alcohol to create a special moment. Lucky for all of us who are looking to drink less, we live in a time when non-alcoholic (NA) drinks are becoming more popular and more… how do I say this? Good. Like, good-tasting. There are so many options out there that are genuinely exciting and create that same “this is special” moment that you’d get from a cocktail or a glass of wine.

So with a deep love for special moments and five years of NA beer tasting experience under our belts, here’s a list of the NA beers that we love best.

I poured them all out so you can see the color and clarity a bit better, and photographed them all in my good old scratched-up IKEA beer glass and we can feel like we’re tasting together. Enjoy!