Cider as Art, Art as Cider

Wotcha!

In the last week, I’ve seen a beverage distributor’s truck fully wrapped with an Athletic Brewing advertisement.

I’ve also seen Athletic Brewing advertised on the LED perimeter boards at a local major league sports venue — the same franchise it took me and others two years to persuade to stock the beer.

The wider world is catching on.

Enjoy some great drinks this week.

Myles

In this week’s edition:

NAN
New NA Drink News

BEER
Founders - Nonetheless Golden

CIDER
Proxies - Dry Cider

Read time: 5 minutes 46 seconds

From this week’s sponsor:

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More and more consumers are turning to "functional beverages" to improve their wellbeing and peace of mind.

Drinks that promote focus, relaxation and provide clean energy, and help you fall asleep are a growing part of the adult non-alcoholic category that we review at The Modern Substitute.

If you're interested in finding your function check out The Zero Proof's collection of over 60 non-alc functional beverages from popular brands like Kin, De Soi, Brez and Dromme.

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FUNCTIONAL TONIC: Colorado’s Ska Brewing has launched a trio of low-dose, hemp-derived THC social tonics. (Link)

BEER: Up in Olympia, Self Care is getting ready to release Gearhead IPA. (Link)

COCKTAIL: The long-anticipated release of not one but two handmade RTDs from (parenthesis) is here. Look out for Before Dusk and After Midnight — plus a bonus (parenthezine) if you order directly. (Link)

BEER: Not a new beer, but a new way of drinking it: Athletic Brewing has debuted Emerald Cliffs with nitrogen infusion. (Link)

WINE: If you had asked me to guess what the next offering from Curious Elixirs would be, I never would have guessed a red wine. Curious Red is out now! (Link)

BEER: Brazilians attending Carnival this year will be among the first to try Skol’s new Zero Zero. (Link)

BEER

ModSub’s thoughts: I was working with a couple on a particularly tricky real estate transaction over the Christmas holidays. It was one of those deals that felt like one step forward, two steps back—though thankfully for all concerned, it had a happy ending. They move into their new home this week.

Over the holidays, they had driven back to Michigan to spend extended time with their family. When I wasn’t focused on their transaction, I spent the final week of December putting the finishing touches on the NA Craft Beer Directory, scoffing mince pies, and enjoying an extended period of self-congratulation over how well my Beef Wellington had turned out on the 25th.

Then it dawned on me: they’re in Michigan. Founders Brewing is in Michigan. They’ve just released a new non-alc beer. Hmmm.

I sent them a text: “You aren’t anywhere near Grand Rapids, are you?”

Five minutes later I got a reply: “Lol, that’s where we’re staying. Why?” And that’s how I got my hands on a six-pack of the new Nonetheless Golden from Founders Brewing, kindly delivered to me in Portland all the way from Michigan.

Founders Brewing is quite the success story. Started back in the late ’90s, the fledgling brewery was part of an early wave of brewers helping the city establish itself as Beer City USA. An early flirtation with bankruptcy was the wake-up call the two founders, Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers, needed to put the brewery on track toward the success it enjoys today as one of the largest craft breweries in the country.

Instead of making beer for what they thought people wanted, they decided to make beer for themselves. The slogan “Brewed for Us” was born, and they created beers with bold, complex flavors that immediately grabbed the public’s attention.

Nonetheless Golden sees the brewery pivot once again with its first non-alcoholic beer, embracing a new wave of drinkers looking for a tasty, light beer without the alcohol. Expect bready malts with a touch of citrus from the hops and balanced carbonation. It goes down with ease, and you’ll find yourself reaching for another just minutes after opening the first.

They don’t sell online, but they are widely distributed across the country, and hopefully NA Beer Club picks them up soon. Founders may just have to ramp up production of Nonetheless Golden in the coming months because this golden lager has “summer beer” written all over it.

How Founders Brewing describes Nonetheless Golden: When you want beer with no alcohol but all the fun and flavor—say, NonethelessThis refreshing full flavored golden is light and easy drinking with a kiss of citrus. With Nonetheless, the lack of alcohol won’t stop your tastebuds from enjoying the fun of the party.

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CIDER

ModSub’s thoughts: Months of no non-alc ciders on the ModSub and now two in successive issues. It wasn’t planned that way, but a can of Proxies Dry Cider kinda fell in my lap last week and, after trying it, there was no good reason to delay bringing it to you.

First things first, I have to give props to the can design. It’s stunning. I’m sure there are CPG awards out there for best design, and if this didn’t win something last year, then the artist can feel truly hard done by. I’m often blown away by the quality and creativity that goes into design in this space, but this is on another level. It is, quite simply, beautiful.

But is the cider just as well crafted? 

Taking a detour from their collection of wine alternatives, Proxies dropped Dry Cider last August. While at first it seemed a little out of left field, cider sits somewhere between wine and beer and is therefore not a million miles from the products they were already making.

It’s Proxies’ pursuit of building from the ground up that makes this cider so special, because it is so atypical of what you expect to come out of that gorgeous can. There are apples, for sure — obviously — but the addition of verjus (unfermented juice made from unripe wine grapes) draws the cider more toward wine while never entirely crossing the line. The acidity is high, giving the drink a delightful bite. There’s a little tang and a fair amount of tartness, but enough sweetness to keep both in check. Layered above all those flavors is a floral veil that lightly holds these sensational flavors together.

Both the can and the cider inside are works of contemporary art — one for the eyes and one for the mouth. We all lean in different directions when it comes to non-alcoholic drinks, and I can at times get overexcited by them. I will, however, risk accusations of hyperbole when I state that, of all the hundreds of drinks I have reviewed and otherwise sampled, Dry Cider is up there in my top three. Make of that what you will.

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How Proxies describes Dry Cider: The non-alc cider BevNet calls “one of the most convincing alcohol free products we’ve sampled.” By meshing apples with verjus, we’ve created a non-alc cider that remains as tart and serious as the real thing. Far from sparkling apple juice, our Dry Cider takes inspiration from our favorite farmhouse ciders, Spanish sidra and, and Normandy’s best brut bottles. Grab 12 full-size cans of our amazing new Dry Cider at a price that can’t be beat. Crisp, comlex, and entirely new.

Previously on the ModSub: Proxies Bubbly Rosé

EXTRA READS

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• Blog thumbnail photo credit: Anna Moreva