Untangling First Impressions

Wotcha!

I mentioned the cider guide I’m putting together in last week’s issue, and a friend of the newsletter reached out to make sure I’d included a ciderhouse local to them. It turned out I already had it on my list.

But it got me thinking: if any of you have a local ciderhouse making adult non-alcoholic cider, please let me know by hitting reply and sending me the details. I have a strong list but I’m sure a few will slip through. So I’d love to hear from you.

Enjoy some great drinks this week,

Myles

In last week’s issue (MODSUB151), No Smoke Without Fire, this link got the most attention.

In this week’s edition:

NAN
New NA Drink News

BEER(ISH)
CocoLager

BEER
Crazy Mountain - Original

Read time: 5 minutes 8 seconds

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NORTH AMERICA

COCKTAILS: While I was away on my extended break this summer, I missed the news that NKD Distillery had launched a range of functional RTDs! The three new Nakies are Botanical G&T, Kentucky Highball and Ranch Water. (Link)

WINE: Sarah Jessica Parker’s collaboration with New Zealand winery Invivo is bringing its Invivo X SJP Zero Sauvignon Blanc to the U.S. (Link)

WORLDWIDE

BEER: Three new functional magnesium beers from the UK’s Goodrays, in collaboration with Brewgooder. Look out for Golden Lager, Lemon Lager and Grapefruit Lager. (Link)

COCKTAILS: Here’s a new one from Sapporo Brewing. The Japanese brewery is expanding its Koishibori sour range with a limited-edition 0.00% Cassis Orange cocktail. (Link)

BEER: Australian brewery Young Henrys is putting out its first non-alc beer, Booze-Less. (Link)

BEER

ModSub thoughts: Summing up this last weekend, one word comes to mind—mad. Not mad as in angry, but mad as in a tad bonkers.

On Saturday night, we were down in Central Oregon at Hayden Homes Amphitheater, in my opinion, one of the best music venues in the Pacific Northwest. We were there to take ModSub Jnr and her friend to see Empire of the Sun. Now, I’m into music in a big way, having worked in the industry back in my twenties and thirties, and I try to stay in touch with what is going on. But I had most definitely not done my homework on this band. Three songs in, and I had no idea what to make of the glam electro-synth pop and space-age, on-a-different-planet theatrics unfolding in front of my eyes. The androgynous vocals, futuristic stage dancers, the singer’s costume changes, his hat, the huge stage props and otherworldly videos playing in the background—all left my jaw agape. The kids around us were completely lost in it, and fair play to them. But as we walked out of the venue mid-encore, with the band playing Alive, hoping to get a head start on the traffic, we all agreed: “That was mad!”

So it seemed fitting, on my return to Portland the next day, to dive into something else that seemed, on the face of it, also a little bit mad—CocoLager. I won’t lie, when CocoLager was launched in July, I had to read the press release twice to make sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks on me. Coconut water and lager combined, you say? Surely not. But it turns out that is exactly what it is, and you know what? It’s pretty darn fabulous.

To be fair, I do love coconut water, and I’ve had a long history with lager, but I can’t imagine in a million years I would have thought to combine the two. Still, I’m so glad someone smarter than me gave it a whirl, though. And honestly, it’s pretty pointless me cashing in words to describe the taste because it’s exactly what it says on the label. The front end has the sweet nuttiness of the coconut water, which lingers long enough for the baton to be passed to the clean, bright malts and hops of the lager. It’s a drink with two parts that seem unlikely partners and yet undoubtedly form a delightful chemistry. It’s still a mad drink in my mind, but I’ll take the crazy when it tastes this good.

Besides, given the world we’re currently living in, maybe some synth-pop escapism followed by some coconut water mixed with lager is just what we all need to take our minds off things.

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Taste It Fresh

BEER

ModSub thoughts: Let’s get the important part out of the way. Crazy Mountain Original is a fine non-alcoholic lager. It holds up. But so do fistfuls of other non-alcoholic lagers. If someone plops a can down in front of me, I’m going to drink it. If it’s the only NA beer on the menu when I go to a bar, I’m going to order it.

Do I support the idea of it, though? No.

Crazy Mountain is the latest project from Rande Gerber, Mike Feldman and George Clooney. Yes, that George Clooney. And yes, the same trio that brought you the highly successful Casamigos tequila. And yes, the same tequila company bought by Diageo for a reported $1 billion. I have no opinion on this. Well played and good luck to them. That’s business. I do, however, have an opinion on the same trio entering the non-alcoholic market with, from what I can see—and forgive me for being blunt here—nothing but dollar signs lighting up their eyes.

We all know there’s been a plethora of celebrities entering this space in the last five years. They’ve mostly come with a story about why they’ve put their name behind their non-alcoholic beverages. Some have resonated, while others have rung just a little hollow. This non-alcoholic beer, company, project—who knows what they’re calling it—falls into the latter bucket with a heavy thud.

Of course, there doesn’t have to be a deeply personal story behind every non-brewery-affiliated NA beer launch, but some kind of authenticity beyond what this really is would be welcome. Instead, we’re left with tired marketing copy appealing to "good times and clear minds", Americana branding that leaves me just asking "why?" and an unsurprising PR avalanche riding on the coattails of the actor involved.

What I suppose I’m really trying to get at here is my frustration at watching yet another celebrity jump on the bandwagon of this young industry. Elbowing their way to a place at the table when I know they’ll be taking shelf space from founders who have worked very hard to earn their one row of 6-packs in your local cooler and achieving it with barely two pennies to rub together.

I know, I know, that’s the drinks business. That’s business, full stop. I don’t have to like it, though, even if I don't mind what's in the can.

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Coming soon!