Drink of the Week: Deschutes Brewery Non-Alcoholic Black Butte

Cracking open a can of the new Deschutes Brewery Non-Alcoholic Black Butte felt a bit like a historic moment. It wasn’t terribly long ago that the options in the category of non-alcoholic beer were both slim and uninspiring. But the Cambrian explosion of products in the alcohol-free sphere has introduced with it a wealth of brews, once derisively dubbed near-beer, that easily stand on their own. The category is packed with alcohol-free offerings from new NA-specific brewers and industry stalwarts alike. And the Bend, Oregon-based brewery Deschutes falls firmly in the latter camp.

Deschutes introduced the Black Butte Porter back in 1988. More than three decades later, the beer remains not just a flagship for the brewery, but one of the top-selling porters in the U.S. It’s fair to say the original has set a high bar for the newly released non-alcoholic Black Butte. Brewed using the same specialty malts and hops as the original, the alcohol-free iteration retains the rich, toasty, chocolate notes of the original with a pleasantly bitter backbone. In fact, when poured side-by-side, the beers were nearly indistinguishable. No longer does cutting out the alcohol mean having to forgo one of your favorites. See deschutesbrewery.com for distribution.