Lagunitas Brewing joins sober segment with new no-alcohol craft brew

Lagunitas Brewing joins sober segment with new no-alcohol craft brew

Lagunitas Brewing Co. of Petaluma made its mark in the craft beer industry with hoppy beers that pack a punch.

Its flagship India pale ale has an alcohol content of 6.2%, while its Little Sumpin' Sumpin ale weighs in at 7.5%. Its recent popular IPA, Super Cluster, pushed the alcohol content to 8%. And there’s the annual specialty release of Waldos' Special Ale, with a whopping 11.7%, near the level of many local wines.

With its latest brew Lagunitas has gone in the opposite direction for the slightly irreverent brewery known for its stoner-friendly vibe. Released on Dec. 1, IPNA beer contains no alcohol while retaining a full-bodied flavor of Mosaic and Citra hops.

Lagunitas head brewmaster Jeremy Marshall called the less potent craft brew “all pleasure, no guilt” by placing the focus on a detailed hop selection that came out of Washington's Yakima Valley. The project has been under development for a year and was initially taste tested by customers at the Petaluma taproom and they gave it mostly positive reviews.

The goal for Lagunitas, owned by Heineken International, the world’s second-largest beer producer, was to make a nonalcoholic beer that people would actually want to drink rather than mock like Anheuser-Busch’s O’Douls that one critic labeled “liquid sadness.”