Whether you’re avoiding alcohol this month, you’re limiting your intake or you just want to enjoy happy hour without worrying about hangovers, there have never been more options.
is home to the Monday night Joggers and Lagers running club, Tuesday’s Beer Yoga sessions, and the monthly Pedals and Pints cycling group. In December, it hosted a fitness class called Burpees and Brews. It’s no surprise, then, that customers at one of the region’s most decorated breweries are conscious about what they’re consuming.Port City founder Bill Butcher says he’s heard requests for beers that are low-alcohol, gluten-free, low-carb and low-calorie.
One surprise: The first nonalcoholic release from a brewery inside the Beltway doesn’t resemble a beer at all. Instead, Hopwell is a crystal-clear sparkling water flavored with two varieties of hop extracts. “A lot of that had to do with what the team wanted,” Butcher explains. “A lot of our co-workers are not drinking NA beers, but they are drinking hop water,” the style of hop-infused nonalcoholic seltzer made popular by Lagunitas and other craft brewers.
In your glass, Hopwell is a bright, fizzy beverage that resembles a familiar La Croix or Spindrift. What sets it apart is flavor: Instead of sweet, ripe fruit, Hopwell has tropical citrus notes in the nose, and its body is dry and grassy, with refreshing citrus highlights. Butcher says the brewers settled on a combination of Amarillo, a hop used in previous Port City beers, such as Essential Pale Ale, and Lemondrop, which was suggested by Adam Reza, the director of brewing operations. While that variety hadn’t been used in previous Port City brews, “Lemondrop just gave it that citrus bite that we were going for,” Butcher says.
Hopwell is available in six-packs at the brewery and a small selection of craft beer stores, as well as delivery within a six-mile radius of the brewery. Butcher says they’re taking things slowly, making two batches — roughly 500 cases — per month, and may even try different hop combinations in the future. “We’re really happy with the quality, but we will continue to experiment and we’ll continue to try different blends and see where that takes us.
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