To a lot of beer drinkers — non-alcoholic beer equals no taste and no fun. But a team at Niagara College developed a lager that has no alcohol, but with a craft beer taste. And there are no hangovers or chances of driving drunk.

The hoppiness and unique tastes of craft beers are what make them so popular these days. So when we heard about a non-alcoholic craft beer, we were a little skeptical. We spent the day at a brewery at Niagara-on-the-Lake to get to the bottom of this.

It pours like a beer, looks like a beer, smells like a beer – but it isn’t

“What is this?”

This is the first non-alcoholic craft beer on the market and it was developed right here at the Niagara College Teaching Brewery in conjunction with Mothers Against Drunk Driving — who already have a line of non-alcoholic drinks

Nigel Corish is a Niagara College research manager: “They had a non-alcolic beer product that they were not happy with. They wanted it retooled and wanted it to come to market with a fresh approach.”

Not surprisingly, beer with no alcohol has a pretty bad reputation.

Becky Griffin is a Niagara College research associate: “Poppy, skunky, just a flavour that falls off your tongue, so you taste it one second and then it’s gone the next.”

So the opposite taste of a craft beer

Nigel Corish: “We’re trying to get to a zero point zero percent alcohol with all that craft flavour.”

And it happened, right here at the college’s Food and Wine Institute Research Centre. So how did these beer-ologists get the best of both worlds — craft taste with no hangover?

Becky Griffin: “It really is the advantage MADD virgin drinks has on its competitors so it’s not something we can give out.”

What they did give out, however, were samples of their new brew — about 500 at the Niagara Food and Wine Expo.

Becky Griffin: “We got an overwhelming response of people liking it and people would buy it, we knew we had a winner.”

The beer isn’t out in Canada yet, but it’s already bringing in all the awards. It won the gold medal at this year’s U.S. Open beer championships for a non-alcoholic beer, which means it tastes pretty good right? Our taste testers on the street seemed to agree.

Speaking of purchasing this craft beer, it’s currently on sale at Walgreens in the States but it will be available at Shoppers Drug Mart stores, Sobeys and Metro grocery stores here in Canada very soon.