These favorite NA beers will leave you feeling great for that New Year's day ride

A green bottle of Clausthaler non-alcoholic beer sits on a moss-covered rock, accompanied by a blue bottle opener and a bottle cap. Surrounding the scene are fallen leaves and greenery, suggesting a natural outdoor setting.

Editor’s Note: Singletracks neither encourages nor condones underage alcohol consumption, alcohol abuse, or excessive drinking. If you’re underage according to local law, choose to abstain, or just can’t stand it when people geek out over beer, we ask that you choose another article to read.

Non-alcoholic beer has had a bad rap for many years, and rightly so. Up until recently, there were very few choices, and all of them tasted awful. Athletic Brewing founder Bill Shufelt was arguably the first to create and market a non-alcoholic beer that beer drinkers actually enjoyed, though it was no easy task. (Listen to this podcast interview to get the full story.)

Is Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer any Good for Mountain Bikers?

For those who enjoy the taste of beer, but not the after-affects, non-alcoholic beer can be a good option. I’ve been on a quest to find the best-tasting non-alcoholic beers over the past three years, and here are my tasting notes for 2024, along with my top-rated picks overall.

A can of Athletic Brewing Company's Wit’s Peak Belgian-style white beer, resting on a stack of stones with a blurred natural backdrop of trees. The can features colorful artwork depicting a winding road through a landscape. The text on the can highlights its non-alcoholic nature.

New-to-me NA beers in 2024

Athletic Atlética: As the brand that kickstarted the modern NA beer scene, Athletic continues to add new styles. Athletic Atlética is a Mexican cerveza-style lager that’s pretty true to the genre, with a smooth and light taste. I like a more flavorful beer, so this wasn’t one of my favorites.

Athletic Wit’s Peak: Wit’s Peak is a Belgian-style non-alcoholic beer that delivers that distinctive spiced banana taste, albeit a little watered down compared to the real thing. Out of the half dozen or more Athletic beers I’ve tasted, this is probably my second favorite.

Athletic Ripe Pursuit: Non-alcoholic radler-style brews are getting pretty far from “real” beer, but damned if they don’t taste delicious, especially after a hot ride. This one is fruity and sweet, but not overly so. I could easily chug a six-pack of these.

Clausthaler Original: Like Athletic, Clausthaler is a dedicated NA brewer. Based in Germany, the brand has a few offerings available in the US, which I first discovered last year. Their IPA is good, and this year I tried the Original, which I think tastes even closer to a regular beer. I’ve only seen Clausthaler Original in bottles, but it sounds like it may be available in cans too, which would be more convenient.

Clausthaler Grapefruit: This 50/50 blend of Clausthaler and “grapefruit drink” tastes a bit like a Spindrift sparkling water, just with a vaguely beer-like aftertaste. Like the Athletic Ripe Pursuit, these basically go down like Gatorade after a ride.

Deschutes Fresh Squeezed Non-Alcoholic: Fresh Squeezed is likely Deschutes’ best-known and/or best-selling beer, and the non-alcoholic version is a decent rendition. It’s hoppy and piney, but tastes drier and lighter than the original. This has quickly become one of my favorite NA beers overall.

Guinness Draught 0.0: I’m not a big Guinness drinker, but I have a lot of respect for the tradition around this brand. Guinness Draught 0.0 does a great job looking the part, right down to the way the carbonation settles after a pour. Regular Guinness doesn’t have a lot of flavor compared to hoppy craft beer anyway, so for me, the stripped-down NA version gets pretty close to the original.

Sierra Nevada Trail Pass IPA: Our regular Tuesday night mountain bike ride ends at the same pizza place every week, and we finally convinced the manager to stock an NA beer, Sierra Nevada Trail Pass Golden. Personally, I like the IPA version better than the Golden ale, but they’re both pretty decent. We still order pitchers of whatever’s on tap, but instead of drinking two regular beers after the ride, I feel a lot better the next day if I drink one regular beer and one NA beer.

Untitled Art Non-Alcoholic Orange Peel Wit: Untitled Art brews all kinds of beer, including at least seven different NA beers. Jason shared this one after a hot summer ride and I found the fruity, clean taste was exactly the thirst quencher I needed.

[More] Delicious Non-Alcoholic Beers to Get You Through Dry January

A can of Athletic Brewing Co. beer sits on a wooden stump in a green, outdoor setting, with a bicycle partially visible in the blurred background.

Overall favorites

I’m not done taste-testing NA beers by any means, and plan to try all the new ones I can get my hands on in 2025. Thus far in my quest, these stand out as my favorites overall.