The Best NA Beers Made in Oregon

A few years ago, you’d have been lucky to find a palatable nonalcoholic beer at your grocery store. Today, you can find entire coolers devoted to them. Always at the forefront of sudsy trends, Oregon has embraced the NA ale and boozeless lager, with historic breweries releasing NA versions of classic labels and entirely alcohol-free operations opening around the state. Below, find a summer’s worth of cans to keep in the ice chest.

Heck Gentle Persuasion

New kid on the Portland block, Heck Brewing crafts exclusively NA suds, and its Gentle Persuasion proves you don’t need alcohol to be a patio pounder. Notes of golden honey and white flowers ring across the palate to hops’ gentle beat. Drink it on a sunny afternoon, preferably on a porch or in a garden.

Migration Ripped IPA

The NA NW IPA is the last great hurdle in booze-free beermaking. The style’s thunderous flavors rely on alcohol to help them cohere; tackling a nonalcoholic version often results in cacophony. But Migration’s valiant attempt, the Ripped IPA, hits all the best notes: caramelly malt, piney hops, and hints of citrus. It might not fool die-hard IPA drinkers, but it comes astoundingly close.

Roaming Nobles Pils

After years living (and drinking) in Germany, Roaming Nobles’ founders developed the closest approximation to Pacific Northwest takes on Central European beers they could, while keeping the alcohol under 0.5 percent. In one of the brewery’s first releases, Oregon hops join Czech malt in this dry, fruity, and ever-so-slightly bitter lager. It’s everything you want from a pilsner, with no risk of a hangover.

Deschutes Black Butte Non-Alcoholic

One of Oregon’s most famous porters now has an alcohol-free version. Bend-based Deschutes took its decades-old recipe and produced a faithful, boozeless recreation, with its ever-present chocolaty malt and acerbic bite. It deserves a real glass so you can contemplate the thick, pale head and dark brown depths.