Why NA beers are never on tap

The Sierra Nevada Brewery Experience 🍺

Do you ever wonder why non-alcoholic beers are always served from the can? Because I can assure you it's not due to lack of care or ignorance to the sober community for that matter. It's not to make you feel different or exclude you, but really to ensure we are drinking the best quality brew every time.

Come along while I take you on a tour and show you the ins and outs of the legendary Sierra Nevada Brewery while we take a hot second to focus on their very own NA line suitable for anyone, not just someone who happens to be sober.

Sierra Nevada Brewery | Chico, California

I personally reached out to Sierra Nevada Brewery to further indulge my learnings around the brewery community and explore how non-alcoholic beers differed than regular beers, aside for the fact that one clearly has <.5% alcohol over the others.

Fun fact:
“Non-alcoholic” beverages can still legally contain a small amount of alcohol because the label usually means below a regulatory threshold, not literally zero.

In the United States, drinks labeled “non-alcoholic” are generally allowed to contain up to 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). That includes many alcohol-removed beers, kombuchas, and some fermented drinks.

Here’s why that happens:

Fermentation naturally creates alcohol.
Beer, wine, kombucha, kefir, and similar drinks are made with yeast, which converts sugars into alcohol and CO₂. Even when manufacturers remove alcohol later, tiny residual amounts often remain.
It’s difficult and expensive to remove every trace.
Alcohol-removal methods (vacuum distillation, reverse osmosis, etc.) reduce ABV dramatically, but getting to a true 0.0% requires stricter processing and testing.
0.5% ABV is very low.
For context:
- Regular beer: ~4–6% ABV
- Orange juice can naturally contain ~0.1–0.5% from fermentation
- Some breads and ripe fruits also contain trace alcohol
  
  For funsies and overall knowledge with what you're consuming, always check the label 🍺

Sierra Nevada offers several tours starting with your basic knowledge on brews that eventually build up to bigger learning opportunities for the Beer Geeks of the world. Of course, my initial idea was owning the geekiest parts about me but after careful considerations, the non-alcoholic tour was the right direction for me.

🌿 A NEW sustainability tour has just opened up showcasing all the tiny details that lead to monumental changes that benefit our Mother Earth if you are considering opening that door. Less waste, more resourceful practices.

Those giant copper kettles right by the gift shop are kind of the heart of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Ken Grossman found the original copper brewhouse equipment in Germany and had it shipped over piece by piece to Chico and rebuilt here. Which fits his whole personality being that he was this super outdoorsy, engineer-minded tinkerer who was constantly welding, fabricating, and modifying equipment himself.

He was deeply influenced by backpacking and the outdoors which is why the brewery itself is named after the Sierra Nevada because he loved hiking there.
THIS right here 🥹🌲 an even more intimate reason to feel connection over consumption.

yes you are allowed to touch those buttons (:

Hops are the flowers that give beer a lot of its aroma and bitterness. When you break them apart, they get super sticky because of the yellow resin inside, called lupulin 👈which contains the oils and compounds brewers actually want.

Fun fact:
it’s not really pollen making them sticky. It’s the lupulin glands. Those tiny yellow, resinous pockets inside the hop cone.

That sticky resin is where all the intense aromas come from. Citrus, pine, tropical fruit, grass, spice 👌 that really pungent smell commonly referred to as DANK

What's really cool is you actually do get to explore all the nooks and crannies of Sierra Nevada Brewery on the tour. My tour guide described this place as the "Winchester Mystery House" because they really do have staircases leading nowhere or basically in one big circle taking you right to where you started. There are doors leading places that don't even serve a purpose and dark corners that are actually mean to remain dark. What fun that they open the door to this madness lol

My favorite part of the experience? The elite food options at their restaurant conveniently located right next to the Big Room so when you are finished with your tour, you can nourish yourself with some much-needed fuel.

I thought it was really nifty how this turned out to be quite the meeting spot for friends and families to get together. I watched older generations meet for their weekly girl's night just like how I watched young families stopping for a bite to eat. I even caught a graduation party with SO many smiling faces.

Notice how a brewery is not designed to erase memories of our experiences, but to honor them and hold them closer in our hearts.

So why are non-alcoholic beers canned and never on tap?

Well, non-alcoholic beer can technically be put on draft, but it’s much less common because it’s harder to keep stable, safe, and consistent once it leaves the package.

NA beer is usually canned instead of on draft because it’s more fragile. Without alcohol acting as a preservative, it’s more sensitive to microbes, oxygen, and temperature changes. Cans let breweries seal in freshness and carbonation so every drink tastes exactly as intended.

Key facts: 👇

🦠 1. Microbial safety (the big one)

Alcohol normally acts as a mild preservative. Even though NA beer is under 0.5% ABV, it doesn’t have the same protection as regular beer.

Basically,

It’s more vulnerable to yeast, bacteria, and spoilage organisms
A draft system (long lines, taps, kegs sitting warm or partially used) increases contamination risk
Once contaminated, it can turn sour or “off” much faster than regular beer

Breweries prefer sealed cans or bottles where they control the environment.

💨 2. Carbonation control

Draft beer relies on keg pressure systems. NA beer is trickier because:

It often has different carbonation behavior than regular beer
It can lose “bite” faster in draft lines
Foam stability can be inconsistent depending on how it’s poured

Cans lock in carbonation at the brewery, so every pour is predictable.

🚚 3. Distribution + consistency

NA beer is often marketed to people who care about precision (driving, health, sobriety, etc.), so consistency matters more.

Cans guarantee:

same carbonation every time
same aroma preservation
no variation from tap system maintenance

The Trail Pass series was honestly one of the easiest parts of the experience. No pressure because Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. did all the hard work creating beers for people who still want the ritual, the taste, and the social side of beer culture without alcohol needing to be at the center of it. It felt intentional, not like an afterthought.

Meet the lineup:

🍋 Trail Pass Brewveza — super light, citrusy, refreshing, and honestly feels the most “summer day outside” to me.
Think Modelo

🌾 Trail Pass Golden — closest to a classic easy-drinking beer. Crisp, clean, mellow, and probably the easiest intro for someone trying NA beer for the first time.
Think Coors Banquit

🌲 Trail Pass IPA — still has the hop character and bitterness you’d expect from an IPA, but way more balanced and approachable than a lot of alcoholic IPAs.
Think Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

🍺 Trail Pass Hazy IPA — softer, fruitier, smoother mouthfeel. Definitely the one I’d hand to someone who says they usually like juicy beers.
Think Hazy Little Thing

Fun fact:
Trail Pass Hazy IPA received the Golden Award in 2025 which basically means this beer was voted by brew master's big and small without even an interest in the alcohol contents and purely the taste alone.

Did you know Sierra Nevada Brewery hosts local artists started from spring through the end of the year?

So I suppose my question is this. Would you rather go to a bar with the intention to drink until you forget or perhaps a brewery where you have the opportunity to learn, grow and feel entertained without completely forgetting?

Solo or not, it might be worth exploring at least one time or two. Don't you think?

Thank you joining me while we figure out this thing called life together! It's not always easy but I think more than once in a while it can be genuinely fun.