The newest kid on the non-alcoholic beer block (just behind Best Day Brewing) is Rationale Brewing, based out of California. Rationale currently offers three non-alcoholic brews, which the company sent me to sample recently; all contain less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume (as per legal definition), and the 16-ounce cans include calorie counts as well.

The company’s origins echo many of the other non-alcoholic brewers in the market, leaning into the “active lifestyle” angle:

Rationale Brewing started off as a conversation between my family & a few friends about making rational choices around alcohol consumption and the moderation that was not only possible, but necessary.

We, like many, share a love of enjoying local micro craft beers at social gatherings, at the end of a long day, or following an epic surf session. However, so often, that enjoyment also came with the inner conflict of aspiring to an alcohol conscious lifestyle of moderation knowing the impact the alcohol had on our mind and bodies.

We had yet to find an incredibly delicious non-alcoholic craft beer that looked and tasted like our favorite local brews. This is where the Universe intervened and guided us to a local craft brewery in Sonoma, CA that specialized in brewing small batches of non-alcoholic craft beer (which ended up being the best we’d ever tasted). We ended up partnering together and launched Rationale Brewing!

I’m always interested in learning about the process these companies follow to produce non-alcoholic beer, and Rationale offers up a page on it—containing minimal information aside from this graphic:

This seems to indicate a post-fermentation process, possibly reverse osmosis or some other (proprietary?) method. Depending on the accuracy of this graphic (perhaps take it with a grain of salt) I’m not clear on how the “essence” is removed prior to the removal of ethanol, but that latter step almost sounds like a form of distillation. The de-alcoholized liquid appears to be recombined with the “essence” for the final product.

(Frankly, that paragraph I just wrote reads a bit fantastical. Alchemy?)

The three NA beers currently offered are a west coast IPA, a hazy IPA with citrus, and a Mexican-style lager. Let’s get to them!

Original Rationale West Coast IPA

This west coast IPA-styled brew features 60 calories per 16-ounce can, and the website also indicates 12 grams of carbs. The description highlights bitterness:

A throwback to that OG West Coast IPA that first lit up you pallet with bitter hops balanced by notes of citrus & pine…without the booze!

Appearance: Golden color, unfiltered, active carbonation with a fluffy white head.

Smell: Earthy, piney, with some hop stems and slight woodiness. Touch of a dank aroma, it’s very light, with some hay or dried grass. Not much in the way of malts or grains in the nose, other than some cracker, but maybe a touch of wort.

Taste: Barley tea with a big bitter character that’s a touch woody and medicinal. A grain character that’s a bit like whole barley like you’d find in a soup (barley beef or vegetable…). Hops are a bit like chewing on pine bark. No worty flavors, it just comes off as a bit over-steeped with raw grains and hops.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, a bit thin, with a touch of hop astringency and a dry finish.

Overall: Light and quite bitter with an over-steeped quality which needs tinkering, but there are no under-fermented characters here which is good. Decent showing overall for a new company.

Totally Rational Citrus Hazy IPA

Totally Rational is a bit heftier than Original Rationale, with 85 calories per 16-ounce can and 16 grams of carbs (according to the website). The description says:

A crushable Hazy, grapefruit-forward brew with a bitter citrus bite from fresh hops to enjoy at a work happy hour or out enjoying the sunshine

For some reason I had it in my head that there was citrus fruit or juice added to this beer, but I must have made that up—I can’t find any reference to such (other than how it tastes), and I double-checked the can for fine print to be sure. Maybe I got it from my own impressions and notes (keep reading to see what I mean).

Appearance: Pretty cloudy/murky, a brownish-orange color, I don’t want to say “slurry” but it’s kind of slurry-looking. Ample white head.

Smell: Orange peel and zest, a bit of tangerine marmalade—it’s quite citrusy actually! That’s the dominant aroma I get; there could be some Cream of Wheat cereal underneath that.

Taste: Juicy and wheaty with some toasted oats and citrus pith, orange oil, fresh-squeezed orange or tangerine with a spritz of lemon. It’s thin but doesn’t otherwise taste non-alcoholic, nor are the hops out of balance. Bright flavors, impressive for an NA beer.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body that’s still got a lightly watery feel to it, but the haze proteins give some chewiness and depth.

Overall: It’s better than some “real” hazies I’ve had; I’d be surprised if there wasn’t fruit added.

Rational Vibes Cerveza

This Mexican-style NA lager features 60 calories per 16-ounce can, though the website doesn’t list any other nutritional information as it does for the other two beers. The description says:

A classic Mexican lager with a crisp and refreshing flavor to quench your thirst, whether paired with tacos or at the beach with friends

Appearance: Slightly haze golden color, with a crisp white head.

Smell: Lightly doughy, grainy aroma with raw corn and a slight tangy note kind of like crushed greens, or even lightly fermenting sprouted grains. Dusty grain kernels, no hops character. No non-alcoholic “marker” aromas either, however.

Taste: Bread dough with a hint of sourdough, dusty/old grains and chaff, with earthy, grassy notes that are probably hops. It’s dry which probably contributes to the “dusty” character. Dried corn, and it has a bit of a “corn tea” impression. Still nothing to indicate an NA beer by flavor.

Mouthfeel: Light body, very slight tanginess, with a dry finish.

Overall: This is almost musty? Hard to get a handle on it, but there is no detectable non-alcoholic character than I can find.

Conclusions

All three of these non-alcoholic beers are worthy additions to the overall NA lineup, particularly for a new company, with Totally Rational Citrus Hazy IPA the clear winner—I’ll repeat what I wrote above about it: It’s better than some real/alcoholic hazy IPA that I’ve had.

There are some recipe or process kinks to work out with the other two, but Rationale is definitely on the right track.