In July 2002, after sampling and reviewing over a dozen wheat beers for the New York Instances, our Food52 co-founder Amanda Hesser got here to the following conclusion: “A superb wheat beer will be very similar to an excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. Each can have quite a lot of physique and complexity and a parade of vivid flavors.”
Twenty years—and some dozen taste parades—later, Amanda finds herself collaborating on a model new wonderful wheat brew: Right this moment, Food52 and NA craft beer firm Athletic Brewing are launching Host & Toast—a limited-run, non-alcoholic Belgian-style white beer.
Photograph by James Ransom
Amanda, a self-described “beer nerd,” stated Host & Toast goals to unravel a December-specific downside. “A whole lot of vacation brews lean in direction of emphasizing a taste that individuals affiliate with the vacations, versus one thing that you’d wish to drink with vacation meals,” she advised me. “Vacation meals tends to be wealthy and a bit of on the heavy aspect—so we wished to create a brew that counteracted that with acidity and a few spice.”
When selecting a companion to assist create her perfect vacation brew, Amanda didn’t need to transcend her kitchen. “We all the time have Athletic in our fridge at residence,” she says, “and we really feel like they’ve been probably the most fascinating non-alcoholic brewery—the one which’s created the highest quality brews and most dynamic iterations.”
To get Host & Toast off the bottom, Amanda first met with Athletic Brewing co-founder and Chief Product Officer, John Walker on the non-alcoholic stalwart’s flagship brewery in Milford, Connecticut. “It smells superb there,” Amanda stated. “It really smells like grain—you’re feeling such as you’re in a silo.”
Throughout her go to, John and Amanda landed on the brew type in addition to its main flavors. “We settled on a brew with Meyer Lemon and Grains of Paradise,” Amanda stated, citing Meyer Lemon’s floral notes and Grains of Paradise pepperiness as every ingredient’s power.
From there, John and his crew went to work—mixing up an preliminary batch of the Belgian-style NA beer in order that he, Amanda, and Food52’s common supervisor, Jojo (one other beer fanatic), may overview their idea. “It was good, however we each agreed it wanted extra chunk,” John advised me.
So, John’s crew doubled the Grains of Paradise, brewed one other batch, and, once more, despatched it out for overview. This time, they nailed it—reworking Amanda’s imaginative and prescient into one thing you may crack, pour, and sip at any vacation feast or gathering. And the most effective half? It may be combined into an NA cocktail, too.
And since we’re Food52, we created a number of recipes—two NA cocktails and one brew-glazed ham with biscuits—so you may work Host & Toast into your vacation occasion schedule all season lengthy. All of them begin with—what else?—a crisp can of Host & Toast.
Athletic Brewing Firm, LLC. Milford, CT, and San Diego, CA. Close to Beer. <0.5% alc/vol.
