During dry January, many breweries more heavily market and shelve their non-alcoholic options. From coffee to soda, they demonstrate their prowess beyond intoxicating substances. One of these has become a favorite with the Wall Brew staff, “hop water”. Multiple breweries have some version of this, though today we’re looking at Noon Whistle’s Hop Water. 

What the hop?

A quick definition for those who may not know, hop water essentially is a seltzer flavored with hops – in part or exclusively. While some breweries may also add a little yeast to these sometimes, the fact most have no sugar added means that fermentation cannot occur. In fact, these adhere closer to many dry January requirements even given that many other non-alcoholic beers still have some alcohol in them. 

Noon Whistle’s Hop Water

But what of our review? 

This thing is crushable. Hell, this article is only about 30% of the way through and I’m already over half-way done with it. 

As someone who is already a fan of seltzers like La Croix and whatever Costco has on sale, this beverage really does it for me. Light, extremely effervescent, and deliciously hopped, this no-guilt seltzer lets me participate in the age-old brewing tradition without needing to break my New Year’s Resolution to myself. 

What’s more, taking out the malt of a beer lets one appreciate this ingredient even more. Beer drinkers typically experience hops as a bundled, complex whole with everything else making up the beer. While not in a vacuum, the drinker can explore the hops themselves more undistracted than they otherwise would be. 

Mildly bitter. Slightly Floral. Lingering slickness. These are the first phrases that come to mind. 

It immediately makes me curious about the possibility of running a tap of rotating hop water with different hops to examine some of our favorite hops for brewing. What would a Saaz taste like? How about Jester or Galaxy? Mosaic could be amazing in this. 

As we’re about halfway through January, I’ll keep an eye out for other hop waters to review before the end of the month. Truthfully, this may become a staple within the house anyway – for those nights (or days) where I don’t feel like consuming alcohol but do want something more refreshing than water. 

My only complaint? I didn’t realize at the store that the four pack had a busted can in it – so I only had three instead of four.