Bubbling Up: Why Breweries Are Betting on Hop Water | VinePair

Photo: Jeff Brown

Gone are the days when craft breweries could skate by on making beer alone. To meet the varied needs of today’s drinkers, breweries are producing wine, spirits, and alcohol-free beer and sparkling water spiked with everything from CBD to hops. In particular, the fizzy offspring of an IPA and LaCroix is becoming a popular NA option, helping breweries add familiar branches to their dry-hopped family trees.

“The hop water space was a natural extension for us,” says Justin Nix, the brand manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing in Chico, Calif., and Asheville, N.C. Last year, the brewery debuted the sparkling Hop Splash that’s flavored, like many of its IPAs, with Citra and Amarillo hops. “It’s another opportunity to highlight bright hop flavors.”

For VinePair, I take a deep look at how the hop water market is evolving.