'Tastes are changing': NJ brewery releasing no-alcohol Hopped Water during dry January

Let’s raise a glass to Dry January.

The annual month-long abstinence from alcohol began in the United Kingdom in 2013. Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Company of Cherry Hill is making sure local craft beer aficionados have a drinking option that has plenty of hoppy flavor but no calories, no sugar, no carbohydrates and no alcohol.

Hopped Water, now available, is an India Pale Ale alternative a long time in the making, according to Forgotten Boardwalk owner Jamie Queli, who first considered brewing a non-alcoholic beer months ago.

“I started to do some R&D on it, and I quickly discovered that I just don’t like non-alcoholic beer,” Queli said. “And part of that is I’m a fitness nut and very health-conscious, and drinking a non-alcoholic beer without any of the sort of boozy effects was not appealing to me. It was just empty calories that I was putting into my body for no reason.”

Forgotten Boardwalk’s Hopped Water is similar to the zero-calorie offerings such as Lagunitas Brewing Co.’s Hoppy Refresher and Sierra Nevada’s Hop Splash sparkling hop waters.

“They’re super fascinating,” Queli said of the hoppy seltzer concept. “They’re no-calorie, there’s no carbohydrates, there’s no sugars. They give you all the hoppy bite. So I just kind of pushed forward. I said, ‘I want to develop this. I think it’s a really interesting product and no one on the East Coast is really doing it.’ "

Queli shared her thoughts on why breweries at both a local and national level have been embracing low-ABV beers, non-alcoholic beers and hoppy seltzers in recent years.

“Consumer tastes are changing, for sure,” she said. “I think a lot of younger people aren’t drinking as much. I think that because we put so much of our lives on social media, sobriety has sort of taken over also, which is great. And I think there’s a lot of health problems that people maybe can’t drink (because of). So I think that having these options and having no-ABV, low-ABV options is better for your brand, better for your portfolio.”

Development of Hopped Water began in earnest in May 2022, with the Forgotten Boardwalk team going through between 25 and 35 test batches before settling on a final product. It was "a humbling experience," Queli said.

The result, utilizing Hopsteiner’s Sultana hop is now available in the Forgotten Boardwalk tasting room, and is being distributed in cans to retail locations in New Jersey and Philadelphia. Customers will also be able to purchase it directly from the brewery online starting this week.

“We’re having a lot of people come (to the tasting room) that I haven’t seen in a really long time because they gave up drinking for one reason for another who are popping back in,” Queli said. “And it’s been really, really cool. We’ve gotten thanked by a lot of people for making the product, too. So it’s fun to watch (it) being taken off of our shelves.”

Go: Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Company, 1940 Olney Ave., Cherry Hill; forgottenboardwalk.squarespace.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ brewery releasing no-alcohol Hopped Water during dry January