An N/A Bar Crawl On Atlanta’s Beltline Trail
Photo by Christopher T. Martin (via beltline.org)
A rare N/A bar crawl opportunity awaits on Atlanta’s Eastside Beltline trail
As the non-alcoholic revolution continues to gain steam, one thing remains elusive - the ability to find a string of drinking establishments with multiple N/A beer options within a ‘crawlable’ distance. Even more rare? Finding N/A beer that is consistently on draft. Today we highlight one such unicorn on both fronts - a section of Atlanta’s famed Eastside Beltline Trail that features two bars with draft-ready N/A beer, as well as one of Georgia’s first N/A beers from a brewery otherwise focused on ‘leaded’ beers.
We start our N/A tour at Brewdog Atlanta, currently the brewery chain’s southernmost outpost. In addition to a robust selection of draft beers, this location features a full menu of monster burgers, hot wings, and a bevy of plant-based dishes. During our visit we headed straight for the bar. We’ve seen their menu board feature up to three different N/A drafts – all for five bucks – but on this day they had both their Elvis AF, and Punk AF on draft. We went for the Elvis, which is essentially a grapefruit IPA style beer. Very refreshing, and it seemed as though our bartender was pretty accustomed to pouring N/A beers for customers.
Next, we get back on the trail and head just a block or so north to Hop City Craft Beer and Wine, which features both a bottle shop and adjacent beer bar. In the latter, a dedicated N/A tap rotates between Untitled Arts and Athletic Brewing Company beers, obviously two of the larger players in the space. On the day of our visit they were featuring UA’s Italian-style Pilsner, and we promptly order one up. “This beer still has .5% alcohol in it, is that okay?”, the bartender asks. It suddenly occurs to me that as many people continue to become aware of N/As and what they’re about, this is an important question for people who may assume N/A means zero alcohol, when in most cases, it does not.
After finishing our draft at the bar, we head into the bottle shop to check out their selection of N/A beers, including some in a small section of the ‘Singles’ cooler in back of the store. Scanning across multiple options, we select a Sober Carpenter White, and head to an outdoor area with some tables to enjoy the warm late summer breeze. At this point we’re on our third different N/A beer, two of them on draft, without having even left the block of Krog Street between Edgewood Avenue and Irwin Street. Not too bad.
For the final stop on our tour, we check out New Realm Brewing Company, known by locals as an anchor Beltline brewery since their opening in 2016. While Lawrenceville-based Rightside Brewing Company opened Georgia’s first N/A-only brewery in 2021, New Realm is believed to have been the first ‘fully-leaded’ Georgia brewery to launch an N/A, with the release of its N/A IPA earlier in 2023, just in time for Dry January. While not currently available on draft in the taproom, the beer is still available in the company store, as well as in beer and bottle shops around town. But to wrap up our visit, we simply pay homage to those making the Eastside Beltline an NA-friendly corridor, with more sure to come.