The 5 Best Hops for Non-Alcoholic Beer

Not sure which hops to use in your next NA beer? Start with the varieties already driving the category's best-reviewed beers.

Last updated: September 22, 2026

Non-alcoholic beer is no longer a concession to sober guests. Beer Institute data shows 23% growth in NA beer sales through the first eight months of 2025, beer makes up 87% of non-alcohol sales in the U.S.,and 61% of consumers say they'd consider an NA option that tastes like their favorite beer.¹ It’s time to add a non-alcoholic beer (or two!) to your menu.

Breweries that take the category seriously are bringing in new customers and keeping existing ones at the bar longer. That only works if the beer actually tastes good, though. Consumers might not want the alcohol, but they still want the aroma, the flavor, and the mouthfeel. That starts with hop selection.

Today's NA category spans everything from pilsners and porters to stouts and sours, but hop-forward styles like the hazy IPA and West Coast IPA are where variety selection has the most direct impact on flavor and aroma.

Not sure which hops to use in your next NA beer? Learn about five hop varieties already driving some of the category's best-reviewed beers.

Cascade: Classic Hop Flavor with Built-In Recognition

Cascade played an integral role in beer culture’s evolution toward big hoppy flavors in the 1980s and 90s, so making non-alcoholic beer with this hop creates familiar flavors and aromas consumers will immediately recognize.

Best Day Brewing built their Non-Alcoholic West Coast IPA around it, leading with Cascade's characteristic citrus and pine on the front end, balanced against malt for a clean, lingering hop finish.² Deschutes Brewery took Cascade in a different direction with their Black Butte Non-Alcoholic porter. Here it adds a subtle brightness to a chocolate and coffee malt profile that's earned eight international non-alcoholic awards, including Gold at the 2024 World Beer Cup.³ Cascade even shows up as a supporting variety in NA beers like Sierra Nevada's Trail Pass IPA.⁴

In case you missed it, Cascade is versatile. Its grapefruit-forward citrus, floral character, and earthy spice work well across NA beer styles because those attributes don't depend on alcohol to express themselves. For brewers building a West Coast IPA or a hop-forward dark beer into their NA lineup, Cascade is a reliable anchor.

Citra®: The Go-To Hop for Award-Winning NA IPAs

Citra® built its reputation on tropical citrus intensity, and those flavors and aromas perform just as well in non-alcoholic beer styles as they do in traditional beers.

Samuel Adams Non-Alcoholic Hazy IPA leans on a blend that includes Citra® alongside Mosaic®, Sabro®, and Cascade. The result is a complex tropical citrus character that earned multiple World Beer Awards and a Great American Beer Festival gold medal.⁵ Brooklyn Brewery took a more focused approach with their Non-Alcoholic East IPA, pairing Citra® with Centennial and Amarillo for a hop-forward IPA with bright aromatics and a clean finish.⁶

The reason Citra® works so well in NA beer is because its characteristic tropical citrus notes are still bright and bold without any alcohol. It’s a solid option for brewers building hazy or New England-style NA IPAs, but it’s still a solid choice for NA beer styles outside the world of IPAs.

Mosaic®: Fruity Complexity for Hop-Forward NA Styles

Mosaic® earns its name with tropical fruit and citrus up front and earthy pine underneath for a complex profile that holds up remarkably well in NA beers.

Deschutes Brewery's Non-Alcoholic Fresh Squeezed IPA is built around Mosaic® and Citra®. Not only did it take Gold at the 2024 US Open Beer Championship for Non-Alc IPA, but it's also a year-round release and not just a limited run.⁷ Deschutes describes it as preserving the "bright, juicy aromas and flavors of orange and passionfruit" of the original. That kind of sensory continuity is hard to achieve consistently in NA brewing, but it’s critical for any brewer wanting to scale their NA beer offerings.

Mosaic® performs reliably as a dry-hop or late addition because its fruit and floral character doesn't depend on heat or fermentation to express. It works as a lead variety in a tight two-hop bill, and it works cleanly in larger blends, which is why you’ll often see it in the NA category's most praised IPAs.

Simcoe®: Intensity That Works Across NA IPA Formats

Simcoe® is powerfully resinous and piney, with tropical fruit underneath that rewards brewers who want to create NA beers with dank intensity. 

Go Brewing built The Story Double IPA around that intensity. Leading with Simcoe® alongside Citra® and Mosaic®, they created a hop-forward NA double IPA with grapefruit, papaya, and resinous pine character that took home a Best of Craft Beer Awards Gold medal.⁸ It's one of the few non-alcoholic double IPAs on the market, and it illustrates how Simcoe®'s assertive aroma doesn't need alcohol to make an impression.

Community Beer Co.'s Nada IPA pairs Simcoe® with Mosaic® and Sabro® for a hop-forward NA IPA that earned a Bronze at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.⁹ While the resinous backbone of Simcoe® can be a star performer, Nada IPA shows that it can add depth to other hops. For brewers, pairing Simcoe® with fruitier varieties can add the structural contrast that makes a hop-forward NA IPA feel complete.

Sabro®: Creamy Tropical Character for Any NA Beer

Sabro® has distinctive notes of creamy coconut, tangerine, and tropical fruit that are ideal for brewers who want NA beers that stand out.

Brooklyn Brewery's Non-Alcoholic Brooklyn Original leads with Sabro® alongside Saphir and Cascade in a dry-hopped NA amber ale.¹⁰ This NA amber ale demonstrates how well Sabro®’s creamy tropical character works outside IPA styles. Go Brewing's Disarm Hazy IPA shows the same variety working in a hazy format. Brewed with Krush™, Sabro®, and Strata®, this beer earned a Silver Medal at the 2025 World Beer Cup in the Hoppy Non-Alcohol Beer category.¹¹

For brewers, Sabro® works well both as a lead variety in a tight hop bill and as a supporting variety where its creamy, distinctive character fills gaps that more familiar hops don't cover.

Partner with Abstrax to Build Best-Selling Non-Alc Beers

Knowing which hop varieties are driving the NA category is only helpful if you can translate that into a consistent, scalable beer. That’s where Abstrax comes in.

The Quantum Series delivers varietal-specific hop profiles extracted at ultra-low temperatures to preserve the aromatic compounds that matter most in NA formats where alcohol isn't available as a carrier. This collection is designed to perform consistently from benchtop to production scale, with no workflow modifications and no added sugars or calories.

If you're ready to start formulating or want to talk through your next NA release, contact us today and let's get to work.

References

1. Beer Institute. (2026). Non-Alcohol Beer Growth Trends. https://www.beerinstitute.org/data-economic/non-alcohol-beer-growth-trends/

2. Best Day Brewing. (n.d.). West Coast IPA. https://bestdaybrewing.com/products/west-coast-ipa 

3. Deschutes Brewery. (n.d.). Black Butte non-alcoholic. https://deschutesbrewery.com/collections/non-alcoholic/products/black-butte-non-alcoholic 

4. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (n.d.). Trail Pass IPA. https://sierranevada.com/brews/trail-pass-ipa   

5. Samuel Adams. (n.d.). Non-alcoholic hazy IPA. https://www.samueladams.com/our-beers/non-alcoholic/non-alcoholic-hazy-ipa 

6. Brooklyn Brewery. (n.d.). Non-alcoholic Brooklyn East IPA. https://brooklynbrewery.com/brooklyn-beers/non-alcoholic/non-alcoholic-brooklyn-east-ipa/ 

7. Deschutes Brewery. (n.d.). Non-alcoholic Fresh Squeezed IPA. https://deschutesbrewery.com/products/fresh-squeezed-non-alcoholic 

8. Go Brewing. (n.d.). The Story Double IPA. https://gobrewing.com/products/not-another-story-double-ipa 

9. Community Beer Co. (n.d.). Nada IPA / non-alcoholic IPA. https://communitybeer.com/beverages/non-alcoholic/nada-non-alcoholic-ipa/ 

10. Brooklyn Brewery. (n.d.). Non-alcoholic Brooklyn Original. https://brooklynbrewery.com/brooklyn-beers/non-alcoholic/non-alcoholic-brooklyn-original/ 

11. Go Brewing. (n.d.). Disarm Hazy IPA. https://gobrewing.com/products/disarm-hazy-ipa