Octopi Brewing

Most cities in this registry have non-alcoholic beer poured in them. The Madison metro makes it, at scale, and that is genuinely unusual. Octopi Brewing sits on Uniek Drive in Waunakee, about fifteen minutes north of the city, and is the contract and production brewery behind Untitled Art — the label Isaac Showaki launched with Levi Funk of Funk Factory Geuzeria in December 2016, and which has become one of the most widely distributed and most adventurous non-alcoholic beer ranges in the country.

The production method is the part worth understanding, because it explains why these beers taste like beer. Untitled Art brews and ferments the beer completely, the normal way, and only then removes the ethanol using reverse osmosis membrane filtration. That is a physical separation carried out cold, so the hop oils, the malt character and the fermentation-derived esters developed during brewing survive the process. The cheaper alternative — arresting fermentation before alcohol forms, or boiling the alcohol off — leaves you with something closer to sweet wort or to cooked beer, which is why so much non-alcoholic beer disappoints. The range is also unusually ambitious in style: fruited sours, pastry stouts, hazy and west coast IPAs, rather than the lager-and-nothing-else roster most producers stop at.

The taproom pours the line on site, which makes the drive worth it for anyone who has only encountered Untitled Art in a four-pack. Visit Madison, the city's official visitor bureau, names the mango dragonfruit sour and the west coast IPA specifically. Be clear that this is a working brewery taproom and the majority of what is poured contains alcohol — Octopi brews under many labels, including seltzers and contract beers — so it is not a sober room, it is a room where the non-alcoholic option is made on the premises to the same standard as everything else. Check hours before driving up; the taproom schedule is narrower than the brewery's.