Dust Bowl Brewing launches Hop Water, its first non-alcoholic beverage

Dust Bowl Brewing Co. is betting that hop flavor can carry a drink even after the alcohol is gone. The Turlock, California brewery introduced Hop Water on June 8 as its first non-alcoholic beverage, selling it in 12-ounce six-packs for $6.99 through its taprooms and online store.

Dust Bowl has framed the release as part of a broader push to diversify its lineup and keep up with changing drinker habits, while staying close to the hop-forward identity that has defined the brewery since its early days. Hop Water is billed as a bright, citrus-driven beverage made from all-natural hop extracts, with zero alcohol, zero sugar, zero gluten and zero calories. Dust Bowl says it can be enjoyed on its own or mixed with a favorite spirit, putting it in a lane that is adjacent to both beer and the broader ready-to-drink space.

For brewmaster Don Oliver, the idea was born in a setting that makes sense for a hop-centric brewery: hop selection in Washington. Oliver said the team had been talking about hop water and trying other versions before landing on the concept. He described the drink as thirst-quenching, refreshing and a useful sensory reset between hop samples, adding that the fruit character of the hops comes through in the finished beverage.

That practicality matters for Dust Bowl, which has spent years building a taproom-first brand. The brewery made its first beer, Hops of Wrath IPA, in May 2009 and opened its Brewery Taproom in July 2016 after outgrowing earlier space. It now operates four California taprooms in Turlock, Monterey, Elk Grove and Livermore, giving the company multiple direct-to-consumer outlets where a hop water launch can be tested against the brewery’s core beer audience.

The move also lands in a category that is no longer a sideshow. The Brewers Association said non-alcoholic beer volume rose 111% and dollar sales rose 159% from 2021 through 2025, with NA reaching 2.5% of beer sales by volume in 2025, up from 1.1% in 2021. The group also said 14% of regular craft beer drinkers were drinking less craft because they were drinking more NA, while IWSR reported U.S. no-alcohol beer volumes climbed 23% in 2024. Dust Bowl’s Hop Water is entering that market as more than a novelty, and the brewery’s own pricing and packaging show it is treating the format like a real shelf and taproom play, not just a side experiment.