Lagunitas Brewing Company Overview
Founded in 1993, the Lagunitas Brewing Company started out as homebrewing in a Northern California kitchen. Two years later, founder Tony Magee brewed and released the type of alcoholic beer that Lagunitas is now most famous for: India Pale Ale or IPA.
IPAs are a beer variety known for putting a heavy emphasis on strong aromas and flavors from hops, a plant that both preserves beer and provides a floral, citrus, or fruity flavor. IPAs were a stark contrast to the lighter-tasting pale ales that were more popular in the mid-1990s.
Today, Lagunitas' crafted products are widely available in various retail stores and ecommerce storefronts. Plus, you can visit their breweries in Petaluma, Calif., Chicago, and Seattle.
What is Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher?
In 2018, Lagunitas introduced a special non-alcoholic drink to its taprooms: a hoppy, sparkling beverage with zero calories, zero carbs, and zero gluten. It garnered such positive responses that Lagunitas decided to bottle this concoction and called it Hoppy Refresher.
Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is a type of hop water, which combines the clarity and carbonation of sparkling water with hoppy flavors from Citra, Equinox, and Centennial hops. Here's how Lagunitas describes this product on their Hoppy Refresher webpage:
Hoppy Refresher is a zippy and zingy highly carbonated dry-hopped sparkling water. We added a pinch of brewer’s yeast to biotransformate the hops and pull out terpenes (AKA aroma compounds) of bubblegum, lime, lemon, tangerine, and a bit of pine.
In 2022, Lagunitas redesigned the labels for many of their products including Hoppy Refresher, so you may find two different labels for this product out on the market right now.
Besides their original Hoppy Refresher, Lagunitas also offers a Hoppy Refresher Variety Pack.
This variety pack consists of a 12-pack of 12 oz cans featuring three different flavors:
- Hoppy Refresher (a.k.a. the original)
- Blood Orange
- Berry + Lemon
Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher First Impressions
In this review, we'll focus on the original Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher. At around $6 to 9 USD for a four-pack of 12 oz glass bottles, Hoppy Refresher's pricing is more comparable to craft beer than normal sparkling water.
However, the beverage's appearance is as clear as water. When popping off the bottlecap, you can hear the familiar, bubbly sound of carbonation.
Our Review of Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher
We've tried a few different companies' hop water so far, and Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher has been our personal favorite. Some hop waters skew more heavily toward being like lightly flavored sparkling water or seltzer – there's only a hint of the hops in the taste.
On the other hand, Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher has a more prominent hops flavor. The essence of beer is captured in a sparkling water format. This is a crisp, refreshing drink for Dry January, Sober October, and anytime in between.
Customer Reviews of Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher
Fans of Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher appreciate this non-alcoholic beverage's hop flavor with zero gluten, zero calories, and zero carbs:
I recently purchased several brands of hop-based non-alcoholic / zero-calorie beverages and this is by far the best. As someone who cut back on beer consumption for long term health reasons, this is definitely the best substitute. If you love strong hop flavors and aroma from IPAs such as that from Lagunitas, you will love this beverage. I would drink this any day over a NA beer and this has the added bonus of no carbs or calories! Best of both worlds. — SigGuy938
Great for those of us with celiac disease who might want to avoid alcohol too. Not beer, but an adult refresher, not too sweet, good hop flavor. — Deborah J. Harper
As someone who once truly enjoyed IPA beer, this is the best tasting alternative out there. It’s incredibly satisfying, refreshing and zero everything! — Tara Ryba Castro
On the other hand, the flavor didn't appeal to some folks who either disliked it entirely or wanted an even stronger flavor that more closely resembles IPA beer:
I really hate artificial sweetener and I checked in advance that there was no artificial sugar listed on the ingredients. If you google this product, people have confirmed that this has stevia. Apparently it does not have to be listed in the ingredients as it can fall under "natural flavors." I wish I had known - this is very expensive and it tastes like bubblegum. I also feel like this is deceptive on the part of Lagunitas. — JH
I was an IPA drinker, and I was expecting something heavier-handed from Lagunitas. This stuff is a bit tame IMHO. — JM
I really love all kinds of beer and have found some good non alcoholic brews while I cut way back on alcohol consumption. This is refreshing but doesn't hit that beer or ale or IPA spot for me. It tastes like a sparkling flavored water to me, it has floral notes or hints of fruit. Not bad, but not what I want for the cost. — Jd chester springs
Where to buy Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher?
Wondering where you can buy Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher locally and online? Use Lagunitas' Beer Finder, enter your zip code, and select Hoppy Refresher from the drop-down menu.
