BY HANNAH WALLACE WHEN MARLA AND LIAM HOBAN were living in a small German village outside of Nuremberg, they noticed something curious at the local gasthaus. “Nonalcoholic beer was presented just like regular beer. It was served in a nice big glass,” Marla says. “What was fascinating to us was seeing folks seamlessly switch between alcoholic and nonalcoholic. You’d be at a table of people, and you didn’t know who was drinking alcohol. They’re just coming back with beers.” At the time, they both worked for Adidas. When they returned to their hometown of her job with Nike at the end of 2019, which freed up time to work on this new venture. In 2021 the couple struck up a collaboration with Sarah Masoni and Mike Adams at OSU’s Food Innovation Center to begin working on a recipe. Roaming Nobles was born, becoming Oregon’s first dedicated NA brewery. It’s no secret that (alcoholic) beer consumption in America is declining: Last year was the first in two decades that more craft breweries closed than opened. The one silver lining? Nonalcoholic beer. This sector, led by large companies like Athletic, saw sales grow by 30% last year, according to the Brewers Association. Indeed, the entire nonalcoholic beverage sector is booming. According to survey data published by the market research firm NC Solutions, 49% of American adults say they’re trying to drink less. The same firm reports that 19% of adults between the ages of 21 and 28 — that is, the segment of Generation Z that’s old enough to drink — does not drink any alcohol, and more than half of Gen Z-ers over 21 expressed interest in trying a nonalcoholic drink in the near future. Gone are the days when the only person at a dinner party not drinking alcohol was either pregnant, taking antibiotics or a now-sober alcoholic. While beer and wine sales plummet nationwide, nonalcoholic beverages have been the third-fastest-growing beverage category in the United States for the past two years, according to Numerator. And not just during Dry January. Consumers — also driven by fitness and wellness goals — are more sober-curious than ever. Marla calls the trend she spotted in Germany over a decade ago “alcohol fluid.” At the time, this behavior — sometimes having a drink, sometimes opting for a nonalcoholic version, even in the space of one evening — was unusual here in the states. “But now I think everyone is experimenting with their relationship to alcohol,” she says. In Portland a handful of new craft non- alcoholic beverage companies are meeting the consumer where she’s at. All three happen to be led by women. A Temperant Tonic Faith Dionne, a former pastry chef at Higgins Restaurant, is no stranger to the alcohol industry. After starting — and then selling — the bean-to-bar chocolate company Bees & Beans, she launched crafts distiller Jaz Spirits. But after having some health scares — she had 11 skin cancer lesions removed in four years — she decided to change course. A longtime forager, she had always seen Jaz Spirits as a vehicle for wild-foraged native plants like salal berries and spruce tips. That these ingredients were preserved in alcohol was somewhat arbitrary. ⁄Profile⁄ Marla Hoban PHOTOS BY JASON E. KAPLAN Portland in 2013 they thought it was strange that Oregon didn’t have a nonalcoholic brewery. “We kept thinking, ‘Why has nobody done this?’ We are in this state that’s known for craft beer. We were honestly baffled that no one had opened a nonalcoholic brewery yet,” she says. Initial conversations with local breweries led nowhere. It wasn’t until a year or so into the pandemic, when people started reevaluating their work-life balance — and drinking habits — that their idea took root. At that point, the couple was working for Nike — Marla as brand director and Liam as a product director for global football apparel. Marla left Dry Drinking Portland’s Booze-Free Brands Break Through 16
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