PLATE AND GOBLET: Lightening the booze

Editor's note: This is the latest in a planned monthly series of (mostly) local news updates and notes related to food and beverages – including updates about Henrico restaurants, food-themed events in the county and region, new adult beverages in the market, and everything in between. Your ideas, tips, updates and questions are encouraged! Did you try a new restaurant? We want to hear your thoughts. Know of a special food-related event that's coming up? Let us hear about it! Got a question about craft beer? Ask us! E-mail Patty Kruszewski at patty@henricocitizen.com.

Whether they're looking to trim off a few pandemic pounds, or hoping to break summer beer-chugging habits for health reasons, a lot of folks are looking for alcohol alternatives these days.

And they are in luck, because in recent years the choices have exploded.

In 2018, I can remember searching for a non-alcoholic or even a low-alcohol IPA and finding zip. Now, you can walk into Wegmans or Total Wine and find an amazing variety.

With a daughter who is nursing a baby, and being that baby's grandma and occasional sitter, I spend many end-of-day happy hours tasting and comparing notes with Jackie on the merits of various NAs. (Technically, a "non"-alcoholic beer can contain up to 0.5 percent alcohol by volume).

Jackie mostly sticks to the zero-alcohol beers like Heineken 0.0; a friend of hers recommends another alcohol-free beer, the Bitburger 0.0. But when she occasionally splurges on the trace-alcohol fake beers, one favorite is Brooklyn Special Effects NA Hoppy Amber.

I prefer my fake beers hoppier, and have enjoyed many of BrewDog's and Athletic Brewing's IPA's. (Athletic is devoted exclusively to making NA beers, and its two U.S. breweries are, according to its website, the only breweries dedicated to non-alcoholics in the world.)

If price was not a factor, Lagunitas IPNA would be my go-to NA. But a six-pack of the Lagunitas fake beer (as with several other brands) can run $11 or more. Sorry, but it irks me to pay the same for NA as for regular craft beer.

I spent some time researching how alcohol is limited or removed during brewing, and I understand the process can be laborious and expensive. Still, I've switched to Penn's Best as my everyday NA; it's a decent lager that costs considerably less than the others.

Most of the time, I will drink Penn's Best as a substitute for an alcoholic beer. But on evenings that I plan to go out and indulge in the real thing, an NA is also a great way to pregame; it takes the edge off my thirst and makes it easier to be satisfied with just one "high-test" beer.

I should also mention radler beers, which are enjoying renewed popularity. A roughly equal mix of lager and carbonated citrus soda, a radler is similar to a shandy and typically about three percent ABV. Legend has it that the radler was created in early 20th-century Germany, when a group of thirsty cyclists piled into a bar where the beer was running low, and a bartender stretched the lager by mixing in a lemony beverage.

The great thing about radlers is you can dilute them with sparkling water or soda, then add plenty of ice and fruit slices (as my family did when serving drinks to an elderly relative prone to overindulging), and end up with a nice low-alcohol seltzer of sorts. The Stiegl brand is easy to find around RVA, but I'm eager to try some others.

Zero-alcohol booze?
Finally, one of the newer (and pricier) NA line of beverages to hit the market is Reveal Zero Proof, which bills itself as an "alternative spirit." Using flavorings that range from run-of-the-mill (think vanilla) to more exotic botanicals like Siberian pine and Mexican blue agave, Reveal has created a line of fake liquors that can be used to make mocktails and other zero-alcohol mixed drinks.

I bought a bottle of Reveal's zero-alcohol fake tequila for Jackie when she was craving a margarita, and she reported that it satisfied her craving – to a point. It lacked the "bite" of a real tequila, she said. And when her bottle got low and I offered to replace it, she declined. "Not worth the cost," she said.

Which gets to the biggest drawback of Reveal – the price tag. Even without a drop of booze, a bottle of Reveal (I've found it locally at Whole Foods and Total Wine) can be every bit as expensive, or more, as the same size bottle of real liquor – depending on the quality of your favorite spirit.

Nevertheless, I will continue to purchase an occasional bottle and keep Reveal on hand, as a way of reducing (rather than replacing) the booze when I mix an occasional cocktail. Mixed in equal parts with the real thing, Reveal whiskey (for one example) makes a passable lower-alcohol Manhattan -- and still has that "bite" that is so hard to achieve with

To check out some recipes or to learn more about Reveal, visit ritualzeroproof.com. To read up on NA beers and learn more about alcohol-free resources, visit steadydrinker.com. And if you have a favorite low- or zero-alcohol beverage, or comments about the popularity of the NA trend, feel free to share with P & G readers.

Restaurant round-up
Rocketts Landing leads the list of new restaurant openings this month with the arrival of Island Shrimp Company, located in the former Conch Republic.

Like its next door neighbor The Boathouse (one of four in the area), Island Shrimp Company is perched overlooking the Capital Trail and James River. It is operated by the HOUSEpitality Family (which also owns three local Casa del Barco restaurants) and is described as a more casual, inexpensive alternative to The Boathouse. Beachy themes and a tropical vibe are highlighted inside and out, most notably on the stairway leading down to the Capital Trail, which has been decorated with a mural of a wave. In addition, a surfboard on the stair landing provides patrons with a chance to safely hang 10 – and to capture the moment with photograph for social media.

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Another recently opened restaurant, the Rusty Taco in Short Pump, hosted a fundraiser this month that drew a crowd of Beth Sholom Senior Living supporters. The inaugural "Dine and Donate" event designated 15 percent of the evening proceeds at the fast-casual restaurant to the Friends of Beth Sholom fund, which will help the nonprofit community in its mission of caring for seniors. The staff of Rusty Taco, which opened in January, told Beth Sholom representatives that they had never had such a crowd on a Tuesday night.

By the way, if you want to read a fun restaurant origin story, check out rustytaco.com. I've always liked the restaurant's name (though I was puzzled about its meaning) and enjoyed reading about Rusty Taco's roots.

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A "Bright Spot" in Lakeside is going dark. Bright Spot Coffee at 6114 Lakeside Avenue will close May 25 after more than two years in business.

"It's been a wonderful 2+ years serving our freshly roasted coffee to the Lakeside and Richmond community," owners wrote in a message to customers. "However, it's time for us to move on to our next chapter in life. A big thank you to all of our loyal customers and partners over the last few years."