14 May 9 - 15, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents technology company that studies market trends, reports that over the past two years, NA beverages have been the third-fastest- growing category in the U.S. There has also been a rise in the popular- ity of hard seltzer, which has thrown craft beer makers for a loop over the past few years. Some are expanding their portfolios; last year Community launched a line of vodka, agave silver and whiskey. “We’re having to pivot and become a bev- erage company,” Fulton said. “We’re already in spirits, and we’re obviously doing nonal- coholic, and we’re launching cannabis.” The Problem With NA Beers After the red-flag bloodwork and move to the new brewery, Fulton started researching NA beer. It led to some unique brewer anxieties. “I would dream of hops,” he said. “I would dream of drinking just beer in general. I love hops. Me and some of my team here go to Ya- kima Valley [in Washington State] every year to select our hops because we buy so much. And so we absolutely love hops. You can see that in our portfolio. Our beers are hop-for- ward. We’re known for our hoppy beers, we love new hops, everything hops.” After he quit drinking Fulton lost 20 pounds and got fit. He rises at 4 a.m. to hit the gym, which he built in the brewery. So he wanted to create an NA beer that wasn’t the equivalent of a bowl of pasta in terms of carbohydrates and calories but also had the flavors of his frothy hop dreams. But the problem with brewing NA beer is that the process of removing alcohol by heat or by minimizing fermentation simultane- ously removes the aroma from hops as well as that rich mouthfeel, and it can lead to off flavors. It’s also more susceptible to patho- gens growing in cans. Fulton found a way, although he isn’t spilling the hops on his proprietary process. “I can’t tell you all the secrets, or the way that I came up with doing it,” he said, “but nobody’s doing it like this. So mine’s not pas- teurized because I’m not leaving all that maltose in there. Now, the drawback is that it’s not full of carbohydrates, and so some people might say it’s thin.” Maltose is a type of sugar that plays a key role in the fermentation of beer and is also a main source of calories in beer. He compares Athletic Brewing Compa- ny’s Golden or IPA, a popular national NA beer line, to Nada, Community’s NA line of beer. The difference is apparent. Athletic is richer and has more body, but also has three to four times as many carbs and calories. Nada IPA, pilsner and hazy IPA each weighs in at around 25 calories and 5 grams of carbs, with less than 0.5% alcohol by volume. (Nonalcoholic drinks contain less than 0.5% ABV, while “low-alcohol” drinks contain be- tween 0.5% and 2.49%. “Alcohol-free” drinks contain 0% alcohol.) Under the “Pairs Well With” section on Community’s website, the NA offerings are described as, “When hangovers just can’t be a thing in your life.” Cracking the NA Beer Code Brendan Smith is a cicerone (beer somme- lier) certified beer server with an aficionado nonalcoholic beer certification (AFNA). Af- ter serving in the Navy, he worked at Fran- conia Brewing Co. for two years with legendary local German brewer Dennis Wherman, then went to Craft and Growler to run the taproom’s tanks for a while. He also reviews NA beers on his YouTube chan- nel, “The Brewing Sailor.” Smith was in a car accident and got a DUI in 2021, leading him to discover and study NA beers. “I’m ashamed of my actions, but not ashamed I took responsibility for it,” he said. “And I’ll never be caught in that same posi- tion again.” He sees two problems with NA beer. “First, it has a stigma, right, because we are an alcohol-drinking culture,” said Smith, who is 45. “So there’s this stigma of what’s the point of drinking nonalcoholic? And whether that’s beer or mocktails, there’s this stigma around it that you’re somehow wussing out or whatever if you drink NA.” The other problem is that until very re- cently, nonalcoholic beer, at least in the U.S., just hasn’t been very appealing. “It tastes like beer-flavored water and of- ten only slightly beer-flavored,” Smith said. He sees innovation and demand pushing things along: “I don’t want to say nonalco- holic beer has caught up to the rest of the craft beer world, but they’re starting to catch up to the rest of the craft beer world.” He also sees more health-conscious mil- lennials and Gen Zers drinking less, wanting to socialize but without the calories or alco- hol. Collin Zreet co-founded Funky Picnic Brewery and Cafe in Fort Worth, which un- fortunately closed its doors in early May. He’s an advanced cicerone, third level, of which there are only eight in Texas. He was a judge at the Great American Beer Festival last year for the NA division. “At least from a flavor standpoint,” Zreet said, “alcohol in beer naturally comes from the sugars, which comes from the malt. So that alcohol and the malt, in the same boat, provide a bit of sweetness to the beer. So if you don’t have that in there, it’s kind of hard to balance out some of that bitterness.” But the demand is there, pushing brew- ers to tap into this slow-drinking movement. “Where I actually see it in the market- place is more for people who are still drink- ing alcohol, but maybe there are certain occasions where they still want a beer but not an alcoholic beer,” Zreet says. He also sees NA beer as a sometimes-replacement but not a complete replacement. The zero-proof retailer Boisson recently shuttered all its stores across the country and filed for bankruptcy. An article in Punch suggested that there will always be a de- mand for shops that sell only NA spirits, but perhaps the bigger demand is buying NA products alongside fully loaded beverages. “So by having just an entirely NA space didn’t work,” Zreet says. “But they were no- ticing that when people would go into other stores, they would get an NA six-pack of beer, but then maybe a regular six-pack of beer also to have for different occasions. So that’s really where I see it growing is more in addition to traditional beer, not in replace- ment of.” This is where Fulton sees his business go- ing: a beverage company, not just a brewery. And leave it to the social-media generation of Gen Zers and millennials to lead this charge of “better for you” products, whether it’s for a life insurance policy or when hang- overs just aren’t a thing in your life. ▼ INDONESIAN RARE COMPANY BALI STREET CAFÉ BRINGS INDONESIAN FARE TO DALLAS. BY NICK REYNOLDS I ndonesian restaurant Bali Street Café landed on our radar. As we were headed there for a late lunch, it got us wondering: How many Indonesian restaurants are even in North Texas? According to our extensive (i.e., brief) Google research, Bali Street Café indeed ap- pears to be in rare company. There was an Indonesian restaurant in Cedar Hill (Buns, Bowls & Bubbles) that opened during COVID-ravaged 2020 but eventually shuttered. And there’s Angel Touch Kitchen, which served Indonesian recipes in a small space inside Carrollton’s Oh! Mart International Food grocery store (which has also since disappeared). Angel Touch Kitchen still ex- ists, but it is now a mobile food truck, ap- pearing in various locations semi-weekly in North Texas. Pan Asia in Fort Worth offers some Indo- nesian dishes, but it’s more of an all-encom- passing Asian fare destination. So, as far as we can tell, Bali Street Café (formerly known as The Koi Way) is the lone brick-and-mortar Indonesian restau- rant in town. Located at the corner of In- wood and Maple near Love Field, Bali Street doles out authentic Indonesian dishes in an intimate space. While the outside is about as strip-mall basic as a place can be, the interior has a lot of character, with natural wood, concrete floors and authentic decor straight from In- donesia. We started with an appetizer of Indone- sian chicken skewers ($15.99) with a side of peanut sauce. A common street food staple in Indonesia, these grilled skewers were a solid if not straightforward entry point into our early afternoon Indonesian culinary ex- perience. Wading into the more exotic end of the pool, our next order was an Indonesian soup, soto betawi ($17.99): braised beef tongue, tomato and potato in an aromatic, velvety broth of coconut milk and lemon- grass. Indonesian sambal chili and sweet soy sauce are served on the side, and you can add these condiments to enhance the soup as you wish. Beef tongue, a delicacy in many parts of the world, can be intimidating for many Americans but this was a standout soup dish. Your soup will come with white rice; toss some into your soup. We can see why soto betawi is such a hit in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Our server recommended our last dish, rendang ($17.99). Tougher cuts of beef such as the neck or shoulder are slowly simmered for hours in spices and coconut milk until you can pull the meat apart with your fin- gers. No knife necessary — beef braised to this degree can be cut through with the edge of your fork. It’s absurdly tender. Bali Street Café also offers a nice variety of Indonesian drinks. You’ll find hand- crafted strawberry lemonade, brown sugar boba with half and half milk and black tea, and traditional Indonesian ice coffee. Bali Street Café, 2515 Inwood Road, Ste. 119. Tuesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. City of Ate from p13 Alison McLean Fulton inspects a brewing tank. Nick Reynolds Rendang at Bali Street Café
