NA Beer, Apple Beer Growth and Garage Beer Lead Craft Beer News in "Fish Tank Beer"

Non-alcoholic beer keeps taking up more space in the beer industry, apple-flavored beer sales are climbing, and Garage Beer is joining the apple beer trend. The new Craft Beer Republic episode, "Fish Tank Beer," also gets into Lawson's new NA IPA, a non-alcoholic Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, an oyster stout that tastes suspiciously like pet-store fish water, and a Florida traffic stop involving 34 open White Claw cans.

Non-Alcoholic Beer Keeps Expanding

Molson Coors is preparing to launch a non-alcoholic version of Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, adding another established beer brand to the growing NA beer category. Greg and Flex are not exactly convinced that Summer Shandy needed less alcohol, but the release is another sign of how aggressively larger beer companies are expanding their non-alcoholic offerings.

Lawson's Finest Liquids is heading in the same direction with Sip-N, a non-alcoholic IPA developed after five years of research and innovation. The beer is rolling out across all 12 Lawson's markets and follows a year of new releases spanning different ABV levels.

For Greg and Flex, the bigger question is how much demand exists for all of this NA beer. Both have tried non-alcoholic options, and neither came away particularly interested in replacing regular beer with them.

Garage Beer Joins the Apple Beer Trend

Garage Beer has launched an apple beer in Ohio, with broader availability expected later. The small-batch release comes in at 4% ABV and arrives during a strong year for apple-flavored beer.

Apple beer dollar sales are up 80% year to date, making the category one of 2026's more noticeable beer industry growth stories. Greg has already noticed what feels like a steady stream of new apple beer releases. Flex is less enthusiastic about the trend and is not particularly impressed with Garage Beer to begin with.

The numbers may say apple beer is growing. Greg's position remains considerably simpler: beer-flavored beer is still delicious.

Oyster Stout Finally Finds Flex's Limit

Listener Steve supplies the story behind the episode title with an oyster stout he tried at a beer festival years ago. He knew oyster stout was a style. He did not realize the brewery had actually brewed the beer with whole oysters, shells included.

The beer started dark, roasty and slightly salty before developing a flavor Steve compared to the smell of the water inside a pet-store goldfish bag. His brother liked it enough to go back for another pour.

The story also produces a rare discovery: Flex has finally found a gross beer he does not want to try. Coffee beans passed through an elephant are apparently negotiable. Bull-testicle beer is still on the table. Seafood in beer is where the line gets drawn.

A Wine Marathon With 20 Drinking Stops

France's Bordeaux region has found a different way to approach endurance sports. A 26.2-mile wine marathon includes 20 wine stops along with cheese, croissants, oysters, steak and ice cream.

The race gives participants 6.5 hours to finish and also requires costumes. All 8,500 spots for the 40th running sold out within minutes.

Greg has completed half marathons before and remembers trying to stay ahead of the pace cart after hurting his knee around mile two. Adding 20 wine stops would not appear to improve his odds.

Road Sodas and Other Bad Drinking Decisions

A Florida DUI story involving 34 open White Claw cans in the passenger seat opens the door to some older drinking stories. Flex remembers helping a butcher-shop customer load an order into a car with roughly a dozen empty beer cans sitting on the passenger-side floor.

Greg admits that years ago, road sodas occasionally went into a McDonald's cup. The straw stayed in because if you're going to make a bad decision, apparently presentation still matters.

That brings back memories of Bud Platinum, flavored Smirnoff, raspberry vodka and learning the hard way that matching someone else's three-second pull from a vodka bottle is not a reliable way to establish your own tolerance.

Featured Craft Beers

Eagle Park Brewing Citra on the Dock of the Bay

Flex drinks Citra on the Dock of the Bay from Eagle Park Brewing, an 8% all-Citra New England IPA. The hazy IPA is smooth, citrus-forward and hides its alcohol well enough to earn Flex's full five-daddy rating.

Eagle Park Brewing remains one of Flex's benchmarks for other craft breweries, particularly when it comes to hazy and hop-forward beer. He also points out that the brewery tends to focus more heavily on local and Wisconsin events than major competitions such as the Great American Beer Festival.

Pure Project Thou$ands of Money

Greg drinks Thou$ands of Money from Pure Project, a 7.1% murky IPA brewed with Washington-grown Mosaic and Mosaic Cryo hops. He gets mango, papaya and passionfruit, with a little pine showing up later in the finish.

It is also one of Pure Project's earlier murky IPA recipes. Greg likes the beer and would happily drink more, but puts it just below some of the brewery's stronger murky IPA releases.

Listen to Craft Beer Republic: Fish Tank Beer

"Fish Tank Beer" is available now from Craft Beer Republic, with Greg and Flex covering current craft beer news, non-alcoholic beer trends, apple beer growth, Eagle Park Brewing, Pure Project, oyster stout and several drinking decisions that aged poorly. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app!