Sierra Nevada Brewing ventures into wellness beer

Earlier this year, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. bought a small San Francisco brewery called Sufferfest Beer Co. All the beers in their lineup were aimed at active, athletic beer drinkers, or at least people looking for a beer with less alcohol and calories. The official announcement referred to Sufferfest’s brews as “functional alcoholic beverages,” although the term I’ve been hearing more often these days is “wellness beers.”

An oxymoron? Not necessarily.

The name may be new, but the concept of wellness beer isn’t. After all, who hasn’t enjoyed the benefits of a cool beer after a run, a sports bout or other physical activity? It was only a matter of time before active people, who happen to brew beer, decided to make brews that suit their lifestyle. They soon discovered they weren’t alone in wanting a beer that not only tasted good, but was good for them.

Breweries can’t make health claims about their beer, due to regulations put in place after Prohibition (and largely due to the efforts of the same prohibitionists who brought about the 18th Amendment). But athletes, for example, know that water isn’t the best hydrating fluid after you’ve exerted yourself. Water doesn’t replenish electrolytes or the sugar, salts and other chemicals the body loses when sweating.

You need a balance that reestablishes the right balance of body fluids; it should contain a mixture of potassium and sodium salts, as well as glucose or starch. You might think Gatorade is the best choice, but a 2007 study in Spain found that beer is even better.

Juan Antonio Corbalán, a cardiologist who has worked with both Real Madrid soccer players and Spain’s national basketball team, insists that beer has the “perfect profile” for rehydrating after an intense workout. He has long advocated the drinking of barley-based beverages by professional athletes.

That pairing of beer and athletic activity isn’t confined to Spain either. Over the last 80 years, beer and running clubs have popped up across the U.S., starting with the Hash House Harriers in 1938. Today the club, which has chapters worldwide, bills itself as the “largest non-competitive running club in the world” and a “drinking club with a running problem.” There are clubs across California, including “Hashes” in Silicon Valley, the East Bay, Santa Cruz and San Francisco. And there are non-Hash running clubs, as well, including the East Bay Beer Runners.

Beer has always been a good thirst quencher, but some modern brewers are crafting versions that are not only lower in alcohol with carbs, but that contain the necessary sodium and electrolytes to assist in rehydration, In effect they’re making their beer — they can’t say it, but I can — a little healthier and an ideal choice after you finish running, whether you’re doing a marathon or taking laps around your local park.

That’s what Sufferfest’s beers are all about. In May, the staff moved production to Sierra Nevada’s brewing facilities in Chico, where they’re making their popular Repeat Kolsch, Flyby Pilsner and FKT (Fastest Known Time) Pale Ale using ingredients that include bee pollen, salt and black currants.

The Sufferfest has made headlines lately, thanks to the sale, but they’re by no means the first to make wellness brews. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has done two, including SuperEight, a gose brewed with seven different fruits, quinoa and red Hawaiian sea salt, and SeaQuench Ale, a session-sour mash-up of Kölsch, salty gose and Berliner Weiss brewed in sequence with black limes, sour lime juice and sea salt.

Avery Brewing has Go Play IPA, a lower alcohol IPA with added salt and potassium, and Boulevard Brewing has Easy Sport Recreation Ale, which is brewed with tangerine peel, sea salt and added electrolytes. And Boston Beer Co., makers of Samuel Adams, created a separate company —Marathon Brewing — to release 26.2 Brew, a beer made with sea salt and coriander and aimed at runners.

Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.