New non-alcoholic beer brewed after 'grind-out' fight with addiction
Former NHL player Brantt Myhres experimented with drinking energy drinks and other beverages to remain sober in environments where other people drink alcohol, but said a non-alcoholic beer felt what was most needed.
Myhres has been sober since 2008, and said he was inspired to create UnHammered, a new non-alc beer he's brewed with Alley Kat Brewing Company, after a health scare that followed a trip to Las Vegas.
"When I got home, something was wrong in my heart," Myhres told Taproot. "The ambulance came, and (the paramedics) said, 'You had a massive panic attack. What have you done in the last few days that's been different?' I said, 'Well, I was going to bed at 2am, and I was drinking 15 Red Bulls a day.' So I thought to myself after that, 'I'm never touching another energy drink.'"
Myhres said it's common for people who choose to be sober to face invasive questions in situations where everyone else is drinking alcohol. "'Why are you having a bottle of water, or why are you having a Diet Coke?'" he recalled hearing. "At least with (UnHammered), I find that it's trendy enough and bold enough that if you're holding it in your hand, it's a little bit of a statement."
UnHammered launched in September. And though it faces an increasingly crowded market for boozeless beer, Myhres said he thinks his will stand out because of the very public pain he went through before deciding to create it.
"Nobody has my story," Myhres said, speaking on the phone from Calgary, where he was giving a keynote speech at the Alberta Recovery Summit, a conference focused on mental health and addiction. "I think what separates us from the other (non-alcoholic beers on the market) is that there's a real, long, grind-out story of somebody that should have been dead in '06 and got a lifetime ban from the NHL for substance abuse, then crawled his way back. I think that's what resonates with people."
Myhres grew up in Cold Lake and lived in the United States while playing for seven NHL teams, from 1994 to 2006, before moving to Edmonton, where he still lives today. He said he's the only player banned from playing in the league for life because of his past alcohol and cocaine abuse. He became sober by 2008, studied substance abuse and behavioral health at Mount Royal University in Calgary, and worked with the LA Kings on sobriety. Penguin Random House Canada published Pain Killer, his bestselling memoir about these experiences, in 2021.
He's far from alone in struggles with alcohol addiction. In 2024, there were more than 47,000 emergency department visits for alcohol abuse in the province, per the Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System.
