Every once in a while, Saturday Night Live turns its attention to trends in the world of alcohol. In 2021, that involved a sketch that zeroed in on the ubiquity of hard seltzer. Four years later, it’s non-alcoholic beer’s turn to get its moment in the spotlight. Granted, there are plenty of great non-alcholic beers out there right now, whether you’re sober or just looking to ease up on booze for a little bit.
What this sketch asks is: what if someone’s fondness for non-alcoholic beer led them to a non-non-alcoholic beer? Cue Andrew Dismukes, playing a suburban husband with a penchant for beers with double negatives on the packaging. In this case, that leads to a beverage that is 96% alcoholic — something suitable for literally causing one’s grill to burst into flame.
As Dismukes’s character describes it, this is “the first non-alcoholic beverage that’s over 96% alcohol.” If that sounds a little daunting, it is: that’s a stronger beverage than spirytus, a rectified spirit that has literally contributed to deaths. (Seriously: drinking anything this strong is a terrible idea and should be avoided at all costs.) It’s a sketch that makes the most of Dismukes’s affable demeanor and his ability to play someone who is capable of sinister things.
Hard Seltzer Is Literally Everywhere on This Week’s “SNL”
White Claw was just the beginning“It’s not technically a lie. It’s a double negative. And it tastes incredible,” Dismukes’s character says. This seems questionable, given that any 96% ABV beverage would likely be fortified grain alcohol; then again, Jackie Chan’s character in Drunken Master 2 does drink gasoline on the way to said film’s climax. (Again: not a good idea in real life.) It’s a bleak yet solid addition to the canon of booze-themed sketches on SNL.
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