Mike Poggi, Glen Ridge Lane, is not necessarily a gambler. But he’s going all in on a product whose time has come, he believes: craft beer that is full-bodied, high quality and non-alcoholic. An “indulgent” libation that’s not a pale (pun intended) imitation of mass-market beers already available, but created through a unique brewing process that doesn’t require the removal of alcohol, because it isn’t there to begin with.

“We’re going to change the narrative around craft NA beer,” Poggi said.

The company’s name, Virtue Signal Brewing, is “provocative by design,” Poggi noted, and part of an irreverent marketing plan with slogans like “Don’t let yoga models tell you how to live your best life.” He said he hopes the logo, a large gold V with devil’s horns above a halo, becomes “as iconic as the Nike swoosh.”

Virtue Signal got its start in 2022, a few years after Poggi, a sales consultant and business developer, stopped drinking alcohol. A craft beer fan and IPA connoisseur, he found the non-alcoholic versions to be lacking.

“I missed the experience of drinking good beer,” he said. “I thought I could do a better job.”

Through connections in the beverage industry, Poggi met Brian Owens, former head brewer at O’Fallon Brewery and a silver medal winner at the Great American Beer Festival. “Brian shares my passion for really good beer,” Poggi said. “He knows it’s the future.”

Already experienced with brewing non-alcoholic beer, Owens joined as co-owner and took on Poggi’s quest to create the best NA beer. Trial and error led him to develop a fermentation process to brew beer without producing alcohol. (Most NAs are regular beers with the alcohol removed.)

Owens created three inaugural styles, and Poggi came up with the names: Presumed Innocent, a West Coast-style IPA; a Belgian-style wheat called Boujee Bliss; and No Clucks Given, a vanilla dark porter “that smells like a Toll House cookie,” Poggi said.

He’s thrilled with the result. Owens’ creations “have the head, the color, and the smell” of good craft beer, Poggi said. “These beers stand on their own. If you didn’t see it was NA, you wouldn’t know.”

Virtue Signal cans and six-packs, including a variety pack with all three styles, are available at local retailers, bars, and restaurants. They’re on the menu at F & F Pizzeria and at the bar at Mediterra. Six-packs can also be ordered online, along with branded merchandise, including Virtue Signal hats and T-shirts. As a sales professional, Poggi observed, “I know the power of merch.”

More beer styles are on their way “relatively soon,” Poggi said. By the end of the year, he plans to expand to the Philadelphia market, with national distribution the next step. He’s optimistic about the local debut of Virtue Signal: “Pittsburgh’s a good drinking town, and they love them some local beer.”

A native of Somerset, Poggi came to Pittsburgh for graduate school at Pitt, after completing undergraduate studies at Dickinson College in Carlisle. He and his wife, Betsy, moved to Mt. Lebanon in 2006. Their children, John and Louise, went to Lincoln Elementary and Jefferson Middle schools and now attend Shady Side Academy. John plans to enroll at Denison University, where he’ll also play lacrosse, in the fall. Their household includes Dixie, a charcoal Labrador retriever who is Virtue Signal’s “director of dogma,” according to Poggi.

“Mt. Lebanon has an urban feel,” Poggi observed. “It’s in the suburbs, but it’s four miles to downtown.” The family enjoys Mt. Lebanon parks, as well as dinners at Il Pizzaiolo.

“This has been a lot of fun,” Poggi said of his four-year journey to create a “sinfully indulgent” NA beer. If the journey’s end doesn’t work out as he hopes, he added, “I will know that I have tried.”

For more information, visit virtuesignalbrewing.com.