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Redhook Ale Brewery Big Ballard Imperial IPA

Posted on by Evan

This beer from Seattle, Washington, is Big Ballard Imperial IPA. This IPA weighs 8.6% ABV. This IPA comes from Rehook Ale Brewery. It has malts that consist of Pale, Munich, and Carmel 40. It has hops such as Alchemy, Chinook, Cascade, HBC-431, Centennial, Mosaic, and Eureka. This big IPA pours a deep orange color with a slightly off-white two and quarter head that is slow to fade. The aroma is bitter. There also is slight caramel, sweetness, and dankness. The beer’s flavor is grass, bitter, hops, somewhat sweet, and citrus (grapefruit). The mouthfeel is full. Then this IPA finishes with a bitterness and a faint sweetness. Then you’ll get an aftertaste of hoppy, grassy, citrus, and bitter note. This IPA is a classic Imperial IPA. This beer gets a B-. This IPA is strong on alcohol. But that doesn’t dominate the flavor profile or take away from it. But you know it is 8.7%. It shows in the aftertaste. That does hold it back. I would recommend Big Ballard Imperial IPA. It was solid, tasty, and classic. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! 

Atmos Brewing Co. Wayfarer NA IPA

Posted on by Evan

Wayfarer NA IPA from Atmos Brewing Co. in Hailey, Idaho, is the last in my dry-January series of Non-alcoholic or zero-alcohol beers. The next post will be a regular alcoholic beer. This beer has water, malt, oats, hops, and yeast. This beer pours an orange/copper color with a big four-finger white head. I opened the can it immediately foamed. I think they are using a lot of carbonation for the flavor. Carbonation bubbles carry flavor. The aroma is bitter, hoppy, piney, and a little dank. The taste is different than its aroma. It’s light, bitter, watery, and has very little to no body. The mouthfeel is light. Then this beer finishes with a light, hoppy note. The aftertaste is light and watery. Overall this is not good. I give Wayfarer NA IPA a D+. I don’t think you’ll get a real IPA with a Non-alcoholic beer. It’s the yeast that they use. That’s the way it is low in flavor and body. I don’t think this is worth trying. Overall Non-alcoholic beers have their place. I don’t think they are great. I give Non-alcoholic beer as a whole an F+. The right style of beer might do better than a non-alcoholic beer. Like a lager or pilsner. They are lower in calories and carbohydrates, so they have that going for them. But if you are worried about calories and carbs, don’t have a beer. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Untitled Art NON-Alcoholic Juicy IPA

Posted on by Evan

This Non-alcoholic beer is Untitled Art Juicy IPA. This beer comes from Waunakee, Wisconsin. This brewery does brew regular alcoholic beer. This IPA pours a hazy, cloudy yellow color with a two-finger steady white head. The aroma is fruity, hoppy, and bitter. The flavor is a different story. It’s Bitter, soft, thin, and fruity. The mouthfeel is light. Then this IPA finishes with a slight bitterness. Then comes an aftertaste of scraggy, fruity bitterness This Beer is not great, and I would give this IPA a C-. I think Non-alcoholic IPA, is not good in general because Non-alcoholic beers use a different type of yeast. Yeast ferments with sugar and outcomes alcohol. But that is why this has no body/mouthfeel and low flavors. It’s not the world’s worst IPA, and I wouldn’t recommend this. The aroma and its taste did not match. I would call that a false advertisement. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Heineken 0.0

Posted on by Evan

You might have already heard about, seen, or had Heineken 0.0. Heineken 0.0 is a Dutch beer from one of the world’s largest brewing conglomerates. This beer is a lager that is alcohol-free and even has television commercials. This beer pours a clear golden color with at one and a half finger white quickly fading head. The aroma is metallic, with a light sweetness. The taste is thin, watery, clean, and malty. The mouthfeel is light. Then it finishes with a light, watered-down sweetness. Then you’ll get an aftertaste of malts and that sweetness. This beer is not terrible, but I would call this good. I found Heineken 0.0 to be just below average. I give this alcohol-free lager a C-. I found no off-flavors to this beer, but I didn’t find any great ones either. It does have a similar taste to a regular Heineken, just without the alcohol. If you like regular Heineken, you’ll probably enjoy this 0.0 too. Please stay safe, be kind, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Ceria Brewing Company Grainwave Alcohol-Free Belgian-style White

Posted on by Evan

Keeping dry January going, we have another non or alcohol-free beer. This beer is Grainwave. It is contract brewed by Abita Brewing Company in Abita Springs, Louisiana. That means that Ceria comes up with the recipe, and Abita brews their beer. Gainwave has Bloof Orange peel, coriander, and Hallertau Traditional hops. This beer pours a cloudy yellow with a bright white two-finger head that is quick to fade. The aroma is sweet from the peels of a blood orang. There are also light spice notes. The taste is also blood orange sweet with hints of coriander spice. I also found tartness on the back of my tongue. The mouthfeel is medium. Then this beer finishes with sweetness and lighter blood orange. This beer is big on the blood orange and tastes more like a fruit juice beverage than anything else. I would give Grainwave a C. It’s not a Belgian-style white, but it’s trying hard to be one, a non-alcoholic one. I would probably go back to this and would recommend it too. It was refreshing too! Please be kind, stay safe, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers! 

Atmos Brewing Co. Alturas NA Golden

Posted on by Evan

This beer, Alturas NA Golden, is another non-alcoholic beer. This beer is a golden ale from Atmos Brewing in Hailey, Idaho. Atmos Brewing Co. only brewed non-alcoholic craft beer. This beer has water, malt, wheat, hops, and yeast used in it. This ale pours a golden color with a big four-finger, fizzy, slow white head. The aroma is mellow, crisp, sweet, and malty. The flavor is similar to its smell. It has a mellow sweetness and crips malts. The mouthfeel is light. Then it finishes with a crisp sweetness that is on the light side. Then you get a gentle aftertaste of light sweet notes. They do fade rather quickly. This beer is average tasting, in my opinion. So I give Alturas NA Golden an C-. This beer is the best non-alcoholic beer I’ve had. But that is not saying a lot. I would recommend this one. It wasn’t terrible or good. Maybe non-alcoholic beer might not be as good, but we’ll see. Please be kind, stay safe, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Lagunitas IPNA Non-Alcoholic IPA

Posted on by Evan

Lagunitas INPA Non-Alcoholic IPA, like most non-alcoholic beers, weighs in at less than 0.5% ABV. This beer is widely available. I picked this up from my local Whole Foods. This beer pours a bronze/gold goalie with a one-and-a-half-finger white head. The aroma is peppery, grassy, and with light fruit notes. The taste is peppery, light on hop flavor, bitter, and clean. The mouthfeel is light. This beer then finishes with a light hop note and has nothing to offer in the way of aftertaste, other than a light peppery hop flavor. This IPA was somewhat okay. I give this Lagunitas IPNA a D. I found no off-putting flavors on this. I just found it lacking the IPA flavors that Lagunitas is known for. Would I recommend it? I can’t say because I’ve only had two non-alcoholic beers. But I would eventually have this again. Please be kind, stay safe, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers!

Athletic Brewing Co. Run Wild IPA

Posted on by Evan

This beer, Run Wild IPA, is the first beer in a series of non-alcoholic beers. This IPA comes from Athletic Brewing Co in Stratford, Connecticut. All Athletic Brewing Co. beers are non-alcoholic or are less than 0.5% ABV. This beer has Citra & Mosaic hops. This IPA also has organic US & German malts. This IPA pours an off-yellow color with a two-finger white head. The aroma is light citrus (barely any citrus), and a bitterness that has gone off. The flavor is light, citrus, and an off bitterness. This flavor is bad. The mouthfeel is light and terrible. Then it finishes with a harshbitterness. Then you get no aftertaste. That is odd. Overall this was terrible. I give this an F. I would not drink this, nor would I recommend it. This beer barely tastes like an IPA. It tastes more like a slightly hoppy lager and bad lager that is hoppy. I can’t find anything positive here other than it is non-alcoholic and low in carbs and calories. I almost wanted to pour it out. Please be kind, stay safe, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers and happy New Year! 

10 Barrel Brewing Co. Crush Cucumber Sour

Posted on by Evan

I have some good news. I am changing things for the new year. I will review non-alcoholic beer in January from the first to the fourteenth. So stay tuned for that. This beer is Crush Cucumber Sour from 10 Barrel Brewing Co. It weighs in at 5.0% ABV and is from Bend, Oregon. This beer pours a light yellow color with a one-finger white head. The aroma is sour, tart, and vegetal. The flavor is also sour, tart, and light cucumber (just a whisper) on the back of the tongue. The mouthfeel is light. Then this sour beer finishes with a more pronounced cucumber flavor (not too much). Then you get an aftertaste of sour and tart flavor that falls off rather quickly. This beer is just average to me. I’d give this Crush Cucumber Sour a C. It’s non-offensive, but it doesn’t have a lot of fresh cucumbers like the description on their website. If I were you, I would pass on this beer. I did, however finish this without wanting to pour it out. It’s not that bad. Please be kind, stay safe, and remember to enjoy responsibly! Cheers and happy new year!

Revelry Brewing Wetness Wet-Hopped India Pale Ale

Posted on by Evan

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Thi is just a reminder I will not be blogging between January first to the fourteenth. This IPA Wetness is a wet-hopped IPA with Citra & Centennial wet hops. This beer weighs in at 6%ABV and comes directly from Revelry Brewing in Charleston, South Carolina. I used to see a few of their beer here in the Charlotte, NC, but not in a while. This IPA pours a yellow color, with a three-finger bright white head. The aroma is lemony, citrusy, piney, grassy, and bitter. The flavor is also lemony, citrusy, and piney. It is also soft, dank, dry, and resiny. The mouthful is barely medium but does coat the mouth for a short duration. The beer then finishes dank, dry, and bitter. Then you come to the aftertaste of a light citrus, bitter lemon and pine notes that linger for a while. This Revelry Brewing Wetness does not taste as it smells, which is not good or bad. I enjoyed this IPA.I have not had a lot of wet IPAs. Wet IPAs use fresh off the vine hops, and IPAs usually using dry hops. That’s why you don’t see a ton of wet-hopped IPAs around, or wet hops may be more costly. I give Wetness from Revelry Brewing an A-. I think the Centennial hops slightly overpower the Citra hops, or they use more Centennial the Citra, and I am a big Citra hop fan But nothing else really held this back. It was just my preference. I do recommend this. Please be kind, stay safe, and remember to enjoy responsibly!