Af Beer Club Virtual Beer Festival Day 2 Part 1
Today we have 5 beers to go through so will be splitting this into 2 posts the first 3 beers will be written up by myself here then the remaining 2 a post by Henry (@HoppyAF)
Host: Robin (AF Beer Club)
Guest: Ben the brand ambassador for Beavertown.
Ben explained that Beavertown first played with the idea of an alcohol free beer about 3 years ago and produced many different test recipes and had at least 20 different versions before they came to the final product. Due to capacity issues they looked to brew elsewhere and with the track record of de proefbrouwerij in Belgium it made sense for them to contract brew the beer there. Mikkeler and coast beers are brewed here as well to name just a few.
Beavertown itself started out as a restaurant and the owner decided to start the brewery in 2012 so that he could do drinks pairing with food. They also discovered a hidden talent working at the restaraunt a waiter who liked to do art projects in his spare time. Beavertown picked up on his talent ands since 2013 he has been behind the striking artwok on the cans.
Beavertwon has grown from strength to strength and after some investment from Heineken they have started a brewery and also got themselves a microbrewery and dedicated taproom at tottenham's stadium. A large proportion of beer sold at the stadium is beavertowns beer. This brought up an interesting question about alcohol free beers and football as usually you can not drink alcohol with a view of the pitch would this apply to alcohol free beer or would we be able to enjoy a nice pint of lazer crush whilst watching a spurs game?
Lazer crush is brewed in a very similar manner to the Mikkeler that we saw yesterday it uses a special strain of yeast that produces a small amount of alcohol meaning they do not need to do any post brewing processes to extract the alcohol and the full flavour stays in the beer. Ben explained they are hoping to get it available on tap. But have lots of obstacles they need to overcome first to be able to do this.
The beer was described by ben as Peachy with a tea like dryness and bitter finish almost like a Iced tea.
My Thoughts
Look - The beer is a very clear pale colour with lots of small bubbles from the carbonation. These form a lovely head.
Aroma - Fruity hop smell with a nice citrus fruity smell.
Taste - Lovely Fruity flavours come through with a nice bitter finish. The beer is very similar style to other beers brewed at De Proef and have a bit of a tangy twist to it.
This beer is one I really enjoy and tends to be a constant in my fridge will be great when weather warms up and we can sit in beer gardens with a few of these.
Host: Robin (AF Beer Club)
Guest: Matt Head Brewer at Ridgeside
Ridgeside started off in 2010 brewing 100% cask ae but using slightly more adventurous hops from New Zealand and America. They eventually branched out into other methods of selling like bottles and cans and at the same time started moving into more styles of beer.
Their first venture into alcohol free beers came with Nothing but the rain this came out of a curiosity to see what they could do with alcohol free beers with the low tech setup that they had. They experimented with different kinds of yeasts that produce small amounts of sugar so ferment with a very low ABV. They have since released 6 different versions of NBTR and have now also given us thier newest alcohol free offering light & Sound. They wanted to make this a bit different from NBTR and wanted a beer that produced a clean and bright Hop character and for this they used Eldarado and ekuanot Hops in the dry hopping process. Ridgeside currently have no plans to do AF on tap as see it as a bit of a niche market at the moment but they are excited to produce more AF beers and to see what they can do with different styles.
My Thoughts
Look - This is a cloudy yellow beer with a small amount of carbonation
Aroma - Strangely I didn't get much of an aroma from this one there was a slight bitterness but not much else
Tastse - To begin with I found this to have a slightly fruity taste but then a lot of bitterness with a strange aftertaste. As I went through the beer though I got used to the taste a bit more and started to enjoy the beer shame I didn't have a 2nd to give it my true opinion.
Host Robin (Robin Af Beer Club)
Guest: Sebastian (Brewmaster)
Nittenauer are a German Brewery based in the Bavarian town of Nittenau very Near the Czech Republic border.
The brewery started off doing lagers and slowly transitioned to doing many other styles of beer. In 2016 they started doing alcohol free beers this was down to the fact they couldn't find any good AF beers in Germany and due to Health and other reasons the drinking culture was changing more and more for thier to be a demand for Alcohol free beers. They currently do 3 Alcohol free beers this IPA, a Whit and a stout, with a lager going to be added to their range shortly.
Sebastian gave us a tour of their brewery and showed us many parts of the brewery including their on site bottle washing facilities which means rather than recycling the bottles they are returned to the breweries washed out and reused. Hopefully we will get this in the UK one day.
My Thoughts
Looks - The beer Pours with a lovely traditional ale look to it quite dark in colour and a lovely head.
Aroma - Its a bit of a strange aroma on this its quite a malty, yeasty mix and oddly smells a bit like a packet of crisps.
Taste. Lovely malty biscuit taste to this. Quite different from most of the other Alcohol Free IPA's that I have had.
Some great beers and chat. Look out for part 2 shortly.
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