Alcohol Free Beer Explorers

  Drop Bear Beer Company For anyone who doesn't know  Drop Bear Beer  are a brewery from Swansea in South Wales who specialise in alcohol free beers  Who launched in 2019  Their range consists of 4 beers all of which  are Gluten free and Suitable for Vegans.  They are also now Bcorp certified which is a  certification of "social and environmental performance" Drop bear are currently in the process of building their own brewery and when this completes they will be the 2nd only dedicated alcohol free brewery in the UK. The beers can be purchased from all good online alcohol free retailers, Direct from Drop Bear and also now they are available in TK Maxx and Homesense stores.  The beers are all sold in 330ml cans.  Drop bear moved from bottles to cans in late 2021 they have also tweaked some of the recipes so if you have had them before and weren't too sure then why not grab some of their new cans to see what you think. The Beers YUZU PALE ALE Drop Bear describe it as:

Are you looking at giving Sober October a try this year?  Worried you will miss out on the taste of your favourite beer?  Well did you know there are now loads of quality Alcohol free Options available that you could have instead.  There are now a vast amount of styles available in alcohol free.  Below I list just a few of them and links so you can buy them and try them yourself.   *- Affiliate links have been used in this article which earn me a small percentage of any sale made.  All the beers below are available from all good Alcohol free stockists. Let me know what you think of this list, what you thought of any of the beers you try, or others you'd like to see on this list either leave a comment here or drop me a message over on my twitter @afbeerexplorer To find out more about what Alcohol free drinks are available and where these can be purchased Download the Betterwithout App from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.  

  When Guinness had to recall their stout back at the end of 2020 Big Drop came out with an Irish stout of their own Good things .  At the time I said this was a very good stout and up there with the best alcohol free Stouts but how does it compare to the relaunched Guinness 0.0 . See my original Good things Review First off this is just a bit of fun.  I obviously can't get a new can of the Good things stout as it is no longer made and the one I am using to is very close to its Best before so may no longer be the stout it originally was. The Pour. Due to the nitro the Guinness pours with a Lovely surge effect and forms a lovely creamy looking head.   The Good things pours quite flat looking with a small head that disappears  very quickly.  Using my surge plate I could replicate the head although even then it dispersed quickly. Winner: Guinness 0.0 Aroma The Guinness has a nice roasted aroma with slight coffee notes. The Aroma on the Good things has a much Rougher Aroma to it there

 On Saturday 10th July I took a trip down to Wise bartenders wisefest  pop up bar.  Arriving at wisefest I was greeted by Tom the man behind Wise bartender and 5 Alcohol free beers on tap plus an alcohol free cider on tap.  As well as fridges full of other Alcohol free Beers/ciders Wines, Kombucha's and Alcohol free Spirits.  Never before had I seen so many Alchol free drinks being served in one place.     If your unsure what you like Tom and the other staff on on hand to point you in the right direction and very knowledgeable on all the drinks on offer. The event is very family friendly with a lot of room for you to let your kids run around and run off some energy while you enjoy the drinks.   Talking about the drinks here's  what they had on offer on the Saturday I visited.  These will change slightly each week.  There were great burgers being served too and I believe in future weeks will be loaded fries from Billy Chips. I had Ridgeside light & sound, Lucky saint lager &

On Saturday 19th June Me and a group of other Alcohol Free Beer drinkers took part in a trip around a few Cardiff pubs to see what Alcohol free beers were on offer.   Brewdog I started the evening off before meeting the main group at Brewdog Cardiff meeting up with Jonny Stevens founder of the BetterWithout App, and his partner Dean once he had finished navigating the streets of Cardiff and managed to find somewhere to Park his car.   Was great to finally meet up with Jonny after speaking to him online for a while.   As this was a last minute decision to meet up here we did not book a table the pub was full inside but managed to find one outside on the pavement.  The ordering process was straight forward although Jonny could not get the app working on his phone.  Once ordered the drinks came out nice and quickly. We enjoyed a pint of their Punk AF on draught. (£4.64 a pint)  This beer from the tap is very tropical and smooth.  It has a lovely flavour and certainly one that you could

I was sorting out the old beer cupboard when I realised I had a few mango alcohol free beers. I wouldn't say I'm an evangelist of fruit beers, but here we are. I'm writing about them and you're reading about me writing about them. Shall we make a start? First up was something that I pre-ordered. Not something I've done before with beer and not a style I've ever had before - Mash Gang Death Mall, a mango milkshake IPA. This was living dangerously. Not just because of the new style but because it included an ingredient that is banned in the States. The Tonka been. Similar to vanilla but know to cause lover problems, and even death, if consumed in great quantity. This is a refreshing fruity beer. Lots going on, but you can definitely get that vanilla edge with a beer essence to it. Not a bad start on my mango journey. Loving the work from Mash Gang at the moment and keeping a close eye on anything new on the market from them. Next was an controversial beer, but not

  This is a very dark colour for a lager looks and smells more like a dark ale. I get a dark malty toffee sort of aroma none of the tropical fruits described on the can.  The taste is quite malty with a bitter finish.    To me the taste also comes across more of a dark ale than a lager.   Don't know if this is down to the Chaga mushrooms affecting the flavour or something.   For me this is a nice tasting beer but it doesn't really stand out from the crowd.  Although it does have the added benefits of the adaptogenic mushrooms going for it if you are someone into those. There is a great article available from the yada collective on these benefits I purchased this from wise bartender . Also available from the yada collective

  My 2nd beer from two roots this time an IPA combining new England and West Coast styles with bold juicy hops used to create a crisp finish with a hint of bitterness.  Like the straight drank this pours with a good thick head, although not quite as thick as straight drank. The aroma is lots of tropical fruits getting pineapple and a bit of grapefruit.  The taste is very fruity, I get apricot and some citrus fruits.  Decent mouth feel to this as well.   Once again a great beer that I can see becoming a regular in the fridge for me.   These guys certainly do great IPAs. This is currently only available from dry drinker in the UK 

  My first beer from the American brewery Two roots.  This IPA comes with eureka and comet hops which are not ones I am familiar with.  It poured with a thick head and had to pour very carefully to not be nd up with too much foam and an ice cream head   The drink looks quite thick in the glass.   There's a decent hop aroma.    Lots of flavour to this one and the thickness continues in the mouth feel.   Citrus fruits come through along with a little peach and a nice bitter finish.    This is an excellent beer and one I hope stays around in the UK for a while longer.  I will admit to being slightly sceptical about the hype of these American beers coming over but after this one I can't wait to try some more.  This has everything you could ask for in an IPA and I think will become a regular in my fridge Currently only place I have seen available is at dry drinker

  Back in the late 90's Heineken took over a small French brewerys project of a tequila flavoured beer.   The beer was unique at the time and tried to introduce the beer as a way to get parties going.   Now you could have something tequila flavoured at the start of your night and build up to end your night with some tequila slammers.   The product proved highly popular and is now sold worldwide with a variety of different flavours all based around the tequila theme and cocktails you would have with it. Mockingbird Quite a few years later in 2020 Fern McCoy launched her Mockingbird spirit.  This is an alcohol free tequila flavoured spirit.  This is made using the same blue agave that is used in Tequila.   Fern experimented a lot to try and replicate the traditional tequila flavour. They also use  Ashwagandha which is an adaptogen that helps your mind and body manage stress and anxiety.  I was never a big tequila fan when I did drink it it tended to be those shots at the end of the n

 This box is a bit of a change from usual and I realise it won't be for all readers however I feel its a great box to introduce alcohol free beers to alcohol drinkers.  Cloudwater Brewing have come up with a great idea for a colab box.  They have created a pack containing 3 modern Juicy IPA's and one alcohol free IPA each with a different Hop Combinations. The beers were brewed with the help of brewdog  and sold in Tesco stores.  I know not everyone will agree with this and will think it's pushing away the bottle shops who have supported breweries through the years but for me it's a great way for these breweries to get their name out there and to have an alcohol free brewer in the mix is even better.  Hopefully people who find this box will then seek out more of the breweries beers from their local bottle shops and whilst there discover other great breweries along the way. Cloudwater are committed to changing the alcohol industry for the better.  The pack is brewed wi

  On the final day of the af beer club virtual festival we have another 4 Drinks.   We start the day with the great Hammerton crunch AF, followed by Birmingham brewing co sober brummie,  then a bit of a change and a soda from cloudwater soda and end the day with what looks like could be a very big hitter from MashGang the I am Become death the destroyer of the worlds.  Looks like going to be another great day so So lets get cracking with Beer 1. Hammerton Brewery - Crunch AF Host: Robin (Af Beer Club) Guest: Co founder of Hammerton Brewery Lee Hammerton. Watch the video Hammerton Brewery was founded in 2014 In the North London borough of Islington at the time their were lots of bars and pubs in the area but no real local brewery presence.   So Hammerton brewery was started to address this.  They started off with IPA's and later moved into different styles.  Interestingly they still use the same brew kit to this day. After trying a few different American Peanut butter milk stouts Le

  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)  Beavertown - Lazer Crush Host: Robin (AF Beer Club) Guest: Ben the brand ambassador for Beavertown. Watch the session 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

Fruh  Kölsch  is an alcohol free German Pilsner.  This beer is 0.0% .  It is brewed in Cologne and in fact the name Kolsch is protected by law and only beers brewed in the city can be given the name. This beer is brewed to it's noprmal strength and then has the alcohol removed so keeps much of the flavour of its 4.8% cousin. Brewery: Fruh                   Beer: Kolsch 0.0 Style:  Kölsch                                            Country: Germany A  Kölsch Beer is a beer brewed in the City of Cologne and is rarely seen outside the city The beer is Top-fermented and more like an ale than a traditional Pilsner.  The  Kölsch is best drunk from tap and it is said that when it is bottled and pasteurised  a lot of the original flavour can be los t. AF Beer Explorers Thoughts This beer pours incredibly clear with a light yellow colour.  There is a very malty sort of hop smell to it.  Im not a big fan of pilsners but as they go this one is pretty decent.  It has a good malty flavour too it