Alcohol Free Beer Explorers

 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...

  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 differe...

The second day of the alcohol free beer festival finishes with Robin being joined by Sam from Bristol Beer Factory and Ben from Talk Club, followed by Matt (@guiltfreepints) hosting Matt from Big Drop.  Bristol Beer Factory - Clear Head Host: Robin (@AFbeerclub) Guests: Sam Burrows - Bristol Beer Factory and Ben Akers - Talk Club A great beer. A better cause.  Sam Burrows is one of the directors at BBF. Clear head all started after meeting with Talk Club and letting them hold meetings at the brewery. BBF had no idea, didn't have the right kit and the skills required were unknown - but the idea kept being raise by Ben. Lots of trial and error, poured about 5 brews away.  Brewed with a different yeast strain and mash build up to their normal process.  Soft launch for mental health week in September 2020, after some consumer testing it was formally launched 3rd December 2020.  Ben Askers is one of the founding members of Talk Club in Bristol. Ben was keen to be par...

  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...

  Af beer club in association with wise Bartender have put together a 3 day Virtual Beer Festival.  Consisting of a box of 12 beers to drink along with live videos with the brewers behind the beers.   Day 1 - Friday 09/04/2021 MaltGarden - Free Sunset Catchup on the session here 1st up we have a beer and brewery that is new to me the Maltgarden Free Sunset.  0.5%   This is a fruit Beer from Polish brewers Maltgarden.  Described as Pina Colada meets IPA.  So I will be expecting lots of pineapple and coconut flavours coming through.  This session was hosted by the man behind af beer club Robin.  and His guest is the brewer Lukasz. Maltgarden currently use 2 different contract breweries with each brewing different styles of beer.  They are based in Kolobrzeg in Poland.  They Started off in March 2019 mainly brewing Imperial Stouts and porters and have since expanded their range to include a variety of Styles.  Last yea...

In the past when I drank regularly the Clwb Tropica used to be one of my go to drinks. So a little test to see how Clwb Tropica Non Alc Compares with its 5.5%ABV Cousin and have my opinions changed. The first thing I noticed was the head on the pour the 5.5% version had a much thicker head that stayed around much longer.  The NA version had hardly any head too it.   Looking at the 2 drinks side by side the 5.5% is a cloudier beer.  The 0.5% version has much less of a haze too it and is quite clear colour in comparison. The 5.5% has a very fruity aroma too it with lovely tropical fruit smells coming across the mango is very noticeable.  The non alcoholic version isn't quite as strong smelling but you still get a nice tropical aroma from it. I tried the non alcoholic version first in tasting and it comes across with nice tropical flavours definitely a bit of pineapple and a slight bitter finish but very smooth. Now the alcoholic version this had a tropical taste b...

 I have recently been asked to do a guest blog post for the yada collective  who are a group of like minded originals who have got together to open an alcohol free bar in Derby. They have a vision to expand this to other cities across the UK with the hope of creating a place you can go and socialise just like a pub but without the alcohol. My blog entry on my alcohol free journey can be viewed  Here Tim Jenkins