A little over a month ago I received a shipment of three different non-alcoholic beers from Grüvi, a non-alcoholic beer company located in Denver, Colorado. The three beers were IPA, Weisse, and Stout, and I received them as part of the company’s promo of the Stout which is its newest.

Grüvi positions itself as a health and lifestyle brand, and aims to reduce the stigma around non-alcoholic beers. Here’s its mission statement:

Here at Grüvi, we strive to create an inclusive community focused on making better choices within our daily lives. We truly believe in a world where we don’t always feel inclined to drink in a social setting, and a world where everyone can feel comfortable, regardless of what’s in their cup.

Our mission is simple- help others be healthy and stay social, one drink at a time. We sought to create a line of craft, non-alcoholic beers and wine because you deserve it. Your health is your wealth, and the beverage you consume shouldn’t compromise that.

While alcohol remains so pervasive in our society, we’ve challenged ourselves to create a brand that breaks this cycle. Grüvi was created to dispel the common notion that non-alcoholic beer tastes, well, not great. We saw a desperate need for innovation in the space, and we are here to prove that you can have it all. Enjoy a tasty, healthy brew, and take your chance to live in the moment, alcohol free.

Commendable, and as I noted recently in my review of New Holland’s Lightpoint Functional White Ale, these types of beers are good options to drink if you find yourself consuming more due to being isolated at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since these NA beers are low-calorie as well—the highest is IPA with 60 calories per 12 ounces—you’re reducing your overall caloric intake during confinement, another benefit. And be honest—lots of us are probably eating and snacking more since self isolation, right? There you go.

Jeff Alworth found a balance for NA beers in a recent article:

Non-alcoholic beer is hydrating, has some beneficial nutrients, and is low in alcohol. They don’t have to replace beer entirely, but reduce some of its downsides.

For my own purposes, I am a fan. An ideal session to me is three or four beers. That’s the amount of time it takes for me to settle in and enjoy myself. The trouble is, my body very much wants a limit of two beers, and punishes me when I exceed it. I’ve found non-alcoholic beers to be a perfect solution; I just alternate boozy and alkoholfrei. As a bonus, I’m actually limiting the damage of the two regular beers because I’m hydrating in between.

So how is alcohol-free beer produced? Honestly I have not looked very deep into this question but some references I’ve seen sound like special equipment is used to remove the alcohol from finished beer. In the case of Grüvi, however, the FAQ says:

Grüvi beers are brewed using a process called arrested fermentation, which stops the brewing process before alcohol is produced. Trace amounts of alcohol can be found (similar to kombucha), though our tests typically have our Sour Weisse at 0.1% and our IPA at 0.3% ABV.

Honestly “arrested fermentation” sounds like you’d really only end up with sweetened wort. In addition to producing alcohol, yeast is also responsible for producing many of the finished flavor components that define “beer,” including esters and phenols, along with various other acids and higher alcohols. So I reached out to Grüvi with this question for more information, and an additional question: I noticed the cans themselves say, “Brewed in Canada,” yet it’s a Denver company—what’s the deal? Here’s the response to both queries:

In our process, we use a low alcohol yeast strain. The strain cannot ferment maltose or maltotriose and has positive contributions to flavor such as increased esters and aromas.

In order to produce non-alcoholic beer safely, it requires pasteurization. This is important to ensure any remaining yeast and bacteria is killed off and the beer doesn’t continue to ferment. Currently, Gruvi uses a brewery in Toronto with the right equipment as they wait for their pasteurization line to be installed in Denver. Last month, Gruvi launched its craft Lager, which was their first beer brewed in Colorado.

Good clarifications, and it does shed light on the process that Grüvi employs. So let’s get to the beers, but first, a note on judging non-alcoholic beers.

My wife raised the question of how NA beers should be judged, thinking because they aren’t “real” beer, you can’t judge them to “beer” standards. There’s a certain logic in that because they are intentionally missing an essential component that renders them at an immediate disadvantage when comparing to alcoholic beers. In that sense, it makes sense to judge them against other non-alcoholic brews and not to regular style standards.

On the other hand, the intent and the marketing behind these is to still be “beer” and the brewers of NA beers are attempting to capture the familiar aromas and flavors of given styles. So I think it’s fair to judge to the declared styles, with the understanding that the intent behind the beer in question is to be an approximation. That’s how I approached these NA beers; I’m looking for markers within the declared styles, and I expect the experience to reflect what the company promises by naming them “IPA,” “Stout,” and so on.

IPA

IPA is 60 calories and brewed to a West Coast style (non-hazy). The company says:

Introducing our non-alcoholic IPA, a lighter, yet hop forward take on your favorite IPA. We pack each brew with Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic hops to capture the best flavors of an IPA. Each sip is perfectly balanced with hoppy, citrusy and slightly bitter notes.

One thing I noted was that the package date on the can was September 19, 2019, so it was five months old when I drank it; take that into consideration with this review. Also, one of the listed ingredients is maltodextrin, commonly used used in food and beverages to improve the mouthfeel.

Appearance: Surprisingly light in color, a delicately golden yellow, with a light unfiltered haze. The head, what there was on the pour, is fizzy and rough like mildly whipped egg whites, but it didn’t last.

Smell: Fruity hop notes with citrus and passion fruit and a touch of light scallion. Herbal and otherwise pretty light in aroma, with a hint of malt graininess.

Taste: Kind of a lightly herbal, slightly bitter tea with no real malt backbone to support it. Something of a “hop juice tea,” with a light barley flavor that does become evident at the back as I sip it. It does not hold up to an “IPA” flavor expectation though; I’m looking for more hop bitterness and flavor. (Could be a factor in the age of it.)

Mouthfeel: Light and watery, with a fizzy carbonation that’s reminiscent of a sparkling water like La Croix.

Overall: There’s promising hop aromas but the flavor does not hold up to that promise. Interesting how the body and mouthfeel lacks structure; I would have expected more if the yeast does not ferment the more complex sugars.

Weisse

So there’s a disconnect with this beer. The can simply reads “Weisse” and I had no other indications that this would be anything other than a German wheat style of beer. However, the description reads:

Our take on the classic Berliner Weisse is tart, citrusy wheat beer. A lighter style of sour, our weisse contains notes of lemon and grapefruit.

Berliner Weisse? Sour? Spoiler right up front, I drank this one blind without looking at this description and I did not get any indication that this was supposed to be a sour/tart beer. It was brewed with lemon peel, and is only 26 calories. Maltodextrin was used as well.

Appearance: Slightly hazy, light golden color with a big pile of foam building up like glossy partially-whipped egg whites. Looks pretty good.

Smell: Lightly wheaty character with a touch of hay and sulfur. Some indistinct herbal notes with a bare hint of white pepper. There’s a citrus aroma at the back, but subtle.

Taste: It’s light and bright with a mild lemony pop, a grassy wheat flavor like a soft bread, and wheat grass juice. The structure falls a bit flat about midway through, and it finished a bit mineral watery. There’s a touch of yeasty phenolic spice at the back.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, watery in the finish, with good moderately-high levels of carbonation.

Overall: This style works better as an NA beer than the IPA, though it still lacks body and the structure ends up watery. However it holds up better for this lighter style.

Stout

This was the new limited-release beer Grüvi was promoting, offering up more complexity than the other brews. Here’s the description:

Try our new, limited release Gruvi Stout! We start off our batch with abbey malt, traditionally known for its mild nuttiness and notes of honey. We then add roasted barley and chocolate malt, and brew our beer into a dry, full bodied, non-alcoholic stout. This dark ale contains hints of toasted malt, along with mild oat and coffee notes.

It was packaged on January 21 and thus was fairly fresh when I drank it. It’s only 45 calories and like the others, includes maltodextrin in the list of ingredients.

Appearance: Deep dark brown with a lightly viscous appearance as it pours. Opaque, looks a bit like dark chocolate syrup. The head is brown and rich-looking and crisp, though it fell quickly. Decent legs.

Smell: Dark coffee, black roasty malts, licorice. Toasted, almost burnt bread crust. Rye, and more coffee brings up the back, reminiscent of French roast.

Taste: Burnt coffee, dry grain dust/husk, raw roasted barley. It is a touch astringent which is what tastes like that grain husk. No residual sweetness, maybe a hint of herbal, earthy hops. Dry and grainy.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body, thin feeling and a touch watery, with an astringent grain dryness going into the finish.

Overall: Despite the probably-excessive roastiness and astringency, this is not a bad stout. Perhaps a bit too light and I’d love a creamier mouthfeel (particularly knowing maltodextrin is used in this).

Conclusions

In general I think these are decent versions of the styles they are brewing to, although I remain disappointed with the IPA. And I will add a caveat that my experience with non-alcoholic beers prior to this was the very occasional Clausthaler and similar, so it’s a new world to me.

However I’ve still been drinking through the beers that were sent (ten in all) and while I wish the IPA had much more hop character, I’m finding as a casual “beer” it drinks just fine and inoffensively.

I think Jeff’s analysis above is pretty spot-on. I’m not going to reach for these beers first when I want a beer, but in between beers? Or maybe a casual “beery” drink while I’m working from home? These hit the mark. And I think if people have a reason or need to drink NA but still want beer, these Grüvi beers are good options if they are available to you.