Dry January is well and truly here and since I've taken on the challenge, I've realised it's not actually that difficult.
One of the first things that comes to mind is finding a replacement for your usual drink. Do you stick to sparkling water, juice or other fizzy drinks? You could do this, but I know for me this would get a little boring after a while.
That's where Pure Brew comes in.
What does Pure Brew have that other non-alcoholic beers don't?
The first point of difference - and something that helps it taste so good - is how it's made. Typically, booze-free beers start their journey as full-strength beers and the alcohol is removed through evaporation. This messes with the flavour and doesn't bode well for the end product.
Pure Brew is a different kettle of fish altogether. After two years of experimentation, the Open Gate Brewery developed a fully fermented, non-alcoholic lager using a special yeast strain, result is a hoppy lager with fruity aromas and a hint of citrus flavour.
So, what's the verdict?
Last weekend I took a couple of these home to test out, and with zero expectation or knowledge on the taste I have to say it was pretty good. It's not overly sweet, rather a slightly more hoppy taste which works so well for an alcohol-free version.
Personally, I don't like strong tasting beers or lagers, so Pure Brew was a pleasant surprise with it's balanced taste. I can safely say it's a winner in the house, I came home and my partner had drank one of them, liked it so much he went and bought another four-pack.
This is the perfect drink for all you Dry January warriors, it's genuinely tasty and not something you feel a bit scaldy drinking. The fact that it's taken two years to make shows how much they wanted to make a decent non-alcoholic lager that can hold its own.
More and more people are deciding to take on Dry January and it's good to see products raising the bar and meeting high standards. Fair play lads!
Diageo's Global Head of Beer, Mark Sandys said, “The greatest challenge for a brewer is to produce a great-tasting beer that doesn’t have any alcohol because most of the non-alcoholic beers on the market are a compromise in terms of taste because of the way they are made. We’ve gone about things differently and the result is a great-tasting lager that stands shoulder to shoulder with our other beers.”
