After the holidays, I’ve seen many friends in my Facebook feed post about Dryanuary, that is, taking the month of January off from booze. If there’s a way to enjoy a good beer AND stay away from alcohol, it would be some sort of miracle…right? Luckily, a new brewery out of Santa Ana was just born for this momentous occasion: Bravus, the world’s first non-alcoholic/low-alcoholic brewery.
Now, I’m the skeptic of all skeptics when it comes to n/a beer, having guzzled my fair share of Near Beer, O’Doules, and Coors Cutter back in the day (I lost 30 pounds in two months gagging it down), but having tried products like H2ops sparkling water, I thought there might be hope for Bravus’ IPA.
The beer looks like a standard IPA, pouring a cloudy golden hue with plenty of dense pillowy foam that dissipates slowly. On the nose, grapefruit and pine linger along with a slightly worty malt-like character. I found myself making excuses for the flavor, as it’s not your typical IPA, but at .5ABV and a measly hundred calories, I’d say there’s a lot of hoppy character squeezed into each can. The lingering bitter finish is reminiscent of Stone IPA, which could be dialed back a tad to balance things out…as it lacks alcohol’s sweetness, the bite needs to match.
Overall, if you’re celebrating Dryanuary, this is such a warm welcome to see on shelves. Does it compare to a super fresh alcoholic IPA? Nah, but odds are you’ll enjoy this to get you over your current dry hump. This beer works incredibly well with Diablo shrimp, Pad Thai, Chicken Tikka Masala..think spicy and this beer will go with it.
Bravus doesn’t have a tasting room, so visit its website to see where you can find the beer in Orange County. They even ship! bravus.com
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