My regular Instagram daily review, news and other posts like this can be found at:
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
These are my recommendations for the brews to stock your fridge with this summer. I love a porter and stout... and it's always stout season for me. But I know others don't feel the same so left out the darker brews.
Thoughts?
My regular Instagram daily review, news and other posts like this can be found at:
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
These are my recommendations for the brews to stock your fridge with this summer. I love a porter and stout... and it's always stout season for me. But I know others don't feel the same so left out the darker brews.
Thoughts?
I post daily on IG for reviews and news:
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
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This non-alcoholic (NA) / alcohol-free (AF) beer is from Go Brewing out of Naperville, IL. They are an exclusively NA-producing brewery and one of the more prolific players in the space, with a lineup that grows every few months.
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This is "New School Sour Guava," this is the sour series that regularly has a Strawberry/Blueberry brew and then has seasonal releases.. Guava can be a fantastic fruit in beer when done right, and there still aren't nearly enough NA breweries experimenting with really tart sours.
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The beer pours with a light hazy pink color. If you've had Collective Arts' excellent Guava Gose, this won't quite hit you with that same huge burst of guava, but the fruit is definitely present.
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On the flavor side, this is a really enjoyable beer. The guava comes through nicely, providing a mild tartness and juicy character without becoming overly sour or acidic. There is also a surprisingly nice bready malt backbone that helps keep everything balanced and gives the beer a bit more substance than many fruit-forward NA brews that verge more on just "juice".
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Rather than trying to overwhelm you with fruit or sourness, the beer remains highly drinkable and balanced throughout. While I do slightly prefer the massive guava punch from thr Collective Arts gose, I found the lighter touch worked well and made this an easy beer to come back to.
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While I still give the edge to Collective Arts' Guava Gose, which remains my favorite NA sour, New School Sour Guava is a really strong offering in its own right and one I'd happily purchase again. I do have to add though that I do NOT like the AI art that has started to replace Go's can arts.
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STOCK IT!
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Have you tried New School Sour Guava? How does it compare to your favorite NA sour?
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Hello all, as always here is my NA Beer exclusive Instagram account where I post a daily NA beer review plus news and roundups.
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
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This non-alcoholic (NA) beer is from Athletic Brewing Company, the largest NA brewery in the United States. The brew, "Personal Record", is part of their limited series of rotating and one-off brews.
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This limited release is an IPA brewed with mango and turmeric. Those ingredients may sound like they would dominate the beer, but that is not the case at all. Instead, they integrate nicely into the overall flavor and work with the hops rather than overpowering.
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The beer pours with a light haze and has a pleasant citrus and tropical aroma from the hops and mango. The mango is present, but not in an overly juicy way. The turmeric adds an interesting taste without becoming earthy or overwhelming.
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On the flavor side, everything melds together quite nicely. The mango, turmeric, hops, and citrus notes all feel balanced. There is enough malt backbone to support the adjuncts and keep the beer feeling like an IPA rather than a fruit beer. The body is also quite nice.
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Where this beer falls a bit short for me is the overall intensity. While all of the flavors work well together, I found myself wanting a little more punch. Nothing is out of place, but nothing really jumps out either. As a result, the beer comes across as pleasant and easy drinking rather than particularly memorable.
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Ultimately, this is a well-crafted IPA with an interesting ingredient combination that Athletic executed successfully. I enjoyed drinking it and would happily have another, but I was left wishing for a bit more flavor impact.
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SIP IT.
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Have you tried Personal Record? What did you think of the mango and turmeric combo?
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Athletic Brewing Company LLC. Milford, CT and San Diego, CA. Near Beer.
Review posted daily here:
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
This non-alcoholic (NA) beer is from Athletic Brewing Company, the largest NA brewery in the United States. The brew, "Mango Margarita", is part of their limited series of rotating and one-off brews.
This limited release is also one of their non-alcoholic cocktail inspired brews. That collection regularly has their "Paloma" and "Moscow Mule" and then an occasional limited release. Previous limited cocktail brews included "Spritz" and "Kir Royale". This brew features: water, barley, wheat, mango puree, key lime puree, agave syrup, orange concentrate, bitter orange peel, salt, hops, and yeast.
The brew has some hazy opacity to it thanks to wheat in the grain bill and I'm sure the mango puree too. The aroma is a ton of over ripe juicy mango. Up front on the taste there is some salinity and tons of mango, while it finishes with a nice acidic sour twang. This is an immensely tasty beer with a great aroma and really nice body to it.
This is yet another one of thoe Athletic limited releases that is a must buy if you like fruited or sour beers. It's very similar to what you would think of if it was labeled a "mango gose" but with a touch less salt. The beer is phenomenally balanced between sweet, sour, and salty, and yet still has a malt backbone that makes it feel like a beer and not a cocktail.
Highly recommended.
Athletic Brewing Company LLC. Milford, CT and San Diego, CA. Near Beer.
For more NA beer reviews and news:
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
This non-alcoholic (NA) beer is from Athletic Brewing Company, the largest NA brewery in the United States. The brew, "Crease Crusher", is part of their limited series of rotating and one-off releases.
Crafted in collaboration with the Premier Lacrosse League. It's a hoppy pale ale with malted barley, wheat, hops, and yeast.
The brew has a nice golden straw color to it although the head dissipated very quickly. The aroma was mild, a bit floral a bit malt. There was some general fruitiness to the taste. The description notes blueberry, tropical fruit and citrus. I'll be honest, it was just a vague fruitiness to me. However there was a very pleasant bitterness to this, despite the thin body, that bitterness and dry finish made it a very crisp brew and I was ready after each sip for another.
This is just a mid-tier ABC brew. Very middle of the road but not a must buy at all. Still, tasty and I drank my cans pretty quickly. Some of the collab beers like this do certainly seem a bit gimmicky, but hey still a very good beer by almost any other breweries standards I'd say.
Athletic Brewing Company LLC. Milford, CT and San Diego, CA. Near Beer.
As usual, my daily NA beer review plus news, spotlights, and roundups can be found at;
My daily NA beer review plus news, spotlights, and roundups can be found at:
https://www.instagram.com/na.beer.nerd
The month of May 2026 is now in the books. I tried 55 new to me non-alcoholic (NA) / alcohol-free (AF) beers in total in May.
The biggest surprise for me was the Sierra Nevada Trail Pass Juicy IPA. I didn't have huge expectations going into it, but absolutely loved it. It was just edged out by the Collective Arts Guava Gose which could easily fool anyone into thinking it was fully leaded and would rank with any such gose head to head.
Big shout out to Baxter Brewing. The Blueberry and Pilsner could also easily be in a top 5 if there weren't such fierce competition here. All three of their NAs I had could easily be brews I keep on hand at all times. I went through a 6pk of each all in the month.
Also, Athletic Brewing Company continues to pump out truly wonderful limited and one-off brews. The Kolsch and Fruited Fields were both fantastic. Crease Crusher was also VERY good.
I'm feeling lucky to be in such a Renaissance of non-alcoholic beer now!
(Thank you kind friend for the prompt to repost after editing the pics)
"Kolsch", is part of their limited series of rotating and one-off releases.
I've always been a fan of NA kolsches as they have seems to be a style that does quite well in NA versions that I've tried. Interestingly this is the first time that Athletic Brewing Company has done a kolsch despite all their releases over the years. Oh boy does this one not disappoint.
The brew has a great color to it although the head dissipated quite quickly. An enticing smell of herbaceous sweet malt came from the glass. The flavor is bready and floral which is on point for a kolsch style. A bit of sweetness up front ends in a very pleasing crisp quality.
This was a phenomenal beer. I hope that this becomes at the very least a seasonal release if not permanent. I'll gladly be ordering this one again. It went down very quickly and I enjoyed every sip.
For more NA beer reviews and news:
This one is phenomenal. Sweet blueberry and raspberry up front and pithy and acidic grapefruit on the end. Perfectly balanced radler.
I've got Crease Crusher, Kolsch, and Mango Margarita from Athletic Brewing Company up next.
Hi all, another month and another huge lot of new NA brews tried.
Any surprises or thoughts? Easily could gave expanded this to top 10 and been very happy with all the choices.