Low calorie, plant-based and 100% Australian owned, there’s a new non-alcoholic beer on the market: NORT Beer.
The team at NORT Beer were kind enough to send ManSpace magazine a care package with their full range of non-alcoholic beers and they were a hit in my household. The kit includes the NORT Refreshing Ale, Pacific Ale, Tropical XPA and All Day IPA.
Every beer in the NORT non-alcoholic range is under 60 calories and with no alcohol, it’s a brew you can enjoy any time of the day without worrying about slurring your words or people smarmily joking that it’s “five o’clock somewhere”.
My favourite of the range was the All Day IPA. IPAs are a go-to for me when I’m out and about and I’ve struggled to find the same hoppy taste in non-alcoholic brews… until I met NORT. NORT does its best at packing in the signature IPA flavour into its All Day IPA and it’s bursting with mainly citrusy flavours with a hint of dried pawpaw.
Next up in the kit was the sturdy Refreshing Ale, the pioneer brew for NORT Beer. Coming in a can or bottle (an option that’s rare for non-alc beers to offer), the Refreshing Ale was exactly as it sounds – a refreshing ale but obviously, it comes without the headache.
On the pour, the ale is a beautiful golden colour, and it heads up very well, another rare for non-alc beers. It tastes more like a tropical ale than a traditional ale but goes down a treat on a hot day (I will concede that Melbourne’s recent “hot days” haven’t been the hottest, I’ll have to try it out in summer).
The final two brews in the kit are the NORT Tropical XPA and Pacific Ale. I’ve lumped these two together as they’re quite similar with their distinct bitterness and fruity taste but like the rest of the brews, tasted brilliant, headed up well on the pour and hit the non-alc nail on the head.
While I complimented the All Day IPA for its signature bitterness, I felt like the XPA was missing some of the punch that its full-strength cousin brought. But the silver lining is that I haven’t had many non-alcoholic XPAs in my life and I fully expect it to get better in the future.
Moving on to label design, the NORT Beer range is consistent, solid and passable. I’m not framing it and putting it on a wall, but I don’t hate it – solid job on the design and it has all the room in the world for expansion with new flavours.
To sum it up, if you’re looking for a non-alcoholic beer while sitting at home during lockdown or you see it on a night out, give it a try; NORT Beer is one of the better non-alcoholic brands out there and I’d recommend it to anyone out there.
