Gruvi NA Sour Weisse

I couldn’t dig up exactly when the brand Gruvi was established, but it was clear from the first time that I sampled one of their products that they know exactly what they are doing. This, of course, doesn’t meant that there isn’t some variance in quality among their array of options, but every product of theirs that I’ve tried meets some baseline of adequacy at the very least, and a few have been remarkably tasty. That is why I am looking forward to diving into one more of their offerings and letting you know how it stands up through this Gruvi Alcohol-Free Sour Weisse review.

Gruvi NA Sour Weisse Review

There aren’t all that many sour NA beers on the market currently, or if there are then I haven’t been made aware of them. But it is no surprise that as sours continue to assert their position in the craft beer industry a few of them are beginning to pop up. To me this makes absolutely sense, because it seems that the strong flavors of a sour should be able to overcome the missing ingredient of booze and add up to something tasty.

But let’s start with the looks. As I said, the can is bright yellow. I like that Gruvi’s labels are not too busy and instead filled with negative space. There is a small marketing blurb on one side, but other than that it is just the front logo and the stats.

It is easy to identify this beer as a sour once poured into a glass. The color is a very pale golden color that actually looks like if the contrast of the label were turned down about 70 percent. There is a tiny bit of haze to it, but a generous fluffy white head that retains quite well.

The aroma, as well, is very reminiscent of a traditional alcoholic sour beer. I get a lot of lemon on the nose, along with notes of wheat. It actually reminds me of the sour mix that a below average bar would use to make their whiskey sours. The strength and complexity of this aroma actually took me aback momentarily, but it is only overpowering in comparison to other NA options. Real sours smell sour, and this one definitely does, giving me hope that it won’t be too toned down.

These are all good signs for what this brew will taste like, but the only way to find out and answer the question, “Is Gruvi NA Sour Weisse good?” starts with the first swig.

Is Gruvi NA Sour Weisse Good?

A lot of what I found on the nose is immediately present on the tongue as well. Lemon remains the dominant flavor element, and while it is a strong sour note it stops short of being puckering. The crafters of this beer knew where to land with the sour balance.

There is a nice wheat backbone that I believe keeps this NA offering from having too much of a watery mouthfeel. The body is just on the lighter side of medium but not as much as I have found other non-alcoholic beers to be.

The resemblance to sour mix is much more tame on the tongue than I detected in the aroma. There are some other citrus notes present around the mouth, notably grapefruit. Aside from these I don’t detect a lot of other specific flavors, but the wheat and the sour lemon play very well together.

One thing that is very pleasantly surprising in this tasting experience is how clean the finish is. Sour have a bit of a propensity to linger on the tongue, which I do think many drinkers enjoy. I personally prefer a sharper finish, and this one wipes itself off your taste buds nice and quickly.

I believe that this beer is beginning to confirm my hypothesis that sours and their strong flavors are good candidates for NA brewing. I know that they aren’t for everybody, but this brew mimics an alcoholic version quite well. We will find out what exactly that means for my final Gruvi NA Sour Weisse rating.

Gruvi NA Sour Weisse Rating

As it stands, it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to impress me with a non-alcoholic sour beer. There isn’t much to compare to, so any brewery trying to establish themselves in this niche really has the opportunity to set a standard. Use all of those fruit elements to reasonably mimic an alcoholic sour, and you are most of the way there. I have to admit that Gruvi has done an admirable job of that. Typically when new style enter the market it takes a handful of bad versions to appear before others build off of them and correct their mistakes. Gruvi has kind of hit the nail on the head quite well right out of the gate. There is plenty of complexity and character to this beer.

That said, all of the flavor elements don’t blend together perfectly. If someone were entering into this thinking that, since it’s NA, they would be getting a toned back version of all those strong sours on the market, they would likely be disappointed. But I imagine most that are willing to purchase an NA sour already enjoy the style. And those kinds of people will be perfectly satisfied with this beer. I like sours well enough, but they’re far from my favorite style, so I didn’t expect to arrive at a terribly high score here. But the company delivers on what they’re going for, so I must end this Gruvi NA Sour Weisse review by awarding it a full 5 out of 5 stars.

If you’d like to purchase Gruvi products, they can all be ordered directly from their website.

Photos Credit:

https://www.amazon.com/

https://www.getgruvi.com/

https://untappd.com/

https://www.brewbound.com/