Your favourite modern sour beer is finally available at <0.5%. That’s right - all the flavour, none of the hangovers.
We teamed up with the ‘low & no’ legends at Mash Gang to create The Schoff. Our guilt-free, easy drinking sour beer combines white grape and grapefruit juice for a refreshing, tangy taste that punches well above its weight.
0.5% / 440ml
Avis
Paul G
@ Brewhouse Project2 years ago
2.7
A (basically) no alcohol sour named after german radler style beer 'Schofferhofer'. Pale yellow appearance with a steady visible carbonation as you'd expect. Light and fresh on the nose with tropical Lilt type although there is no pineapple, just piffy orange and lemon with grapefruit no showing so far.
First sip, first impression is this is a soft drink rather than a beer also it's not sour. I'm too unfamiliar with the brewing process to say if producing a sour no alc brew with yeast is possible. Maybe otherwise you would need natural juice to acquire sourness. It's sweet and light with pleasant flavour of orange peel and lemon zest and a smidgen of pink grapefruit. Fizzy like pop and very drinkable, obviously, from the lack of alcohol and sourness. The finish is a bit odd, it's short and chalky, possibly from the brewing progress. I have to remind myself this was brewed and not simply a mixture of soda water and juice, yet i can't help but think that would produce similar or even nicer results.
I'm a fan of Mash Gang having had a 2.5% mango sour collab with Unbarred. That was luscious purée style juice and ultra session ABV. This brew is not as luscious as it's texture it's thick and juicy that mango gives you, instead this is a effervescent affair with piff and zest. Obviously would be good for summer.
It's different and difficult to judge, I'm tempted to say it's just poor and have a soda pop instead, but it's not the same as a soft drink. Closest comparison is a radler, though this brew is more refined which is trying to convince me it's worth the expense. I mean you could get a really nice soft drink for the price of this craft beer and comparing this no alc to normal craft brew...it's dissatisfying. If it were actually sour then I'd be more pleased.
I'm conflicted, it tastes nice but has major fundamental flaws that are probably unavoidable due to its nature. You could neck this and waste £4.