Lervig: No Worries – Driving Home For Christmas (Norway: Low Alcohol: 0.5% ABV)
Visual: Very dark brown. Large, loose mounds of browned head that leaves suds.
Nose: Spicy. Turmeric. Cinnamon sticks. Cloves. Greenery. Very Christmas spice. Slight toffee and coffee.
Body: Peppery. Slight iced tea. Toffee. Some bitterness. Light charring. Cinnamon.
Finish: Ginger. Greenery. Peppery. Moderate hop bitterness. Bitter treacle.
Conclusion: This is nicely pleasing. It is very spice dominated in flavour, but despite that the spice flavours don’t feel overdone. Which is a nice trick if you can manage it.
It is, as the name would suggest, all about the Christmas spice, which gives a slightly mulled beer character to this dark ale.
The base also has a darker style toffee base and more bitter than normal take on a treacle note above some notes of charring. The base feel present, and reasonably tasty, but it is definitely intended to work mainly as a backing to the spice.
There are hints of that iced tea character so commonly present in low alcohol beers, but the darker flavours and spice seems to hide it much better than usual. It doesn’t feel heavy, which isn’t suprising considering the lack of malt being used, but that seems to work with the spice flavor. The spice, while strong, doesn’t stick around, so doesn’t outstay its welcome like it would in a bigger beer.
This, not usually a spice fan, approves.
Background: Ok, beer, you know there was zero percent chance I was heading home for Christmas this year, let alone driving home. You didn’t have to rub it in. Anyway, here is to everyone staying home this year to keep everyone safe. I’m raising my glass to you. Apart from being low alcohol this seems to have nothing in common with the standard Lervig: No Worries. That was a light IPA like beer, this is a dark spiced ale. Still, low abv, so I can see why they kept the naming convention. This was grabbed from Beercraft, their low abv selection tends to be on point, even if they tend to be slightly expensive in general. Went with the classic album from Against Me – Transgender Dysphoria Blues – while drinking. Still not a bad track on that album.
