You may not have heard of Brulo Beer before, but we’ve reviewed a few of their alcohol-free beers in the past, all with overall scores of 4 or more. They were previously known as Coast Beer Co, but in October 2021 underwent a rebrand to Brulo, probably due to a previous brewer using the Coast name and branding. The name must come from a contraction of ‘brew’ and ‘low’, signalling beers on the nolo ABV spectrum. The brewer has kept the rest of it’s branding style though, including the 1960s soviet-style eye icon that continues to stare at you from Brulo cans, silently judging your choice of beverage, or maybe commending you on your good taste in non-alcoholic beer.
The majority of Coast Beer Co’s previous output were IPAs, and Brulo continues this here with their Sabro Galaxy DDH IPA. Double-dry hopped with Sabro and Galaxy hops, which are relative newcomers to the brewing world. Sabro was released to brewers in 2018 and hails from the New Mexico mountains. It offers the flavours and aromas of tropical fruit, citrus tangerine, coconut, cedar and more, and is growing in popularity due to the complexity that it can impart into a brew. Galaxy on the other hand is slightly older, coming to market in 2009, but originates from Australia. It offers peach and passionfruit aromas with citrus bitterness, and is popular as a late stage addition hop, which makes it great for a DDH. So far, Brulo has showed a great understanding of how to blend and balance different hops, and these two types have certainly tickled my palate in a good way in the past. Let’s get this beer in a glass and get to work.
Pouring out from the can we get a pale straw coloured liquid with a slight amount of haze. A good frothy head is produced which diminishes but sticks with us as best it can. Inhaling, we get the bouquet of citrus mandarin and tropical pineapple and mango. There’s a background ‘candy’ sweetness to the aroma, along with a hint of sherbet and a whiff of coconut off in the distance.
A tropical mango sweetness greets us on tasting the beer, growing with pineapple and passion fruit, then in comes citrus bitterness, with grapefruit, lemon and pine adding some astringency. The beer has medium carbonation levels, and there is some weight in the body, giving a great slick mouthfeel. The finish is bitter with a hint of coconut.
Brulo Sabro Galaxy DDH IPA sticks well to the blueprint laid down by the brewer’s other IPA offerings, but this time with a pair of hops that play off well against each other. A common issue with hop-forward AF beers is that the taste does not live up to the aroma, and I’d say again it’s true here, nevertheless the result is very drinkable and would suit most IPA fans. The beer could do with a little work regarding the sugar content and carb count – like most of Brulo / Coast’s catalogue they’re sky high.
Buy Brulo Sabro Galaxy DDH IPA
Brulo beers are increasingly available on off-licence shelves, and a few bars north of the border are offering their beers on tap – imagine that folks! I bought my Sabro Galaxy DDH IPA straight from the brewer, and you can do likewise:
Nutritional Information (per 100ml, taken from the side of the can) | |
---|---|
ABV | 0.0% |
Energy | 33 kcal |
Fat | 0g |
Carbohydrates | 7.9g |
Sugar | 3.8g |
Protein | <1g |
Ingredients | |
Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast | |
Additional Information | |
Country of Production | Belgium |
Brewer | Brulo Beer – https://www.brulobeer.com/ |
Gluten Free? | No |
Vegan Friendly? | Yes |
Brulo Sabro Galaxy AF DDH IPA Review
Summary
Great flavours and aromas in this IPA, though it’s firmly in the standard Brulo style, and may still be too much on the sweet/calorific side of things some people.