Fortitude Everyday Lager

Fortitude Non Alcoholic Drinks Ltd is one of several new AF beer producers I saw pop up in 2020, through social media and industry news publications. It’s always hard to start up a new business, but to do so during a worldwide pandemic must have been an order of magnitude more difficult, and I praise all such companies for sticking with it. The business was set up by father and son team Rob and Tom Proctor, and incorporated in August 2020. Tom has previous involvement in the non-alcoholic drinks market, having set up and run The Alcohol Free Co Ltd with his wife back at the beginning of 2019. Selling AF drinks must have put him in a strong position to see what products work, and has hopefully given him insight into what makes good alcohol-free beers.

Fortitude chose a lager for their first beer, and this makes sense to me. Lager is the go-to drink for many people, and many of those people may be looking to cut down on their alcohol intake. Fortitude have stated that part of their reason for being is to help those wanting to live a healthier lifestyle and are perhaps struggling to give up the drink, and it stands to reason that it should be easier to substitute an alcoholic drink with a non-alcoholic one that looks, smells and tastes like the ‘real thing’. Alcohol-free lagers can prove difficult to perfect however. Whereas with an IPA the brewer can ‘hide’ the lack of alcohol with good hop blending, with a lager the brewer is more exposed, and we’ve seen many examples of overly sweet and watery beers as a consequence. Will Fortitude Everyday Lager be able to hold it’s own as a good low ABV beer?

The beer pours a deep golden colour with good clarity and a few visible bubbles. It’s certainly a lot darker than many other AF lagers. We get a frothy white head which recedes to more of a foam film as we drink. On the nose we get immediate malt sweetness, which builds to an almost golden syrup aroma. A whiff of fresh grassy hop can also be made out in the background.

The taste is again very malt forward, but clean and light, and not too sweet. Grassy hop can be made out in the background, but is certainly not the star of the show here. The body is good to watery, with a good amount of carbonation, and we get a short malty finish.

Fortitude Everyday Lager is certainly a non-alcoholic lager that you could drink every day. It’s very easy to drink, and offers both minimal bitterness and sweetness, without being forgettable. It may not have all the bells and whistles of some of the beers out there, but I could see a pack of these slipping down a treat over a sunny afternoon and evening.

Fortitude Everyday Lager

Hopefully we’ll see Fortitude Everyday Lager available in more places, we got ours from their online shop:

Nutritional Information (per 100ml, taken from the side of the can)
ABV	0.5%
Energy	11.9 kcal
Fat	<0.1g
Carbohydrates	2.4g
Sugar	0.7g
Protein	0.3g
Ingredients
Hops, Barley, Water, Yeast, Potassium Sorbate
Additional Information
Country of Production	United Kingdom
Brewer	Fortitude Drinks – https://fortitudedrinks.co.uk/
Gluten Free?	Yes
Vegan Friendly?	Yes