Review: Grolsch Non-alcoholic Radler (Citroen/Lemon)

Grolsch Non-Alcoholic RadlerI picked up a four-pack of Grolsch's Non-alcoholic Radler (Lemon/Citroen) at a grocery store a few months ago for $8 CAD per 4-473mL pack. I believe I picked it up at either Safeway/Sobeys or Real Canadian Superstore, I don't recall at the moment.

This non-alcoholic Radler (which I think should be called a Shandy as it has lemon juice) is 0.0% ABV and from the can describes it as: brewed with real fruit juice. Grolsch Radler 0.0% is a refreshing alcohol free malt beverage with an unconventional twist of lemon. 

Ingredients: Water, malted barley, fructose, concentrated fruit juice 5% (lemon juice 4.0%, orange juice), natural aroma, stabilizer locust bean gum, and hops.

Per 473mL can, the beer contains 140 calories, 0g of fat, less than 0.05mg of Sodium, 34g of Carbs, 18g of Sugars, and 2g of Protein. 

Appearance: Mildly cloudy lager appearance that has a definite added lemon juice appearance to it, it's more of a lemon yellow in appearance than a golden straw. The beer starts off with a relatively thick amount of snow white head that quickly fizzes away to leave behind only a hint of bubbles near the glass.

Aroma: Incredibly lemon citrus forward - it's a sweet and tart lemonade with a good amount of sugariness to it. There's a light toasted barley aroma but not really noticeable.. so it doesn't give off that raw beer taste that many N.A. Beers have. Light grassy hops. The lemon juice is the predominant thing in this beer so far.

Taste: Like the aroma, this has a lot of lemon to it, sweet and sugary.. so quite lemonade-forward, making this more of a Shandy than Radler. The malt pops out a lot more this time around and it gives off more of that raw beer taste I expected, though it's much more subdued than in most non-alcoholic labers I've had lately - the malt has a wet dough flavour to it. Light grassy hops, and at the end it reminds me a lot of lemon Life Savers candy. Fairly carbonated and acidic mouthfeel, sweet and lemony aftertaste.

Overall Thoughts: This Shandy (not Radler) is actually REALLY good, to the point that I'm surprised this is completely alcohol-free. This is perfect for the hot summer patio weather (with social distancing still, of course). I've reviewed some Radlers/Shandies with alcohol in it that weren't as tasty as this. That said, all the juice and sugar likely is the entire reason why I'm enjoying this.. but at 140 calories, that's probably a tad bit less calories than your typical lagers, but here at BeerCrank.ca, I'm not reviewing beer for the caloric content as I'm definitely not losing weight anytime soon!

1 comment:

Dean Edward said...

This radler use to taste less sugary and more like real radler until they removed the hops and added too much sweetener. after that i stopped buying it.