I'm definitely not reviewing/writing about Non-Alcoholic beer as often as I could, I was writing about it when absolutely nobody else was... and I got ridiculed for it by some too, but hey.. I consider myself to be a pioneer in the field of Non-Alcoholic Beer. I was writing about it when O'Douls was the only option out there, aside from Exel and Labatt Blue 0.5. I wrote about Budweiser Prohibition before anyone else and for years wrote a lot about Non-Alcoholic beer when media, beer drinkers, breweries and even beer snobs were scoffing at it, thinking it would be a dying fad.. Well, when I see local breweries creating NA products more and more frequently, it's definitely not a fad. I'm not drinking NA stuff just because I need to lose weight anymore, but sometimes it hits the spot and I'm still sober afterwards.. that's a bonus, especially as I'm someone who is known to make themselves look like an ass far too often because of beer..I was in Winnipeg a couple days ago and made a quick stop at Low Life Barrel House to pick up some beer before the long drive back to Brandon. Low Life is interesting - it's a winery, brewery, barrel house all in one, plus they have cider on tap through Next Friend as well. So, when I saw that they had their own NA beer in stock, named "Saint" Lager, it made sense to me as it was pretty much an all out establishment of beverages of all kinds, and not everyone wants alcohol or can't drink alcohol. The can, like all Low Life products pops out in a (primarily) seafoam green label. Saint Lager is a collab between Low Life and Harmon's Non-Alcoholic Craft Brewing out of Toronto. I saw the beer on Low Life's social media recently but I didn't think it was a non-alcoholic beer, I thought it was just another craft lager (Their Enjoy Lager is my go-to right now).
Saint is Certified Organic, has 60 calories per 355mL can, contains Water, Malted Barley, Malted Wheat, Hops, Yeast. 0.5% ABV.
Appearance: Golden in appearance, clear, straw-like, pretty much what you expect in a lager. As I pour the beer, it's more carbonated than most lagers - the beer gives off a bit of fizzing sound as if it were a soda. The head itself starts off with a really nice moderately thick snow white head but it goes down to just a little bit of bubbling on top. Good amount of carbonation in the body as well.
Aroma: It's got a moderate amount of raw grain smell that I tend to find in a majority of NA beers but it's not off-putting so far. There's a grassy/floral hop presence to it (hint of alfalfa) and a hint of citrus notes (lemon) to it. Slight hint of honey towards the end, so far it's pretty crisp to the nose.
Taste: So, the first impression I get from the tasting is pretty much what I got in the aroma - a mush up of raw barley and wheat (reminds me of when I grew up on the farm!) After that initial taste it actually grows on me sip by sip - the initial "raw grain" characteristic was replaced with a bit of an herbal/leafy hop presence to it.. to my mind it immediately thought of an Earl Grey tea for a split second but no, it's definitely got a leafiness to it. At one point it's changing on my palate and I'm starting to get the notes of Low Life's Enjoy Lager popping up - a crisp lager with a sharpness to it that I can't describe except maybe a bit of lemon, a honey-like sweetness. Slight notes of biscuits at the very end.
Overall Thoughts: I had absolutely no issue with devouring this NA lager. It did have the notes I get from almost all NA beers since forever but the beer overcame the objections my mind had and it turned out to be a really well rounded craft lager. The fact that it gave me memories of Enjoy made me laugh, I just had a couple last night. No bias here but this is one of the better Canadian NA lagers out there and significantly more flavourful than the Labatt Blue I had a month ago.. I don't know what distribution of this beer will be like but I found it at Low Life Barrel House, and I'm assuming you'll be able to find this at Harmon Craft Brewery for at least the near future. This was canned on October 16, 2024, making it exactly one month old as of the time when I'm writing this, oh and eerily enough, the exact same time.
PS: Breweries, I need to know if you're doing NA beer releases so I can get my hands on them and review it for others to hopefully get others to follow suit!
Check out my slowly increasing list of NA beer reviews
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