Lervig Johnny Low: Both tasty and low in alcohol?

The taste of summer!

Lervig just released another beer, this time a 2,5% ABV IPA light. Finally a good Norwegian produced low alcohol beer. Now you won’t need to buy imported low alcohol/alcohol free beers anymore like Brewdog Nanny State, Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Alkoholfrei, Kapuziner Weissbier Alkoholfrei or the horrible San Miguel 0,0%, or any of the shit that the Norwegian lager breweries produce as an alcohol free alternative. All the mentioned beers above are lower in alcohol than Lervig Johnny Low, but then again Johnny Low tastes more, and that’s why we drink beer isn't it? Cause we like the flavors. With Johnny Low you can drink a whole six pack in front of your kids without getting intoxicated, or you can enjoy as a lawnmower beer, something to quench your thirst while you work in the garden. Shit, you can drink and drive... :) Ha-ha, maybe not, but you can probably enjoy a bottle or two at a meal with some friends and then drive home afterwards.

Instant coolness acquired!

So what is Johnny Low? A 2,5% heavily hopped unfiltered IPA, dry hopped twice as much as Lervig flagship beer Lucky Jack. It got a basic IPA malt base of Pilsner and Crystal malt, the hops used are Cascade, Simcoe & Citra. It's yellow and unclear and when you pour it into a glass it leaves a small white head. It smells like hops and tastes like hops and the hops carry the whole beer. It's a thin beer, and not much malt is going on except a very small sweetness in the background, but it's not in a bad way, cause it's balanced and very refreshing. It got a piny, grassy and citrus like flavor, and a great bitterness that lingers in the back of your mouth for a long time after you've taken a sip. I really like it and I recommend it.

The actual beer is quite lighter in color than this, damn flash fucking up...

As far as I've understood, this is a beer you can legally drink in the streets, and Norwegian stores can sell it during all its opening hours. Hell, you can sell this beer on Sundays, many BBQ parties will be saved this summer! It's a very sessionable ale and something I hope to see more breweries make. Instead of bang for bucks, meaning more alcohol for your money, Johnny got flavor for ABV, meaning it's tasty for it's low alcohol content. But doesn't people drink to get drunk? And the answer is there's a time for everything and there should also be a beer for any situation. If you're into craft beer, you're probably into it for the flavors and not only the buzz, right?

Share a six pack with a friend!

So far my favorite low ABV brews have been Mikkeller's Drinking In The Sun a hoppy pale ale and Struise Black Damnation VII Single Black, an awesome 2% stout. Yeah and the last beer like this Lervig made for Evil Twin, Bikini Beer, great stuff! At Copenhagen Beer Celebration a few weeks ago I tried The Kernel London Sour Raspberry, a 2,3% sour ale that were just amazing, one of the best beers at the festival, super tasty, fruity and sour. My point here is that a good beer is a good beer, and that it's possible to make highly drinkable low ABV beers in any style. I remember talking to Mikkel Borg Bjergsø last year and asked him what his dream beer would be, and he responded that he would want to have a super tasty 0% beer, that he could just drink all day long. Even our friends in ABC Brewing have made a "low" ABV beer, their 3,7% Firewood Stout got great scores on ratebeer, haven’t tried it yet myself though.

Time to cut your lawn?

It's quite trendy now, to make tasty beers with less alcohol and I believe a lot of consumers will pick up on that when Lervig Johnny Low hits the shelves. This batch was brewed in the beginning of May, bottled just a few days ago. Hoppy beers are always best fresh, so don't wait, go get some now. But don't expect the stores to have this brew in the shelves unless you and your friends go to your local store and ask them to order it, now! Oh and if they do, fucking buy some! I know I will...

Cheers

- Haffy