Indiewave

Indiewave by Ceria Brewing Co is a non-alcoholic IPA that would best fit as an IPA (BJCP category 21A). This one looks no different than a normal IPA, pouring deep yellow towards gold with some orange hues, a slight bit of haze, and a white head that hangs around. The aroma is of old school IPA, very much like Cascade hops – floral, grapefruit, lemon – with a light pale malt and low caramel sweetness. The flavor is similar to the aroma, but with more citrus zest – grapefruit, orange and lemon. The hops also lend a medium-high bitterness that builds on the zest, but isn’t pithy. Beyond the hops is a light grainy malt and a honey-like sweetness on the back end. Perhaps it’s lupulin shift, but while the bitterness is there, the hop intensity is a bit lacking for today’s standards. It seems as though much of the hop character was converted to bitterness during the alcohol removal process. With that said, it’s not clear this is a non-alcoholic beer, so it makes for a solid substitute retaining most of the normal character one is looking for in an IPA, just without the booze.