Rick’s Near Beer is a relatively new non-alcoholic beer brand out of Austin, Texas, which hit the scene this year with Rick’s Original Pils as its entry into the lifestyle NA space. Since the launch of Original Pils, Rick’s has also introduced a non-alcoholic Hazy IPA, though the website indicates that it is currently sold out.

The company sent me samples of Rick’s Original Pils, and on that post I included the press release that gives a little more background on the brand and founder Josh Hare. What it doesn’t include—though it’s on the can itself—is that the beer is produced (or at least processed) by Sustainable Beverage Tech, aka BrewVo.

It’s the Colorado-based company that uses a proprietary method (“nested fermentation process”?) to produce the NA brews, and is currently behind the NA beers from Deschutes Brewery, Best Day Brewing, Grüvi, and more. So far, I’ve been fairly impressed with the quality of non-alcoholic beers coming from BrewVo, and all in all I think this Original Pils is another good example of what an NA beer can be.

My review:

Appearance: Pale golden color and pretty clear. Good crisp white head.

Smell: Bready and grainy, cracked wheat, grain dust. Pretty light profile, no sense of hops. No off-aromas or any indicators that it’s non-alcoholic.

Taste: Quite light, with a slightly doughy malt flavor, some grainy sweetness, a touch of mineral water. No hop character, though there’s a light earthiness. Generally good malt flavors, and nothing (aside from the light character) hinting at NA.

Mouthfeel: Light-bodied, a touch watery. Crisp!

Overall: Really pretty good as an NA pilsner, about as good as you can expect perhaps, other than being on the watery side.