It's not hard to understand why the team at Holgate sent a photo of their second non-alc beer featuring a can being poured onto a bowl of Weet-Bix*. After all, the beer is called Breakfast Club and is alcohol-free so, technically, could be consumed in the morning without any adverse effect on the remainder of one's day. The cans also sport a cassette tape titled "Beer of Champions" that, in tandem with the name of the beer, suggests they're aiming for beer drinkers who grew up with Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy and co and are on the lookout for a healthier / alc-free option.
I have to admit, however, that the "beer-on-brekkie" photo instantly brought to mind two things. One is the copper, John, who falls in with the football hooligans he's sent to infiltrate in the 1995 British film I.D. and, at one point in his descent, is seen emptying a white powder onto his breakfast cereal. The other is an interesting character on the Newcastle (UK) acid techno scene from around the same period in time who had a shaved head apart from single, thick dread that started pretty much where his nose would have been if his face was on the back of his head. He put down a mixtape remarkable for its combination of classic tracks of the era with godawful mixing; it qualifies for its unlikely appearance here due to its name: Ketamine and Cornflakes.
Now, I'm not suggesting pouring non-alcoholic beer onto your breakfast is in any way like starting your day with a sprinkling of controlled substances on your cereal (not that I've carried out any trials to confirm this either way); and, to be fair, perhaps the fact that beer and Weet-Bix are both grain-based could make it a winning combination. All I'm saying is, why on earth do I still have that terrible mixtape lurking deep within my psyche, and is it too early (typing this at 6.32am) to listen to Acperience 1?
Where was I again? Ah yes, Holgate's non-alc lager. Right...
Well, it's not their first play in this space; indeed, they were one of the early adopters with Love All. While that was a maltier, fairly bitter play for pale ale (tennis) fans wanting to strip out the booze, this is a brighter, breezier affair. Pouring pale as, with little to get in the way of the light citrus and melon hop aromas and flavours, it's got "crisp 'n' clean" in its sights. As you'd expect from such a sub-0.5 percent ABV beer, the body is on the lighter side, bringing to mind some of the hoppy mids of a few years back.
James Smith
*You'll have to check our social posts for this beer to see said image, but, essentially, beer is being poured onto Weet-Bix.
Published February 21, 2023 2023-02-21 00:00:00
