Clarkvv (16760) reviewed Peanut Butter Dark from Bravus Brewing Company 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
Can, best before 10/22, drunk 2/10/22. Dark, though not opaque, brown with ebony and a light tan head showing moderate-to-low retention. There's the worty smell, of course, though more adjunct, in this case extract, helps fend it off somewhat. It's not too sweet or malty and perhaps it works better in a style here that should be quite malt forward. In the mouth it's lightly sweet, showing a soft mouthfeel from unfermented sugar. Extracts aren't too offensive/artificial tasting and it goes down easily and more or less enjoyably, if you can get past the wort flavor. Definitely easier to ignore it, as it's hidden beneath roast, chocolate, peanut and other stronger flavors.
Clarkvv (16760) reviewed Blood Orange IPA from Bravus Brewing Company 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 6
Fresh can, drunk January 2022. Copper-brass, mostly clear with a frothy, off-white head showing moderate retention. Like their IPA (and assumedly, all of their beers) it's a glass of significantly high percentage of wort, though this one has a lovely blood orange addition adding perfume, spice, earth and light citric acid. Soft, lightly sweet, though seemingly less so and less worty than the regular IPA, the blood orange character is well-done and helps balance or downplay these flavors. Definitely an acquired taste, these Bravus beers and one that I'm not really committed to acquiring, even if the unfinished, malty sugars do add more body than your average NA. Just don't love the nose or flavor of unfermented malt sugar.
Clarkvv (16760) reviewed IPA from Bravus Brewing Company 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 5.5
Can, best before 10/22, drunk 2/9/22. Mostly clear, deep bronze-brass and a foamy, off-white head that shows moderate-to-strong retention. Good C-hop character is distinct and not stale or too sweaty. Smells like a mid-tier, West Coast IPA. Nothing flashy or explosive, nor tropical or juicy, but fine. As it seems is the case with Bravus, it also smells very worty. I guess unfermented malt is just part of their schtick. It's hard to get past it, even if it doesn't smell terrible. I guess if you like malted shakes, or malt beverages, you can just sort of look at it as that. To its credit, it does provide more sugar for the beer, contributing to much better body/mouthfeel, despite, of course, giving it a worty flavor, as well. Soft, sweet, caramel and cereal with pine and grapefruit hops doing an ok job trying to balance, if not completely succeeding. Honestly, I'm so sick of the complete lack of mouthfeel in most NAs that I almost don't even mind the fact that this thing is basically a glass of unfermented beer.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4.5
Another flavor I wouldn't be too sure of. Peanut butter can be a very hit or miss proposition in beer. But first of all, it has an attractive, rich-looking stout head. The aroma kind of wanders around the map. I pick up a bit of malt roast, perhaps some slightly sweetened cocoa. Taste is of a light cocoa as well. Hard to say where peanuts play in, but peanuts don't have as much taste as they do texture. Taste is not close to what I would expect, but it has the advantage of not being saccharine. Looks like all the sweetness that is there comes just from the malt base.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 5.5
12 oz can sent for my comment. There's a nice nose of blood orange juice right in the pour. A head of foam that actually persists for a few minute, to help support the nose. The taste has a bitter hop note, but the fruit juice character is slighter than in the nose. I'm finding it nice and drinkable.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Sample can from Bravus, outside by the grill. Did not get a good chance to chill this. Can a fruitier NA beer cover the usual sins of the style? Well, a nice raspberry nose under the pull tab. Puts a cloudy yellow with deeper color in the thick patty of the glass. Fizzy soda pop head. Raspberry-ade smell remains surprisingly enjoyable in the glass. Taste? Pretty nice. Fruitiness right up front. Still a little bit of the metallic tang of light or NA beer. Salt and coriander are pretty obvious, giving this a little bit of sports drink character. And then it comes out a bit sweaty. But in fact, I'm liking this most of their lineup, maybe because instead of trying to taste like a real beer, it tastes like itself. This is one I'd get if I needed to go to a dry gathering.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 4 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 4
12 oz can from Bravus. Very grainy smell under the tab. Does pour a nice looking porter type, though the head fizzes away almost immediately. Graininess is joined by a cloying sweetness in the glass. Taste, well, it's more of a liquid coconut macaroon, with the beer taste knocked way to the back. I admit I'm not partial to coconut flavor anyway, but when I found it in other beers, it was decent. The Bravus stuff has been generally OK with me on traditional styles, but I kind of figured the specialty flavors might be harder to do in a NA beer.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
12 oz. cans, sent by Bravus for comment. First off, this gets some ups for looking and pouring like an stout, dark black body with a brown head, which kicked up a lot higher before I could get a decent photo. The smell is roasty black malt, and even a touch of oatmeal creaminess. The taste is surprisingly like a stout after all. Just rather dry. As I said, sometimes the alcohol that was removed supplied the note of sweetness to keep the beer balanced. But this keeps up a decent stout beer taste. And if it's not very sweet, then it's also not too sweet. Or saccharine, as some low-alcohol or lite beers can be.
McDermottDrink (4627) reviewed IPA from Bravus Brewing Company 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 5 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6
Can sent by Bravus for my impression. Looks like they're shooting for an American-style pale ale, as their website says this is made with Simcoe, Cascade, Columbus and Centennial hops. This throws up some frothy suds over a pretty clear golden pale ale body. There is a nice smell of the 3 C's hops to go with it. When poured chilled from the fridge, it does have a nice, hoppy pale ale taste. Only issue is again, a slight tang of raw graininess. Not as pronounced as the two beers before this. Manages to stay pretty dry. So far, this is the one most like the beer its style is mimicking.
McDermottDrink (4627) reviewed Amber Ale from Bravus Brewing Company 4 years ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 5 | Flavor - 4 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 5
Cans sent by Bravus for my comment. Again, a nice beer-like pour; amber and slightly hazy, over a slightly foamy head. Grainier smell, and I catch a side note of stout roast grain as well. Less sugar to this in the tongue. But there's a big umami notes to this as well. A bit of yeast, perhaps like unsalted Marmite. These needed to dry out somehow, to take the malt sugar down before the alcohol is removed.