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You are here: Home / All reviews / Stouts, porters & dark ales / St Peter’s Brewery “Without Original” review – alcohol-free (0.05%) bitter

St Peter’s Brewery “Without Original” review – alcohol-free (0.05%) bitter

By Tom Hallett on April 15, 2018

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St Peter’s “Without” is an (almost) completely alcohol-free dark bitter. Get tasting notes, find out where to buy, and see nutritional info and ingredients in this review.

Lagers, stouts and hoppy pale ales are well represented in the world of non-alcoholic beer. However, if you prefer traditional bitters, you might struggle to find a non-alcoholic version on the shelves.

One of the closest non-alcoholic beers to a traditional bitter is “Without”, a beer produced by Suffolk’s St Peter’s Brewery.

St Peter's Brewery Without Non-Alcoholic beer

St Peter’s brews two other non-alcoholic “Without” beers alongside this one – an organic version and a “Without Gold” version. The brewery also has a range of traditional-strength beers and a London pub, “The Jerusalem Tavern”.

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Without launched in 2016, a little way before the recent boom in non-alcoholic beer brewing. The brewery’s owner John Murphy decided to create a non-alcoholic beer after a cancer diagnosis put paid to his drinking.

St Peter's Brewery Without Non-Alcoholic beer bottle top

This was John’s second foray into the non-alcoholic beer industry – he was also involved in marketing Guinness’s alcohol-free beer “Kaliber” in the 1970s.

Kaliber doesn’t have a great reputation with beer drinkers. How does Without fare?

The beer is a mahogany colour and has a modest head that clings to the glass as you drink it.

The aroma is a little overpowering. It’s bready and yeasty, much like stale wholemeal bread. There’s also a slight chemical twang, which grows stronger the more you drink. In all, it smells like the air around a large brewery on a brewing day. There’s no signs of any hops in the aroma.

St Peter's Brewery Without Non-Alcoholic beer bottle and glass

The beer has a good body in the mouth. There’s low carbonation, which makes it feel like a cask bitter. However, it feels quite greasy after a few sips.

The stale bread continues in the taste. Again, none of the hops comes through in the flavour. It tastes unfinished – more like a mug of malt drink than a beer.

There’s a very dry, overly bitter finish. I found it sickly after a few sips and struggled to finish the entire 300ml bottle.

Verdict

I had high hopes for “Without”. Unfortunately though, it didn’t hit the spot.

There are too many strong flavours and too much bitterness. I found it almost undrinkable.

Key info – St Peter’s Without

  • Name: Without Original
  • Brewery: St Peter’s Brewery
  • Style: dark ale
  • Alcohol content: 0.05%
  • Calories: 90 (per 330ml)
  • Ingredients: water, malt, yeast, hops
  • Country: UK
  • Dispense: bottle (330ml)
  • Stockists (UK): Amazon* and in store in some major supermarkets including Tesco*

Related posts:

Harviestoun "Wheesht" review - alcohol-free (0%) ruby ale
Nøgne Ø "Svart/Hvit" review - non-alcoholic (0%) milk stout
Braxzz "Barrelled Bock" (0%) review†

"Without Original" (0.05%) by St Peter's Brewery

St Peter's Brewery Without Non-Alcoholic beer
3.3

Aroma

2.5/10

Mouthfeel

5.0/10

Flavour

2.5/10

Pros

  • Widely available

Cons

  • Poor aroma and flavour
  • Sickly
Buy now on Amazon*
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Disclosures

*If you buy something after you visit links marked with *, I might receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

†Reviews marked with † feature beers I didn't pay for (usually because the producers gave them to me for free). My aim is to review these beers the same as beers I've paid for but you may want to bear this in mind when reading the review.

Find out more on my disclosures page.

About Tom Hallett

New(ish) dad, slow runner and Border Terrier owner (or is it the other way round?) on a mission to find the world's best low-alcohol and alcohol-free beers.

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