• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Steady Drinker

Discover the best low-alcohol and alcohol-free beers and lagers (under 0.5% ABV)

  • Home
  • Start here
  • Best beers
  • Articles
  • About
  • Contact
  • Show Search
Hide Search
You are here: Home / All reviews / Pale ales, golden ales and IPAs / Cipher “Mindful IPA” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) India Pale Ale

Cipher “Mindful IPA” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) India Pale Ale

By Tom Hallett on February 19, 2019

  • Share
  • Tweet

“Mindful” is an aromatic, full-bodied low-alcohol (0.5%) IPA from the Cipher brewery. In this review, get tasting notes, find out where to buy it, how see it’s made and what ingredients it contains.

Whether it’s feeling down after a few drinks or the occasional pang of anxiety following a heavy night out, it’s easy for alcohol to impact our mental health.

Someone who knows has experienced this is Khaled Abdulgani, founder of Cipher, a cuckoo brewery based in Yorkshire, UK.

A veteran of the beer and hospitality industry, Khaled was struggling with depression and anxiety when he used alcohol-free beer to cut down on his alcohol intake.

Soon, he combined his experience in the industry and interest in low and no alcohol beers to set up Cipher, which brews out of the Hambleton Ales brewery in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

Cipher, which an old-fashioned term for “zero”, currently brews one beer called “Mindful”, and India Pale Ale (IPA).

Cipher Mindful IPA alcohol-free beer

Rather than removing the alcohol after fermentation or halting fermentation early, Mindful’s recipe uses less base malts so there’s less sugar for the yeast to turn to alcohol during fermentation. The result is a beer with very low alcohol (0.5%). So it doesn’t need any further processing to make it “alcohol-free”.

  • Is 0.5% ABV alcohol-free?
  • My top alcohol-free beers and lagers
  • Why you can’t get drunk on 0.5% alcohol-free beer

For aroma and bitterness, there’s five American hops in this beer – Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, Mosaic and Simcoe – with some dry hopping (hops added after fermentation) to add extra aroma and flavour.

There’s also lactose (milk sugar) in the recipe to add more body to the beer. So it’s not vegan-friendly. The bottle reassuringly features the batch number, adding to its craft credentials.

It pours a clear bronze with a lively head that soon fizzes out to a slither than floats on the surface and hugs the edges of the glass.

Cipher Mindful IPA alcohol-free beer

The aroma is complex and pleasant but not overpowering like some dry-hopped beers. There’s a floral foundation with a smattering of mango, grapefruit and caramelised orange.

It’s lively out of the bottle – don’t open it over your favourite tablecloth – but has only a tickle of carbonation with tight bubbles. The body is low to medium, so you might be able to tell it’s alcohol-free. It’s far from watery though.

The taste is understated and finely balanced. Led by grapefruit, mango and smooth citrus flavours and aided by the aroma, it’s fruity with only a touch of maltiness mid sip. But it’s not overly sweet, which means it only needs a touch of bitterness.

The bitterness grows the more you drink, so there’s no danger of downing it before you’ve had chance to savour the flavours.

Verdict

Mindful is a fine beer with a varied aroma and a refreshing, complex flavour.

The lack of body might expose it as an alcohol-free beer but who cares when it tastes good?

Key info

  • Name: Mindful IPA
  • Brewery: Cipher
  • Style: IPA
  • Alcohol content: 0.5%
  • Calories: unknown
  • Carbohydrates: unknown
  • Sugar: unknown
  • Ingredients: water, malted barley, hops, lactose, yeast
  • Country: UK
  • Dispense: bottle (330ml)
  • Stockists (UK): Wise Bartender* (use the code STEADY at checkout to get 5% off your Wise Bartender order)

Related posts:

Omnipollo "Konx" review - low-alcohol (0.3%) pale ale
Adnams "Sole Star" review - low-alcohol (0.5%) amber ale
Kompaan "Badgast Ripped" review - low-alcohol (0.5%) American ale

"Mindful" IPA by Cipher

Cipher Mindful IPA alcohol-free beer
6.9

Aroma

7.2/10

Mouthfeel

6.8/10

Flavour

6.8/10

Pros

  • Pleasant aroma
  • Understated flavour

Cons

  • Not suitable for vegans
  • Share
  • Tweet

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.

Primary Sidebar

About Steady Drinker

Hello, I'm Tom and this is Steady Drinker – a website and blog that helps you discover great low-alcohol and non-alcoholic beers and lagers (under 0.5% ABV) so you can cut down your alcohol intake. Read More…

Get something nice by email

Sign up to get reviews, articles, offers and discounts to your inbox.

(I'll only use your details to send you emails and I won't share your data with anyone else.)

Recent Posts

  • Uiltje “Superb-Owl” review – low-alcohol (0.2%) India pale ale
  • The best non-alcoholic beers and alcohol-free lagers in 2023
  • Butcombe “Goram IPA Zero” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) India pale ale†
  • Insel “Swimmer’s” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) saison
  • Divine Brewing “Polaris” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) porter

Copyright © 2023 | Privacy policy | Disclaimer | Disclosures