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You are here: Home / All reviews / Pale ales, golden ales and IPAs / Signature Brew “Lo-Fi” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) pale ale

Signature Brew “Lo-Fi” review – low-alcohol (0.5%) pale ale

By Tom Hallett on May 16, 2021

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“Lo-Fi” is a music-inspired 0.5% pale ale is from London’s Signature Brew. Get tasting notes and info on ingredients and stockists in this review.

There’s only a couple of ways I associate beer with music.

One is as a means to drum up some courage to take my hand out of my pockets and join the dance floor – pre-pandemic of course. (Tip: This doesn’t work as well with non-alcoholic beer.)

The other is the poor quality of the beer on offer at gigs and festivals.

I doubt any breweries can help me with my phobia of public shape throwing. But there is one brewery that can help with the beer at music events conundrum.

Signature Brew’s mission is not only to produce great beer, but to bring them to music-led venues and festivals. No more warm, bland, overly fizzy lager? Sounds good to me.

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The brewery was founded in 2011, collaborating with indie band The Rifles on one of its first beers. Since then, it’s collaborated with scores (pun intended) of musicians including Frank Turner, Slaves, Mogwai and Lightyear.

The names of the brewery’s core beers are music-themed, naturally, with Roadie IPA, Studio Lager and Backstage IPA among its core beers.

All that’s missing is something non-alcoholic. Enter “Lo-Fi”, a 0.5% hazy pale ale.

Ingredients

Lo-Fi is brewed with Simcoe hops, which are known for their earthy, woody, piney flavours.

Signature Brew Lo-Fi non-alcoholic pale ale - can

There’s no info on the barley malt variety. Oats are included in the grain bill.

Lo- Fi also contains glycerol, something I haven’t seen included in a non-alcoholic beer before. Glycerol contributes to the body and can influence the flavour.

The ingredients, processes and packaging are suitable for vegans. But this beer isn’t gluten free.

Calories, carbs and sugar

Disappointingly, there’s no nutritional info available for this beer.

So you might want to give it a miss if you’re counting the calories or watching your sugar intake.

Flavours, appearance and mouthfeel

The brewery isn’t lying when it describes this as pale. Pouring more like a cloudy apply juice than a beer, it’s camel-coloured and opaque.

Signature Brew Lo-Fi non-alcoholic pale ale in a glass

There’s a touch of fizz that leaves a few clumps of foam clinging to the edge of the glass.

It looks ace, if unorthodox.

The aroma is ace and unorthodox too. Leafy, woody, fruity and complex, there’s pine, mango, pineapple and toffee with the pine growing in strength as it warms.

Signature Brew Lo-Fi non-alcoholic pale ale - can and glass

The body is on the lighter side, but it’s aided by the weight of the haze. The carbonation produces small but prickly bubbles.

Pale malts feature more in the taste than in the aroma, but the maltiness is overwhelmed by more pine supported by a touch of green stem and fresh grass. There’s a squeeze of grapefruit in there too.

Signature Brew Lo-Fi non-alcoholic pale ale - can with glass in background

The hops offer a medium bitterness that matches well with the sweeter flavours.

Verdict

Amazing aroma, standard mouthfeel and an underwhelming – but acceptable – taste.

If you like your pine flavours, Lo-Fi should be top of your list. For everyone else, it’s still a much better option than many other alcohol-free alternatives – especially if you’re at a gig.

Key info – Signature Brew Lo-Fi

  • Name: Lo-Fi
  • Brewery: Signature Brew
  • Style: pale ale
  • Alcohol content: 0.5%
  • Calories: unknown
  • Carbohydrates: unknown
  • Sugar: unknown
  • Ingredients: water, barley malt, oats, hops, yeast, glycerol
  • Country: UK
  • Dispense: can (330ml)
  • Selected stockists (UK): Wise Bartender*, Signature Brew

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Sambrook's "Stand Easy" review - low-alcohol (0.5%) NEIPA
Tiny Rebel "Clwb Tropica Non Alc" review - low-alcohol (0.5%) IPA
Free From "IPA" review - low-alcohol (0.5%) India pale ale

"Lo-Fi" (0.5%) by Signature Brew

"Lo-Fi" (0.5%) by Signature Brew
7.4

Aroma

8.3/10

Mouthfeel

7.1/10

Flavour

6.7/10

Pros

  • Amazing aroma
  • Suitable for vegans

Cons

  • No calorie, carb or sugar info
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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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