ABR LIVE! Review #22 - Fremont Brewing's Non-Alcoholic Orange Wit
Nov 29, 2023Season 3
Alec, Brian, and Chad
On today's ABR LIVE! review, we wrap up a recording session with Fremont Brewing's Non-Alcoholic (NA) Orange Wit. We are no strangers to NA offerings, but this Orange Wit style really hit the spot for the entire ABR crew. If anyone has an answer on the calorie count per can on this tasty offering, please drop us a line on our socials.
NA Orange Wit - 12oz Can, 6-Pack - 0.5% ABV - 12 IBU
If you'd like to reach out to the American Beer Review LIVE! crew to give us a beer suggestion or to tell us we suck, you can reach us on any of our socials (in order of how often we check it).
On today's ABR LIVE! review, we wrap up a recording session with Fremont Brewing's Non-Alcoholic (NA) Orange Wit. We are no strangers to NA offerings, but this Orange Wit style really hit the spot for the entire ABR crew. If anyone has an answer on the calorie count per can on this tasty offering, please drop us a line on our socials.
NA Orange Wit - 12oz Can, 6-Pack - 0.5% ABV - 12 IBU
If you'd like to reach out to the American Beer Review LIVE! crew to give us a beer suggestion or to tell us we suck, you can reach us on any of our socials (in order of how often we check it).
There's seven. Well, I have to clear my notifications. Really freaking creepy, because I just clicked a button and then that thing happened.
Alec:
The phone is on, a shipment has gone, uh-oh.
Chad:
Is that arrived or burrived? It's burrived, burrived.
Alec:
Burrived, burrived, burrived, burrived, burrived.
Brian:
Burrived, burrived. Welcome to another episode of the American Beer Review Pod.
Chad:
Good times for good friends requires good beer. Lucky for us, we know how to pick all three.
Alec:
We're a group of friends who grew up in the Pacific Northwest, giving us a jump start on our craft beer journey.
Brian:
Join us today while Brian and Chad and Chad are together. I pride myself on not getting to know other people, so do not put that on me.
Alec:
Alec. So the bananas up until like the 60s weren't entirely different species of banana.
Chad:
And Chad and hit me like a bacon bar.
Brian:
Review some beer, talk about beer topics, whatever else comes up, we invite you to pour yourself a drink and hang out with us. All right, well, we do have a beer today. Speaking of driving yeah you can.
Alec:
This is not a problem. This is.
Brian:
I still think it's round upon.
Chad:
We're not lawyers, this isn't. Yeah, do not take our lawly advice.
Alec:
No, but Fremont's non-alcoholic.
Brian:
Fremont's orange wit does want you to not drink and drive.
Chad:
Because they had a trio of Fremont beers and a beer show up in my cold case today.
Brian:
I kind of remember how recently they announced it ago. It's last few months, honestly.
Chad:
Yeah, it's been. I think the last time I walked down the aisle was probably a couple weeks ago, so this is a relatively new addition. They had an extra shelf. They have an IPA, this and a. I want to, was it a lager?
Chad:
That's what I feel like it was a lager, but I'm not mistaken. But I grabbed this because I saw orange wit, because I've had an NA lager, an NA Blondale, an NA IPA, but not a. I thought it was an interesting, that's an interesting flavor profile. The wit you kind of have that weed here with the citrus. I think they're round to something.
Alec:
So I haven't tasted it. It's got a fun smell. Oh, it is.
Brian:
It is a great smell and really you're opening up and it feels like you're getting something. There is something going on. It's almost like an orange soda-y-ish smell. So when I was trying to cut back on alcohol intake, I finally found I go with tangerine. Lacroix has been. That's kind of consistent, just has enough flavor.
Alec:
I get the motion of crack in the can Tangerine fart on your water?
Brian:
But it's a little better than some of the other ones. This would almost be even better. The difference is the lacroix also worked when you're cutting calories. I'm not positive about this bad boy.
Chad:
Let me take the canter.
Brian:
We probably need the box for it because it's not showing on the can Yum. But this has enough. I'll check the internet.
Alec:
So when I go NA this is the style of NA I like to go Something completely. Because if you go on NA the loggers especially, but even the IPAs they feel off when you're drinking it, like there's something missing, versus when you go an orange wit or what, the peanut butter stout that I've had, or You've had an NA peanut butter stout. Yeah NA peanut butter stout, or like the NA raspberry gosa. Yes, that one, like there's enough else going on that you don't even miss the factors, it's not the alcohol.
Brian:
It's give me something treat-y that I can ignore that there's no alcohol If I'm just drinking an IPA it's like Well, I've had enough IPAs that I know there's something missing. Yeah, or I need to have enough IPAs to not know that something is missing Sure, but versus an orange wit, there's enough extra soda. Yeah.
Chad:
Oh, it was the. I think it was the stout they had. So they have the IPA with Citra, citra, corio, mosaic, the orange wit, which we're doing, and then a stout and a porter, and I think they had the stout in the shelf today, but let's, they didn't give me any info on that.
Brian:
Oh well, it's less than a full diesel orange wit probably Is it, though Less, and I'm nothing against Fremont, but like that, we've talked about this before, that's. My other problem was when I was trying to not drink as much alcohol, but also watching my intake. Avoid the calories I don't need in a 12 ounce can, a 210 calorie stout that has no alcohol. Like what do we do in here? Folks Like, yeah, it looks like IPA. It's interesting that they went with a stout and a porter as like their NA officers.
Brian:
Two of the three, yeah, two of the four.
Chad:
Okay, and it looks like they had a hop water as well. Yeah, a lot of people have been doing that, but let's see.
Brian:
Oh, I think some, if I'm looking on TAPT, maybe somebody just accidentally marked it as the People just aren't checking them in Interesting.
Alec:
But on TAPT people are not checking in a ton of NA beers. That's shocking.
Brian:
Yeah right, it turns out just Hand on 10, 29, 23.
Chad:
It's pretty fresh. It's a couple weeks.
Brian:
But according to this, I'm going to be like the second person to ever check this in.
Alec:
Well, if that's the first canning of it, you might be.
Chad:
Oh that's actually a solid point. Very well could be. I got no calories on that. Huh, no calories, perfect, pour them out, zero. So we're going with. They can correct us on the Instagram post.
Brian:
There's a lot of flavor, though, in that.
Chad:
Mm-hmm Like, but it's still that the texture of it indicates there's probably not a whole lot. I've had enough of the NA's. I can kind of ballpark it. This is probably. It's less than 100.
Brian:
This is probably the most flavor forward. Like solid overall flavor NA. We've had Maybe the go-suz or something would be, but like and that's not. I'm not mad about that and honestly, what I really think of this in summertime. Yes, that's what's going to like. I've done the hazy IPAs as the rotator. The problem is I probably wouldn't. The hazy IPAs can rotate in what I'm having other beers. This flavor is so different that if I'm putting it in as a rotator I don't know that I want this.
Alec:
It's going to throw everything else off, either your palettes, if we had done this as our first review of the day.
Brian:
Yeah.
Alec:
We might need a palette cleanser in between Right.
Brian:
Yeah, I'd have to figure it out. I'm still Now I'm like super distracted by wondering about the calories of it.
Chad:
But it looks like the Somebody with a computer. An A IPA is about 100.
Alec:
So it's going to be ballpark. That's a good ballpark.
Brian:
I'm sorry there's another brand that doesn't have 30 a can with an IPA, so that's a good.
Chad:
But I'm not planning on crushing six of these. I'm going to have one, yeah.
Brian:
But that's my one complaint. If you can make this around a hundred, yeah, I'm not mad about it. No, I would deal with it. So I just think as a part of it, like one of the things of the any beers is like it also being that get fit like Thing, mm-hmm. And so when you're also tacking on a bunch of calories, hey, there's like a yes, I can now go run a bunch, like because I'm not intoxicated, because I've only been drinking na beers, but I gotta Well, there's X amount of work to get those extra calories gone.
Alec:
There's the thing and whenever I've done the na beer is it's usually singular. True, I'm not having a six pack of na beers, so if I'm going na I'm usually gonna have one. So, by default, cut out, yeah, two, three other beers that I would have true true. So even at a hundred calories, you're saving.
Brian:
I mean at the best like, even if you're just switching one, one IPA for one na beer You're getting, depending on the way you're getting, close to a hundred maybe, and so and something does you dislodge a thought in my mind.
Chad:
What happens once? Na gets enough momentum and it's no longer a here's a low cow alternative. You're Busy lifting weights and whatnot. Don't ruin your gains, bro. And then it becomes it. Maybe some people go hey, you want a full body, full flavor beer without boozing it.
Alec:
Well, for the car blowed in or whatever you do.
Chad:
You start seeing na's come in at the same calories as their alcoholic counterpart.
Chad:
And then you, what if you could get Like lack last episode what if you could get that black Raven scotch ale, all those flavors without the booze hit? And you could. You're not gonna get the winter warmerness of it, but what if you could get that you could drink two side-by-side and you, there's no difference. Do we think na gets there or do they stay in this lane of we're gonna have more subdued flavors because we're cutting the calories out and and Not having any booze in it.
Brian:
I think for now it's got to stay calories, and I don't know if there's enough Momentum.
Alec:
I think depends by brand. So obviously you have like an athletic brewing or that is their shtick. Is there gone? We're making beer. It's not gonna make you fat. You can work out because you're not having a buzz, you're not adding extra cat when you're adding extra calories but significantly less calories. And then you have some which probably like a Fremont, where the calories may not be the concern. We're just making one that doesn't have booze in it.
Alec:
Yeah, we're making a good thing, doesn't that booze in it? I'm, like I said earlier, like I'm not having a whole six pack of this, so by default I'm gonna have less calories, but that's not necessarily what they're going for in right, in brewing this beer, right, they're going for what did it? Compared to ten years ago where you have Klaus taller or Bush and a yeah, oh duels, oh duels like hey, no, this is something that tastes good. Yeah, so you can go hang out, have a beer with the guys and Drive home.
Brian:
Yeah, athletics, looking about 80 calories for standard IPA.
Chad:
Okay, so they're not significantly less, and then like the, I think the Pilsner is like at 30, they have a wide gamut. They go from like 30 calories up to like I think they got a couple at 120. But basically the darker the beer gets, the more the calories go up. Yeah, because you got more grain bill.
Alec:
That's going to go in there, yeah because here's like a darker one.
Chad:
And the thing I liked about the Crux NA IPAs they were both like at 30. That's seeing that and you get all that, but yeah, but you can lean on the hops, you can put all the hops in there and that's really you get a little bit of body in there.
Brian:
And that's the thing is. I think you're trading off some kind of like the fun flavor of this one to you. Got to accept the calories.
Chad:
Yeah, it's the sugars to get that that are going in there and I had the BRLO NA when I was in Germany and they use a yeast in theirs that it does not convert sugar into alcohol. I don't, I didn't read what it was. What you do is this it's just a who knows.
Alec:
But, basically.
Chad:
but basically they could take their normal wort and pitch this non, non, booze making yeast and ferment it down. So you had the NA you're like, oh this, it has that that you word kind of flavor and texture in an NA Bureau. It was very interesting, but they only did one flavor of it, so I assume it's pretty intensive or so, or they didn't want to make multiple lines of it.
Alec:
Right, yeah, or maybe trying to make October Fest more universally.
Chad:
Yeah, I would love to see them get a tent at October Fest. I don't think so. I think the the old guard pretty defensive on their their spots. Well, it's like anything you got a spot, it's yours till you give it up. Don't want to do it, yeah, but overall this was a great kind of capper to our recording day.
Alec:
Yeah, For an NA. I mean, I don't want to say NA frigid, but it's kind of it's, it's got me.
Brian:
There's something weird that's like hooked me in.
Chad:
It's that, it's the citrus.
Brian:
Yeah, and I just that's what, that's what caught me.
Chad:
The only reason I picked this up because I saw the orange wit.
Brian:
Yeah.
Chad:
And that was not a flavor I'd seen. I'd seen IPAs, I had seen Stouts and stouts and quarters.
Brian:
It doesn't feel as like thick bodied and this is in a positive way as an, as an, often the wits you're getting.
Alec:
It's a little bit lighter, yeah.
Brian:
But I. But to me that's a benefit in this.
Chad:
Yeah, if you were someone who is off, put by normal wit beers that does that thickness.
Alec:
Yeah, and you want a little cleaner? Yeah, yeah, and we're out of the can in these ones.
Brian:
Oh yeah, we didn't really pour it, did we? We just kind of.
Alec:
But it's got a good color.
Brian:
It's got a wit color. Zero chance. I can see that yeah.
Chad:
I'm not really worried about the color. There's no Um an excellent, an excellent capper.
Brian:
I mean to have, if you're, if you're going to have an NA, yeah, like, to me this is a really good option for it. Like, maybe it's an IPA in this. Um, again, this one like, maybe circle back in the summertime dude.
Alec:
Oh for sure, this would do a lot better in warmer weather.
Chad:
Yeah, yeah, and, like I said, it just showed up, so, um, hopefully it sticks around.
Brian:
Yeah.
Chad:
And hopefully they expand it, because coming out with boom, boom, boom three because they basically had, now they got bumped out. There's now two levels to the NA section. At my store and Fremont just got the same facing as um two or three of the other guys just did. So maybe we start to see that section expand and then, once that happens, kind of success but gets success. Okay, alex dying.
Brian:
I just didn't want to cough into the microphone. It's like you did that. I literally haven't coughed at all and then all of a sudden you did that and it's like, oh God, do I have something in my throat? That means maybe it's more.
Alec:
Black lung coughs.
Chad:
Derek, you've been out there for one day. It called me in 20 years, oh All right?
Well, our glasses are empty. ["dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"].
Chad:
Oh, you got oh, did we fridge this?
Alec:
I thought we just did that that's what we were just gonna do, did you not?
Chad:
Oh, I haven't fridgeed it yet. Beer fridge, beer, fridge me. You just straight up beer fridge it, yep. Is your NA option out there, yep, now that I have a beer fridge. So yeah, If you go out there, just have it ready to go. I think it's in a rotator of NA options.
Brian:
This one would probably be pretty solid if you choose to imbibe in some other things and you're using it as something else as a balance, just wash it down, yeah.
Chad:
Oh, were you talking about marijuana? I will test tonight.
Brian:
Yeah, I think this would be a perfect backup for some of my pets, so All right, Our glasses are still empty.
Alec:
Hopefully yours are too, and we'll catch you next time. If you enjoyed what you just heard, like and subscribe. Follow on social media at ABeerReview and tell a friend.