Grüvi Stout
Grüvi

Been off the real sauce for about 4 months and have been using NA’s to scratch the drinking itch without drinking. The best (as measured by how much like a real beer they taste like) have tended to be lager styles. But with winter coming on, I like a good stout, so I picked up a few cans of Gruvi. Looks like a stout on the pour - dark, good head (maybe a little too frothy - you won’t mistake it for a creamy Guinness or similar - but it’s there). Smells great - notes of chocolate, coffee, roasty toasty malt. First sip was a little disappointing, but this beer really grew on me as I finished the can. By the end, I was pretty into it! Of course, like all NAs, it’s mouthfeel is a little thin and you wouldn’t choose to drink it over a real stout, but as a kind of “stout methadone” for folks like me who want a dark beer without the booze, this is a good choice. I’ll be buying it again for sure!

 

(12 oz can, BB APR 19 2023; purchased single off shelf... poured into a 14 oz mug)

L: dark brown liquid; egregiously voluminous foam build, suds which implode upon pour, collapsing jagged and ragged into a spitty nothing collar, which in turn disappears completely... no lace

S: dark roast coffee grind and little else aside from arguably a subtle hint of glassy light crystal malt... eh, a hint of malted chocolate milkshake does develop... retains a dynamic character once sipping commences

T: roasted barley, caramelized embers, with a nutty dark roast malted espresso dominating the finish... kind of glad it's not more sweet... bit of a Cocoa Puffs corn cereal aftertaste, again lacking great sweetness... the cocoa and roast (nut) linger long

F: light-medium bodied, sluggishly bouncy flow, soft airy carbonation, tiny hint of residual syrup sludge and a mellow acidic twang

O: relatively tasty attempt at a NA stout, but could be much more?... if it wasn't for how violently shit the foam looks, I'd probably recommend this and maybe even get it again for myself but, eh, I don't know (1996)

 

From 12 oz can, brewed in Canada, packaged 28 Sep 2020.

The taste and smell of the stout are okay for a stout. That is pretty good in my opinion as a stout has a strong malt presence, and the malt flavor is particularly hard for NAs.

But this beer has one major flaw, and that is a significant amount of gelatinous sludge at the bottom. That may just be a result of too long on the shelf. I didn’t look at the date before purchasing, went do that again.

 

Poured at fridge temp. Pours black with a LOT of head. Appears quite thin. The nose is huge roasted malts, coffee grounds, and licorice. The nose is quite nice.

The taste is...not great. My initial thought is that it's VERY watery. The big roasty malts on the nose just don't make it through on the taste. There is a faint hint of it, but not much. The black licorice is there, and lingers on the aftertaste. Otherwise, I am not getting much on the taste. It tastes like what I would expect if I added 200ml of water to 10ml of beer. There is an odd medicinal flavor that starts to creep in as it warms a bit. Again, quite odd. Glad I tried it!

Canned 2021/07/30
Pours a brown fizzy semi dense almost 1 finger head with moderate retention, fair lacing, dark basically black color

Nose is a bit sorghum vegetal gum thing, gourd like, a bit of malt, hint of chocolate

Taste brings more of the vegetal sorghum thing, a bit of bread dough, yeast, hint of chocolate, biscuit, raw bread dough, light herbal hop, light bitterness, bone dry finish with a bit more of the weird vegetal thing

Mouth is med to watery feeling, med higher fizzy carb

Overall not great, maybe it's just difficult to do a dark NA beer, but all the dark ones I've had seem to be bad

Because I am no expert on the Low ABV style, I drank this side-by-side with an oatmeal stout and Gruvi did surprisingly well.
Gruvi Looks like a nice stout, but its less active foam requires a harder pour. Smells are correct, sweet and roasted malts. Tastes of well-blended malts with modest hopping for balance. Mouth-feel is a weakness of the NA style, but Gruvi has steady bubbles.

Gruvi has very good marketing, starting with the name. But the concept is cool also; people should be able to drink socially without the consequences of alcoholic beer (which do have buildup, ahem!) While NA is a lifestyle I would rather not get used to, people should have that option. Gruvi also is brewed in Canada but "designed" in Denver; so it does have different distribution mechanisms than beer. At any rating, I still consider Gruvi to be groovy. Cheers !

2/22/22 Had a second can and edited the above and will count it over @ UnTappd.

Poured from 12oz can into a dimpled mug.

Appearance: extremely dark body with maybe just a little brown around the edges. Head poured a finger of frothy dark-tan foam, but dissipated rather quickly and doesn't leave any lace on the glass. Kind of reminiscent of a kvass.

Smell: a bit of sweetness with the aroma of raisins and dark bread. The similarity to kvass continues!

Taste: some of that sweet bready raisiny character up front, but a finish that is quite dry with an ashy roastiness that is much more stout-like than kvass-like. This is a very interesting beverage; one of the more successful NA stouts I've had.

Mouthfeel: light in body but not entirely without heft; carbonation is big and there's plenty of fizziness.

Overall: for what this is, it does a great job. It does not quite carry the heft of actual stout, but it is an interesting beverage that is definitely one of the better in the field.

I reserved my expectations as I have never had a non alcohol stout before.
So-it poured a nice looking black with the start of a brown head that gave away quickly to carbonation. Figure that out!
The aroma was okay, stout like but really mild.
The taste reminds me of something but it isn’t a stout- and I can’t describe it. I did finish it so it’s not horrible, but I don’t plan on getting any more so it’s not good. It just is. Weird. Burnt coffee mixed with cola?
The feel is what you would expect from a NA stout- rather thin.
OA, well, glad I tried it myself.

Poured an inky black with absolutely no head. Smell is faint but dead on for a stout with hints of chocolate, malts, coffee and lactose. Flavor is great, dry and rich, but the finish is exactly what you would expect from the low calorie count. Mouth feel is thin, and the lack of head definitely cuts down on the stouts creamy, authentic feeling.

Overall, I'd get it again and enjoy it especially since I'm trying to cut back on calories. However, this is not fooling anyone: it's far too thin and light for the style and while tasty is not at all like the stouts I've had.

Pours opaque, black in color with one quarter inch head. Taste is roasted malt, tobacco and charcoal. Medium body, roasty with moderate carbonation. Tastes like a bad alcoholic stout. Not interesting, not the worst but not good.

L - Looks like a Stout, apart from a lack of head, and no lacing, but kind of expected. Decent color.
S - Uh-oh, smells like tobacco and bad molasses, a little fake-roast smell.
T - Wow. This tastes like what I imagine used spitoon water would taste like, after cigar night. Revolting. Couldn't get beyond this taste of tobacco water. Ugh.
F - Ok, recovering, but feel is fine and carbonated - a little CO2 goodness to temper the taste, but geez.
O - Dry February is going to be rough if the other NA beers I have taste like this. Yikes.

12 ounce can, packaged 30 SEP 2020 stamped on the bottom of the can. Non-alcohol/low alcohol brews are a rarity for me, but let's see how this one is. Served in a Spiegelau stout glass, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch tan head that didn't stay around too long. Not much lacing at all. I like the aroma, the brew smells like grainy malt, nuts, chocolate and oats. Taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some coffee flavor. Mouthfeel/body is light/medium, it's slick and easy to drink with a good amount of carbonation. This is a lot better than the other N/A stouts I've had in the past. I'd definitely drink this again, it was a lot better than I expected. $9.99 a 4-pack on Amazon.