Gelato Ice Cream Sour

Style: Alcohol free sour
Brewery: Funky Fluid
Origin: Poland
Size: 50cl
Alcohol: 0.5%
Price: 40kr
Systembolaget: 1910 (sold out)

Funky Fluid is located in Warsaw, Poland, and opened their doors in 2018. In 2019, RateBeer named them as one of the world’s best new breweries, and they are still considered to be one of the best craft brewers in Poland today. This beer is part of their Gelato Ice Cream Sour series of sour beers, with this one of their alcohol-free versions. Apple, lactose, and cinnamon are added to the beer as it is inspired by the Polish apple dessert szarlotka. It’s not often I spot an alcohol-free beer and decide to have it in a tasting, but this was quite unique, and this seemed like the perfect theme for it, so I grabbed a few cans and slotted it into the selection. I’m so happy I bought it, though, as this was excellent.

It had an extremely pale colour that looked exactly like freshly squeezed apple juice. The head was nonexistent, and the body seemed to be medium in viscosity. The aroma was as close to apple pie as you can get in liquid form. Cinnamon, custard, pie crust, and green apple were all easy to pick up as aromas. These carried on into the taste, and it was exactly as described on the can: a baked apple dessert with spices. It may have lacked a bit of punch, but this is alcohol-free, so I think that is acceptable. The green apple skin came through in the aftertaste, drying the palate.

This was one of the best alcohol-free beers I’ve ever had. Both the aroma and taste were lovely, and I thoroughly enjoyed every sip. The only slight downside would be that I think I would prefer this in a 33 cl can, as 50 cl of this would be quite a lot to drink on your own. This would be perfect to share, though. All I can say is this is another hit in the Gelato series for Funky Fluid.