Brooklyn Special Effects

ABV: less than 0.5%
Calories per bottle: 103 (29 per 100ml)

The Brooklyn Brewery started small in the Big Apple in 1988 as part of the American craft beer revolution. These days, their beers are sold around the world, thanks to a series of successful international partnerships.

Special Effects was launched in Sweden (where it’s brewed) in 2018 and came to the UK the following year. The brewers say that they were looking to create “a beer for more places, more occasions, and more people” – one you could have on a lunch break, before the gym, or whilst watching the kids.

Although the label calls it a “hoppy lager”, this is much more like a traditional ale than a commercial lager – it’s not a million miles from Adnams Ghost Ship in its colour and flavour. It’s got plenty of hops, plenty of malt and a lovely reddish tinge. In truth, it might not be what lager fans are looking for, but it should be a firm favourite with real ale drinkers.

It comes in groovy purple and yellow psychedelic packaging, perhaps to emphasise that you don’t need alcohol to improve your state of mind! You can pick up a bottle or two of it in larger branches of Tesco.