Nirvana London Porter

ABV: 0.5%
Calories per bottle: 36

This is a guest review by Tim Jenkins of the Alcohol-Free Explorers blog. Tim can be found on Twitter @afbeerexplorer

Nirvana is a family-run brewery that was founded in East London in 2016 by Becky Kean, who was looking for good alcohol-free drinks for her father who had become teetotal. Becky wanted to see her father’s face light up when he saw a really decent bottle of alcohol-free beer. Since 2016 the brewery has grown and by 2021 it had six beers in its core range. They also do occasional special beers, like this one.

With this London Porter, Nirvana have gone back to their roots, to a beer that is bound up in the history of London’s docks. The bottle has the instantly recognisable Nirvana hand motif, surrounded by images of London landmarks. As you’d expect with a porter, the beer itself pours with quite a dark colour and a small head that disperses very quickly. It looks quite carbonated and lots of small bubbles can be seen rising in the liquid.

The aroma has lots of dark malts and hints of chocolate. The mouthfeel is quite light and a bit lacking in body compared to more modern porter styles. Interestingly, the carbonation that can be seen in the drink isn’t noticeable in the mouthfeel. The flavour is very smooth a bit like a milk stout but has nice roasted hints of chocolate and coffee. It reminds me a bit of a smoother version of Drop Bear’s Bonfire Stout. Overall, it’s an enjoyable drink which I feel represents the traditional porter style quite well, although I think it would be nicer if there was a bit more body to it and a slightly more of the roasted flavours.