North East Beer Review

This is my first beer review I am performing on an alcohol free IPA and this is from Bristol Beer Factory. Clear Head is the alcohol free option from the brewery and it is brewed to support Talk Club which is a mental charity. This is a full disclaimer that I was gifted this by Duchess Media however this beer review will be completely honest and unbiased. During the course of the review I will cover the history of the beer and brewery, the pour, the taste and aroma and my verdict. Cheers.

Modern Bristol brewery with 20 years of history

Bristol Beer Factory was established in 2004 and founded by Simon Bartlett. It began life in the BS3 area of Bristol and was built from humble beginnings. Initially, the brewery produced a handful of cask-conditioned ales using a limited amount of brewing equipment. Over the years expansion has took place.

The brewery placed an emphasis on Bristol’s growing independent beer scene and aimed to built a connection with the city including its bars and pubs. Bristol Beer Factory’s ethos is uniting people through beer with an emphasis on creativity and quality. In April 2025, the brewery moved to Ashton Vale and this enabled the brewer to increase its brewing capacity and introduce more sustainable. Community involvement has also become an important part of the Bristol Beer Factory identity. Its Brewed to Give initiative commits 2% of brewery sales to local causes, while the brewery has developed a particularly strong relationship with Talk Club through Clear Head. 

Clearhead is 0.5% IPA which is Bristol Beer Factory’s alcohol free option and taps into the ever growing alcohol free market. This wasn’t just any other 0.5% IPA, this was brewed in collaboration with Bristol-based mental health organisation called Talk Club. This is a charity designed to help men improve their mental fitness and this is the case as their support groups actively help men understand how they feel. Each session is structured around “How are you? Out of 10? According to Talk Club “Men then explain their number, building awareness, openness, and resilience. The results are measurable. On average, a Talk Club session increases a man’s mental fitness by more than 15%.” As part of the collaboration, 5% of all Clearhead sales go towards Talk Club and so far they have raised £153,000. This shows Bristol Beer Factory supporting a “positive mental health community”.

Clear head is designed as easy choice for mindful drinking, with a fridge-ready refreshment. It is brewed using Citra and Mosaic hops and instead of using specialist brewing equipment to remove the alcohol, they developed a process to keep the alcohol naturally low. The beer “uses a high-temperature mash followed by a much shorter fermentation using a specialist yeast.” This process took months of trial and error before the final recipe was discovered. This led to brew that wasn’t just an 0.5% IPA but instead something that resembled a conventional beer in terms of body, flavour and mouthfeel. On thing to note is that this beer is gluten free despite containing lactose, wheat and barley. As it contains lactose, this isn’t a vegan brew. However, this is the case to create a smooth and creamy mouthfeel.

A golden pour

Clearhead pours a pale straw to golden colour which has an ever so slight hazy appearance in the glass. A thin white head forms which resiliently clings to the top of the brew, leaving a fine line of lacing. The carbonation is moderate to lively with a steady stream of bubbles climbing up the glass. Overall, this brew ultimately has a fresh and lively appearance which gives off a modern IPA feel.

A simple but refreshing flavour

Aroma

The aromatics of Clearhead are quite moderate with notes of tropical and citrus fruits dominating. These fruits mostly include the likes of grapefruit, lemon and peach. This is mainly from the Mosaic and Citra hops. Beneath this, is a soft sweet character which is slightly malt like. Overall, this is a soft and quite balanced aroma which is different compared to the powerful fruity pours.

Taste

On the palate, Clear head opens with gentle citrus to tropical fruits such as grapefruit and maybe lemon. This is followed by a slight peach to pineapple flavour too. The hop nature of this is overall mild. The mouthfeel of this brew is smooth however quite thin at the same time mostly due to lactose which is clearly used to give what most alcohol-free beers are missing. A slight sweetness is observed. This finish was clean and dry with a slight lingering bitterness. Overall, this is quite easy drinking and refreshing , but the flavour is quite mild and the tropical flavours restrained. This could however be due to ABV restraint. This is better than many alcohol free options I have had.

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Time for my verdict

As I stated with my review of First & Last Where’s your mind?, I always give similar brews a 5 out of 5 for their initiatives as I absolutely support any beer that has either a sustainable or a charity focused collaboration. It always comes across that there is extra effort put into to giving these beers a message. In terms of the alcohol free brew, I don’t often drinking low ABV beers however this brew was refreshing and tasted nice. I just struggled with the thin mouthfeel. Overall, I will give this a 3 out of 5. It was better than most alcohol free beers I have consumed. And be sure to check out Talk Club.

Where did I get Clearhead?

A big thanks to Duchess Media and Bristol Beer Factory for sending 3 cans and a glass over. Please check them out and I will be keeping an eye out for more Bristol Beer Factory.

Thanks for reading my review. If you like my review you will love my review of Two by Two x Hazy Daze Save Our School.