Brewery Übergeek Brewing Company, 400 Hallett Ave., Riverhead, 631-381-0848, ubergeekbrewing.com
Brewer Rob Raffa
The Beer Devolve IPA-Style, Non-Alcoholic
Hops n’ Grains Citra and Simco hops; two-row barley, wheat.
Price $14 for a 12-oz 4 pack; $6 for a 12-oz pour on tap at the brewery
Fave Food Pairing “Ramen! “I like the IPA style cut through the character and fat in it,” says Raffa.
For the decade that Rob Raffa has been brewing, he’s always been creatively reaching, allowing his curiosity to wander with both whimsy and wisdom to seek out great flavor, holding respect for various beer styles but not allowing them to necessarily hem him in. And then there are the names. If any brewer in the entire United States deserves the award for most creative, fun, head-scratching, irreverent-and-poignant-at-the-same-time brew titles, he gets it.
So it’s no surprise that Raffa would be the guy to really soul-search when trying to shake off the bad rep (and flavor) that non-alcoholic beer has often held.
“I really enjoy that non-alc where, on the weekend, I drink a few of them, four of them, and it’s great to know that I’m not going to be inebriated in any way but I can still enjoy these curated flavors,” he says. “And I think, yeah, that’s why a lot of brewers get into this industry. To be able to express themselves. So it’s a way of still expressing yourself, but in a way where you’re not compromising yourself.”
Views on the non-alcoholic category have changed significantly over the last five years or so — and thank goodness. Drinking a non-alc (stereo)typically pegged you into one of a couple of seemingly obvious big life markers (quitting alcohol entirely or pregnancy). But as Raffa describes, that’s just not the way it is now. The choices for opting out of alcohol are as broad as the options available, and there are many.
And yet, in the non-alc beer category, Devolve stands out.
“A non-alc should not taste like cooked oatmeal or porridge. It’s such a detriment to the product,” says Raffa. “You get that in so many because of the process of making a non-alcoholic beer. You can tell how someone’s doing it from the taste.”
Raffa dug in during the months and months-long R&D process to create something that was first and foremost delicious, with the lack of abv a bonus. He made the bold move into the popular IPA style, melding highlights from both the East and West Coast versions of imperial pale ales.
“The way that we’re dealing with bitterness in this product gives it more of these East Coast IPA notes, which are generally noted by being fruity, juicy and having very low bitterness,” he offers. “Whereas West Coast [will] be a little bit more citrus and catty and having higher bitterness. We’ve kind of bridged that.”
By the time you read this, Raffa’s non-alc IPA will be just around a year old and finishing its fourth brewing cycle — and he’s noodling over a lager non-alc these days, too. Because
to his mind, change for good is always good change.
“I’ve seen so much progress happen in brewing. And when I say progress, I mean innovation — in how hops are used, how yeast is used, and how we can create these flavors that coexist with alcohol,” Raffa says. “But now we’ve come to a point where we’re removing the part of the product that differentiates itself from other things in the market, like sodas and juices, but we’re still trying to keep the innovation. So that’s kind of why we call it Devolve. We’ve spent so much time evolving parts of this industry, and now we’ve brought it back to a point to be able to be enjoyed by a varied audience.”
