Amundsen Eazy Peazy Non-Alcoholic NEIPA Review

Amundsen Bryggeri are a Norwegian brewer, based in the country’s capital – Oslo. They began their brewing life as a brew pub back in 2011, producing their own beer up to a capacity of 5 hectolitres. The quality of said beer must have been good, as business was soon flourishing, and in 2013 Amundsen branched out with their own dedicated brewing facility, doubling their existing output capacity to 10HL. By 2016, and with continued growth, the brewery had to relocate once again – this time to a 3500 square metre facility with a capacity of a whopping 42HL.

As a result of their growth over the past 10 years, Amundsen Bryggeri are now the largest brewery in Oslo, and climbing the lists of best breweries on Norway. Their motto of ‘Created by Craftsmen’ gives an impression that the brewers are very hands-on when it comes to crafting their beers. Over recent years the brewery has become famous for hazy IPAs, and also a series of dessert stouts known as ‘Dessert in a Can’. These stouts cover a range of typical dessert treats, such as Neapolitan Ice Cream, Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Brownie, and Coconut Choc Chip Cookie – and all of them reaching above the 10% ABV mark.

The brewer is also fond of the odd collaboration here and there, as all good craft brewers should be, and from these collabs this is where we’ve seen some of their non-alcoholic offerings being made available in the UK. They collaborated with AF stalwarts Big Drop back in 2021 with their ‘Rush Rider Pastry Sour’, and more recently with nolo darlings Mash Gang on the popular ‘Reign in Blood’ chocolate and cherry stout. For that collab the two sets of brewers worked at the Fierce Brewery facility in Aberdeen, and it’s back there that Amundsen has brewed the subject of this review – ‘Eazy Peazy’. This is apparently intended as an alcohol-free version of their popular ‘Apocalyptic Thunder Juice’ New England IPA (although the can design is reminiscent of their ‘Weapon X’ IPA), reducing the ABV from 6.5% to 0.5% with some help from the nolo expertise at Fierce. A risky prospect perhaps, as the possibility of veering too far from the original may lose the brewer some customer points. Maybe that’s why they chose ‘Eazy Peazy’ as a somewhat noncommittal name, rather than something related such as ‘Trivial Whisper Nectar’. Having never tried the original, I’ll be approaching this review somewhat blind, but looking forward to it nonetheless!

Pouring the beer out of the can we get a hazy straw coloured liquid (as it says on the tin) which produces a very decent bubbly bone-white head as it fills the glass.  On the nose we get a big ol’ bowl of tropical fruit salad – sweet mango, juicy pineapple, passion fruit, citrus orange, with a slight hint of resinous pine rounding it all off. Lots of input from the Mosaic hops here –  it’s certainly a NEIPA in the aroma department!

On tasting we get an initial light sweetness, onto which the tropical mango and pineapple from the aroma builds upon, bolstered by orange citrus. This citrus brings in the change from sweetness to crisp astringent bitterness, introducing some more of that earthy pine as it does so. The beer remains fruity and juicy, with bitterness remaining dominant but mild. The body of the beer is medium, with a smooth mouthfeel, though I find the carbonation to be slightly aggressive on the tongue. We get a crisp, bitter finish to the drink.

Amundsen Eazy Peazy is a big, juicy, crisp nolo NEIPA which ticks virtually all the boxes for me. Refreshing tropical fruits and a smooth mouthfeel means it’s an easy drink, with several cans disappearing whilst I was writing this review. There’s a great deal of skill on show here from the Norwegian brewer, and from what I’ve heard of their previous non-alcoholic beer collabs they’re certainly a brand to keep an eye on.

Buy Amundsen Eazy Peazy

Amundsen’s beers are popular but not usually popular enough to spot in a big supermarket. Independent bottle shops may well have some cans of Eazy Peazy available, or you can buy online: