Fierce & Noble Cheers Mind Review

We’ve seen a fair few quality non-alcoholic beers hailing from the Bristol area recently. In the past months we’ve had both Zero Gravity from Good Chemistry Brewing, and Tomorrow Lager from Wiper and True, with several more having been reviewed here further back in time. With the subject of this review – Fierce & Noble’s Cheers Mind – it’s looking more and more that Bristol and it’s surroundings are possibly becoming the AF capital of the UK.

Fierce & Noble are a craft brewery born out of parent company Cafe Grounded Ltd. I couldn’t find when they’d first opened their doors, but their website seems to have been operational since late 2017. They’re located in the St Werburghs area of central Bristol, and as well as brewing beer they also sell it via their own taproom, and offer guided tours of their brewing facilities, where you can see how they work their magic. Cheers Mind is the brewer’s first foray into the alcohol-free market, and was released at the very start of 2023 to capitalise on the yearly Dry January craze, and was made available both in cans and on draught at Fierce & Noble’s taproom. It’s a pale ale, which is a common starting point for nolo production, but the brewer has used a few uncommon hops in it’s production, namely Chinook, Motueka and Nelson Sauvin – no Citra in sight for once! Chinook tends to be a bittering hop, as does Nelson Sauvin, with Motueka offering more of the same, but with the addition of tropical fruit aromas. So we have a pretty good idea of what we’re in for before we even open up a can. Which I suppose is my cue…

The beer pours a hazy dark golden colour, and is pretty lively, producing a big frothy head as it hits the glass, and resulting in making a second take necessary when trying to get a decent picture! On the nose we get stone fruit and bready malts, along with some peppery spice, earthy pine and grapefruit citrus. I was expecting more of a tropical hit from the Motueka, but it’s an appetising and intriguing aroma.

We dive into bitterness as we taste, with the grapefruit citrus and earthy resinous pine returning from the aroma and giving us a smack around the taste buds.  It’s not all astringency though, and the tropical and stone fruits do a good job of providing some juicy fruitiness to the beer, trying their best to balance out that bitterness. Nevertheless, it still veers over to the sharp side. The beer is medium bodied and lovely to drink, with a smooth mouthfeel and surprisingly gentle carbonation, considering the initial liveliness during the pour. We get a bitter finish to the drink.

Cheers Mind is one for the hop-heads and fans of American East Coast IPAs, as the smack of bitterness we get on tasting stays with you throughout the drink. It’s a great non-alcoholic debut from the brewer and they certainly haven’t toned anything down. Definitely living up to the ‘Fierce’ part of their moniker!

Buy Fierce & Noble Cheers Mind

Fierce & Noble’s beers can often be found in specialist and independent bottle shops and are readily available via the brewer’s taproom. You can get your hands on Cheers Mind cans from the following retailers: