It's Easy to SVR FLVR!

NOTE posted 7-8-26: I guess when you get samples in May, write about them immediately! Sad news: It sounds like Untitled Art is no more. Oh, well.

Let's put it this way, what Untitled Art's line of non-alcoholic beerish (more on the need for the -ish soon) pours, FLVR!, lacks in vowels it makes up for in...well, you can probably guess. I was lucky enough to get shipped a couple of taster six packs to see what's up with the product line that used to be called NON (as in non-alcoholic), and am pleased to report deliciousness on all fronts. And we're talking diverse fronts--sure, there's a West Coast-Style IPA and a Juicy IPA to make the never-out-of-fashion hopheads happy, but then there's a Chocolate Dark Brew, an Italian-Style Pils ("style" might seem to be adding up as a hedge word but I promise it's not in the glass), a Mango Dragonfruit Sour, and a Grapefruit Radler.

Those two IPAs are certainly IPAealing, the West Coast doing a bit of the dank thing, the New England, uh, I mean Juicy, giving the squeeze of citrus. So you get what you'd expect, which is just what you want, as the less successful low-abv beers often don't seem to achieve their style at all, hoping to bamboozle you in a wash of bubbles and foam. I'd put them both up with the ever reigning king of NA's, Athletic, to the point I should probably do a side-by-side to decide who would win out.

The Pils also delivers that nifty mix of malt and hops levity you want in such a beer. It's supposed to be something you can suck down, and enjoy, while doing yard work on a summer's day, even if that yard work is reading in a hammock, not mowing the back 40. And it is. The Chocolate Dark Brew hits you with cocoa the moment you pop the can, and is surprisingly complex for an NA, kind of "chewy" in a good way, even if it might lack the lingering finish a stout with some alcohol can. Think of it as an after dessert drink that won't make you sleepy.

And then there are the-ish pours, and I don't sling that suffix as a slight in the, uh, slightest. Both the fruity offerings are less beer-like than just tasty, with the fruit being featured dominating the flavor profile and the hops gently raising its hand demurely in the distance. The Mango Dragonfruit takes you straight to somewhere tropical--what a fine Maui poolside pour it would be--while the Grapefruit Radler does that cool "I quench you as I make you thirsty" thing that isn't an issue because you could zip through a six pack and still drive home (if you were sure to hit the head before the drive--that'd be a lot of liquid, your bladder mileage might vary). 

On a day when the Los Angeles Times' lead guest editorial (subscription required, so the ideas shouldn't be that life-threatening) asserts "alcohol should be marginalized like smoking," it's easy to be left fuming if you feel most evenings tend to call for a potent potable or two, especially in our current beleaguered times of Trumpiness. What's coming-out of Wisconsin from Untitled Art can help you scratch that itch without pouring any alcohol on it, so to speak. So here's a huge HRY!* to FLVR! 

*If the sometimes Y rule is in play, please shorten that to HR!, even if that makes it sound like I'm rooting for home runs (that's ok) or Human Resources, the suck-ups whose job it is to allow the bosses to do whatever they want to the employees and give it the veneer of "fairness." 

So let's just say HOORAY! then.

Dry-licious Indeed with Pentire and Loquita

Pentire--with a big assist from the bar team at Loquita--is making a convincing case that NA cocktails should always be called AF, and I don't mean alcohol free, I mean tasty AF. But I'm getting ahead of myself. This post is a report on a "Dry-licious Dinner" that Loquita offered on January 22nd, when every course came with alcohol-free pairings, almost all featuring products from Pentire. You know, Dry January, and the overall trend no matter the month--folks are giving up alcohol, somehow, even as the world quickly swirls down a Trump-turded toilet. I'm pretty positive my consumption has gone up. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in what I know is better for me, plus new products are fun to experience, and I remain ever-hopeful the cracking of the non-alcohol nut that happened for beers can someday also happen for spirits and wine. I want to live in a world where I might not achieve dry but damp I can do.

You see the extensive, detailed menu above, so note I won't take you through every bite and sip, but I do want to point out some highlights. Like the kickoff offhandedly labeled "snacks" that put to shame the Ruffles potato chips and Lipton onion soup dip I was raised on. The pan con tamate on the left offers "magical" bread that's translucent--really, I mean, you know I wasn't drunk and imagining things. (Speaking of that, despite being sat at long tables, so you get to/have to meet new friends, conversation still happened just fine without the often assumed necessary ABV lubricant, so that was cool too.) The bread is made with kuzu flour, so ends up a bit gelatinous and crunchy-chewy, a fine foil to the acid-sweet tomatoes atop, with their snowfall of Manchego. Then the croqueta is a brilliant, crispy fried ball that bursts with rich béchamel, all kicked into overdrive from a gorgeous wrap of Iberico. Perfect bites, especially alongside the El Facil, bringing together Pentire Seaward, cilantro, elderflower, and habanero. It passed the taste buds like a St. Germain-laced margarita.

The U.S. Director of Sales for Pentire, James Thomas, was at the dinner, and announced we were attending Pentire's first such event in California, "So now you're all famous." Thomas and Pentire both come from England, the product line itself from Cornwall, and many of its ingredients are found along that rough and rugged coast. So the Seaward bottling includes sea rosemary, woodruff, sea buckthorn, wild seaweed, and pink grapefruit, and the resulting liquid is botanically bright, vaguely gin-ish, but with more saline and light sweetness. 

Throughout, the Pentire products don't try to ape a particular spirit, but make a blend of distilled botanicals that sing on their own. That really helps with what's the usual disappointment with alcohol-free spirits--even when the flavor gets close, the mouthfeel is hard to come by without the sugars associated with alcohol. So, for example, you can quickly say, "I know tequila, and you're no tequila" to other brands attempts to mimic specifically. Not so with the more adventurous Pentire.

It helps even more that the Loquita bar team--led by Emilio Uribe--loves to play and does so brilliantly. Thomas recalled the first time he brought the products in hoping to interest the restaurant and the bartenders just grabbed some bottles and got to work as he talked, cooking up clever combos on the spot. "Loquita put this dinner all together," he insisted, "I only dropped off the product. We make this liquid; but these guys bring it to life." Indeed, if you didn't get to attend the dinner, the Bengala served that evening is a constant on the Loquita menu. Kicking off with Pentire's Coastal Spritz, it comes to spicy life with pomegranate, cinnamon, ginger, lime, clove, and a splash of soda water. 

The Pentire Coastal Spritz fits neatly on the NA side of the light Amari, thanks to its botanicals, blood orange, sea rosemary, and oakwood (a hit of tannin never hurt). Think Aperol without its 11% ABV and less sweetness. Turns out it's Pentire's most popular product.

Here's to Loquita stepping out of the typical wine or cocktail dinner box and trying something new--there's no question chef Cristian Granada and his team love rising to the occasion (oh, that arroz dish, a most elegant of paella-esque treats). And the evening ended without any of us feeling we'd missed a thing.