Brulo Review: Edinburgh’s Hop-Forward Alcohol-Free Beer
Published May 2026 · Updated October 2026 · 7-minute read · by Rich, founder of Unhopped
Brulo comes from inside the craft beer world: its founder built one of the UK’s biggest craft beer clubs. You can tell from the recipes, which read like full-strength craft: a seven-hop IPA, a dry-hopped stout and a fruited gose.
Who are Brulo?
James Brown co-founded the craft beer club Beer52 in 2013. “I started BRULO because I could not find an alcohol free beer I wanted a second one of,” he says. The company was set up in Edinburgh in January 2019, registered as Coast Beer Co Limited, and Wise Bartender’s Five Fruit Gose listing still says “Formerly Coast” in its page title. Brown left Beer52 in 2022 to focus on Brulo.
Its backers include Beavertown founder Logan Plant and Alex Carlton, who founded the cocktail brand Funkin. More on the company is on our Brulo brewery page.
What makes Brulo different
Brewed alcohol-free from day one, Brulo says
Brulo says its beer is “brewed alcohol free from the first day of the brew, not stripped back at the end”, using “innovative yeast cultures”. It doesn’t own a brewery: every Brulo product page now says “Brewed in Belgium”, and the Lust For Life can says it’s brewed at De Proefbrouwerij in Lochristi. Our guide to how alcohol-free beer is made explains why the method matters.
Recipes built like full-strength craft
7 Hop 7 Grain is the clearest example: Nelson Sauvin, Sabro, Simcoe, Azacca, Citra, Columbus and Mosaic hops over a grain bill that runs from rye and oats to rice, millet and corn. Cascadian Tides dry-hops a stout with Columbus and Simcoe, and Five Fruit Gose is a salted, tart wheat beer with mango, passionfruit, guava, apricot and orange.
Recognition
At the Great Taste Awards 2026, Lust For Life won two stars, and Five Fruit Gose and King For A Day one each, the organiser’s directory shows. Brulo also quotes The Guardian describing BRULO as “the Rolls-Royce of Alcohol Free Beer”.
The Brulo beers to buy
Lust For Life (8.6) is the one to start with: double dry-hopped with Simcoe, Citra and Mosaic, with what Brulo calls “a ripe, juicy character of mango, peach and pine”. Cascadian Tides (8.4) is the stout for hop lovers, and Five Fruit Gose (8.3) the fruity one. We haven’t scored 7 Hop 7 Grain yet.
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Brulo also makes Highway To Helles, a lager, King For A Day, a New England IPA, and All Good IPA, on Brulo’s shop since June 2026. They aren’t in our directory yet.
How Brulo compares
Brulo’s closest UK comparison is Mash Gang: both are alcohol-free-only brands that use partner breweries, and both say they brew to 0.5% rather than removing alcohol. By contrast, Drop Bear and Jump Ship brew in their own breweries. Brulo’s IPAs carry more calories than most: Lust For Life has 23 kcal per 100ml and 2.8g of sugar, near the top of the alcohol-free IPAs in our calorie tool, where Drop Bear’s Tropical IPA has 15.
Is Brulo worth buying?
If you want hop-forward alcohol-free beer, yes: Lust For Life is one of our highest-rated IPAs and the easiest Brulo beer to find, including at Morrisons. Brulo is vegan throughout, but not gluten-free, and its IPAs aren’t among the alcohol-free beers with the fewest calories. For more choice, see our ranking of the best alcohol-free IPAs.