Most low-alcohol lagers start life as full-strength beer and have the alcohol stripped out afterwards. Utopian's AF Pilsner takes a different route: head brewer Jeremy Swainson redesigned the fermentation process itself, using cold-fermenting bottom-fermenting lager yeast to arrive at 0.5% ABV naturally. The result is a beer that has never been through any dealcoholisation kit. It pours hazy gold with a bright white head. The aroma is quiet, with biscuit malt and a soft herbal note from the British hops. On the palate the malt is dry rather than sweet, and the hopping gives a gentle resinous bitterness that keeps it from tipping into bland territory. Lively carbonation and a short, crisp finish. Utopian is a Devon brewery with a strict all-British-ingredients policy, and the AF Pilsner fits that brief tightly. It is a genuinely traditional approach to getting here, which sets it apart from most of the category.