- Creative profile
- Growing taste that expands subtly to reveal new flavours e.g. orange, caramel
- Pleasant aftertaste
- Never grows into a full-bodied lager
My first experience with Big Drop was at Friends of Ham where I was eating lunch with my mom. Mom had a glass of vino and I had the Paradiso Citra IPA because I was still on the clock so-to-speak and Mama doesn’t care about clocks unless they’re painted by Savador Dalí. I was very impressed with the Paradiso, although admittedly, my nolo palette was at a very immature stage as opposed to its current slightly immature stage.
Big Drop brews out of Ipswich, Suffolk and has an epic impetus – fatherhood. Founder Rob Fink started Big Drop with school mate and designer James Kindred. Since then, they have been going from strength to strength winning awards in Europe, Oceania and North America – that’s a big drop in a few different oceans!
Lagers are my favourite nolo brew so I’m very excited to dive into Uptime Craft, which won the double-gold at the European Beer Challenge 2019. Let’s party, Uptime!
Uptime Craft First Impressions
Uptime is the new Uptown because it will ‘funk you up,’ and by ‘funk’ I mean create a meaningful and memorable tasting experience for you but I bet you knew that already, it was so obvious! This brew alone, not the numerous awards Big Drop have won, justifies the £2 million+ that Big Drop raised in seed funding.
Now, let’s get into the nitty gritty…Uptime Craft has a good rocky head and a lovely amber colour. My nose was pretty stuffed up for my first beer so nothing to report on from that experience. Luckily, I had a second beer to try and gave it a good sniff. Uptime has an earthy/herbal nose, the strongest notes I noted were resin and pine. The mouthfeel is waxy but not like candle wax, it’s more similar to beeswax.
The taste starts off light, it’s subtle, earthy and smokey. It’s incredibly smooth. Then Uptime slowly but surely grows and expands unleashing soft caramel and orange flavours, all the while maintaining an incredible smooth taste. Lightly coating the mouth, the aftertaste is not overly sweet or velvet – it’s simply lovely. The only light marks against it are that it’s not 100% full-bodied and it’s not as aggressively crisp as I like my lagers to be. But, those marks are very very light. I imagine this as a lovely brew to pair with the outdoors either whilst riding in a boat deep-sea fishing or sitting by a canal. Enjoy the flavour build!
Other Big Drop Beers
Big Drops Pale Ale, but with an extra Citra hop twist! This Special Edition brew from the award-winning Big Drop Brewing Co contains four hop varieties and not only brings the usual large fruit juice aromas of lime and grapefruit, but with an extra dash of bright orange, mango and lychee to give a smoother after-taste.
An eminent golden ray of sunshine, this malt forward offering brings a soft, honey aroma and a robust malt backbone, balanced with a gentle bitterness from the traditional noble hops and a delicate uplifting waft of citrus from the new world addition.
A classic hop-fest that fuses tropical flavours to recreate the intensity of a double IPA. The fantastic blend of US hops combine to give pineapple, citrus, pine and stone fruit aromas underpinned by a pine and herby flavour – topped off with an unapologetic slap of mango – to make this the ultimate summer thirst quencher
This beautiful brown ale is malt-focused with a toasty aroma and soft grassy notes because of the light use of hops. The palate is malty with a touch of fruit and caramel. Pair this beer with something hearty like a good beef stew.
This beautiful brown ale is malt-focused with a toasty aroma and soft grassy notes because of the light use of hops. The palate is malty with a touch of fruit and caramel. Pair this beer with something hearty like a good beef stew.
A nose with hints of pine and honey, this pale ale is packed full of flavour from citrus-heavy hops with a twist of fresh lime to create a crisp, zesty beer
With notes of coffee, cocoa nibs and a lingering hint of sweet vanilla this beer is dark, rich and indulgent
Where to Buy Big Drop Uptime Craft Lager
The price of Uptime Craft Lager varies depending on where you buy it from, whether you’re buying it in bottles or cans and of course, how many cans or bottles you buy. I bought 2 cans from Wisebartender for £1.99 per can.
Uptime Craft Lager Nutritional Information, Ingredients and Calories
Uptime Craft Lager is a vegan and gluten-free, low calorie nolo choice. The ingredients for Uptime Craft Lager are:
Water, Barley, Rye, Wheat, Hops (Hallertau, Magnum), Yeast, Maltodextrin.
| Nutritional Information | Per 100mL |
|---|---|
| ABV | 0.5 % |
| Energy (KJ / KCal) | 50 / 11.8 |
| Fat (g) | 0.1 g |
| Of Which Saturates (g) | 0.1 g |
| Carbohydrate (g) | 2.3 g |
| Of Which Sugars (g) | 0.1 g |
| Protein (g) | < 0.5 g |
| Salt (g) | 0.1 g |
TLDR;
Uptime Craft is a lager brewed by Big Drop Brewing Co. Big Drop, founded by Rob Fink, operates out of Ipswich, Suffolk and have won various awards for their diverse beers across the globe, including: Europe, Australia and the US. Uptime Craft won the double-gold at the 2019 European Beer Challenge. I rated the beer 4.5 out 5 stars because of its unique and creative tasting profile and the way its flavour subtly changes and expands. The only light mark against it was that Uptime Craft never reaches a full-bodied profile. The brew itself is an amber colour with an earthy/herbal smell with strong notes of pine and resin. The mouthfeel is waxy. The taste is a light piney and earthy taste before settingling into caramel and orange flavours. It has an extremely smooth body and the aftertaste lightly and appropriately coats the mouth. Uptime Craft is available online for £1.99 a can and is a low-calorie, vegan and gluten-free brew. Enjoy!
