Non alcoholic / De-alcoholised beer's

tintin82 · 25 Mar 2013 at 08:13

Traditionally i know this stuff has been horrible, and i remember drinking a few tins of Orangeboom non alcoholic (i think thats how its spelt) about a decade ago whilst in Saudi, and it was awful. However i just stumbled across a newspaper report saying that due to a huge soar in demand there are now many more brands / better quality to choose from.

Does anyone drink this stuff regularly that can recommend some brands to try?
I like the idea of enjoying a few ice cold beers on a sunny afternoon knowing that i wont have the fuzzy head (or calories) to contend with.

Gribs · 25 Mar 2013 at 10:00

The non alcholic Becks (Blue?) is ok and tastes much like normal Becks.

E61 Grouphead · 25 Mar 2013 at 10:13

I have not tried an alcohol free beer that I could recommend. Kopparberg 0% however, is very good.

Glaucus · 25 Mar 2013 at 10:31

I would rather go for some of the nice soft drinks, get down a farm shop plenty of specialist cordials, and carbonated drinks.

Sunbed · 25 Mar 2013 at 10:36

Gribs said:
The non alcholic Becks (Blue?) is ok and tastes much like normal Becks.

I may have been having a day where my taste buds were off but I considered the non alcoholic becks to be awful. Nothing like the real thing in my opinion.

boxman2000 · 25 Mar 2013 at 10:40

Gribs said:
The non alcholic Becks (Blue?) is ok and tastes much like normal Becks.

REALLY? My goodness, I've never been as ill as after a few of these things - vile isn't the word.

The best non alcoholic beer is Cobra - hard to find but I'd almost go to say it's nicer than the alcoholic stuff (nearly!)

Also Sagres (Portuguese beer) is very nice in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic forms.

Belmit · 25 Mar 2013 at 10:54

Gribs said:
The non alcholic Becks (Blue?) is ok and tastes much like normal Becks.

It's like the chewing gum of the beer world; all the flavour is at the start. As you swallow it it's fairly bitter and horrible.

D.P. · 25 Mar 2013 at 18:22

I used to live with a Bavarian flatmate who also took back creates of non-alcoholic lager, a lot of it was just as good as the alcoholic and thus far, far better than any of the disgusting mass produced lager you find in the rest of the world. Can't buy that stuff outside of Bavaria really.

Gribs · 25 Mar 2013 at 20:27

Sundance said:
I may have been having a day where my taste buds were off but I considered the non alcoholic becks to be awful. Nothing like the real thing in my opinion.

I only tried a mates rather than drinking a whole one but it tasted like bland lager, ie Becks, certainly a lot better than I remember Kaliber being. My personal drink of choice when driving is Orange and Soda.

Sunbed · 26 Mar 2013 at 15:21

I rate standard Becks pretty highly. Becks vier I consider to be nothing special though.

Windle · 26 Mar 2013 at 15:50

I've never seen the point of alcohol-free beer, if i'm not drinking alcohol then I'll have a soft drink or water of which there are numerous choices and they tend to be cheaper than alcohol free beer.

Not getting at anyone who does drink them, just my personal opinion. But out of interest for those of you who do drink non-alcoholic beer/cider, for what reasons?

tintin82 · 26 Mar 2013 at 16:30

Windle said:
I've never seen the point of alcohol-free beer, if i'm not drinking alcohol then I'll have a soft drink or water of which there are numerous choices and they tend to be cheaper than alcohol free beer.

Not getting at anyone who does drink them, just my personal opinion. But out of interest for those of you who do drink non-alcoholic beer/cider, for what reasons?

Because they like the taste i would guess.

I drink real beer because i really like the taste, but not the side effects that seem to be increasing with age

If that was the other way round, i might be worried.

the_r_sole · 26 Mar 2013 at 16:33

there was a similar thread to this a while ago, might be worth a search to see some of the suggestions...
furstenburg alcohol free beer is one of the only ones I've found that is tasty

Lartyconshayo · 26 Mar 2013 at 21:18

brewdog's one is nice. I drank a few bottles on an 18 month alcohol hiatus and was pleasantly surprised at how hoppy and ale like it was. Nanny state it's called. It's actaully 0.5% so not alcohol free.

Infidelus · 26 Mar 2013 at 21:24

Windle said:
I've never seen the point of alcohol-free beer, if i'm not drinking alcohol then I'll have a soft drink or water of which there are numerous choices and they tend to be cheaper than alcohol free beer.

Not getting at anyone who does drink them, just my personal opinion. But out of interest for those of you who do drink non-alcoholic beer/cider, for what reasons?

Have to agree. The point (for me) of going out/staying in for a beer is for the taste AND the alcohol. If I wanted to stay sober I'd have a soft drink and save some pennies.

Each to their own though

GinG · 27 Mar 2013 at 12:34

I always find non alcoholic beers too sweet.

I enjoy the taste and alcohol content but I would be happy to find a good non alcoholic beer and be happy to drink that instead.

If you could come up with a non alcoholic beer with the exact same taste I think you would become very rich!

Mr-White · 27 Mar 2013 at 12:40

The only non alcohollic beer I tried didn't even make it into my mouth, the smell was disgusting

MW

tintin82 · 2 Apr 2013 at 18:44

Well since i started this thread i have embarked on a bit of a taste test of loads of non alcoholic beers. I ordered a case of 20 or so different brands and then the ones on offer in the supermarkets.

In conclusion i can say that most are pretty bad. Some are totally awful, Cobra comes to mind as being one or the worst. Sagres was also pretty bad, even through it was highly recommended. Others where drinkable, but left a bad after taste and not that nice.

However there were some that i found really nice. Bitburger drive is nice enough , as is Krombacher. Clausthaler is really really nice, best of the lot. Bavaria Wit is a really nice wheat beer i discovered as well.

So i ordered a box of Clausthaler and Bavaria Wit, very nice beers, while cheaper, and less calorific than regular beer!

Siliconslave · 3 Apr 2013 at 15:09

I had a Erdinger Weissbier Alkoholfrei when i was last in Munich (on tap, at lunch during the work day) and found it very enjoyable, almost as good as the alcoholic version

as to why you'd drink alcohol free beer it seems a weird question - unless you only drink beer to get drunk and don't really enjoy the taste. Granted most alcohol free beers are pretty fowl but if they weren't a non-alcoholic beer could be a nice flavoursome, refreshing drink in its own right...

delta0 · 5 Apr 2015 at 13:37

Epic thread revival I know, but better than starting a new thread.

I'm on the look out for a low/zero alcohol beer. Anyone tried Brewdog Nanny State? 0.5% alcohol and 15 calories.

Non alcoholic / De-alcoholised beer's

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