[Closed] Alcohol Free Beer

It's disgusting stuff. I have had a couple of "weak" beers, about 2.8%, which were quite palatable.

I also dont get the point

Its [alcohol] not that nice tasting and the whole point is to get the drunk feeling.

I suspect it's a Drink Aware outing, trying to get people to drink less. (I've heard the ad you mean, can't remember if it says at the end who sponsors it.)

I've enjoyed Becks Blue as a good substitute when fancying the taste and refreshment of a beer without the alcohol.

Friends of mine who have calved some young'uns tell me Beck's Blue is the best one.

Alcohol free weiss beer is where it's happening. Advertised as isotonic, full of minerals and replaces energy. It tastes ok but don't switch down to it from standard weiss beer otherwise it tastes like .....

I also dont get the point

Its [alcohol] not that nice tasting and the whole point is to get the drunk feeling.

Have a beer with your mates and then drive home?

There's some rotten alcohol-free beers on the market, but there's some quite drinkable ones too.

Some are certainly better than others, however if you're whole reason for drinking beer is for the booze and you don't like the taste then yeah I can see why you'd struggle.

My personal preference is Nanny State. Yes you can tell that it's alcohol free (0.5%) but I rather enjoy the flavour.

Alcohol free weiss beer is where it's happening.

I suppose it can't taste much worse than the regular stuff.

I find, usually during a warm summer's evening, a single, ice-cold, 330ml bottle of Heineken 0.0% lager, to be very refreshing.
YMMV.

Yep, I've discovered a couple of post-ride cold beers whilst having a chat before jumping in the car to drive home works well.

One brand now market themselves as isotonic for this type of thing.

[img] ?v=20170912155212[/img]

Friends of mine who have calved some young'uns tell me Beck's Blue is the best one.

It's not bad. The best one I've found I can't remember the name of (might be Erdinger?) - I'll jog my memory in the supermarket later.

EDIT: cross-post, yes, that's it I think.

Beer is great, alcohol free beer is not from what I have tried. If you don't want an alcoholic drink there is almost unlimited alternatives without resorting to a fake alcoholic drink.

Have a beer with your mates and then drive home?

Why not just drink something tasty? I dont like the taste of any of it much tbh.

I also dont get the point
Its [alcohol] not that nice tasting and the whole point is to get the drunk feeling.

Drink some nice beer then? I really like beer, I don't actually like being drunk. Ditto coffee and caffeine, I like to wake up a bit with one coffee, I would also like to drink a decaf ll day that actually tasted of coffee.

The BrewDog one is supposed to be quite nice (it's real beer, just 0.5% rather than having the alcohol/flavour taken out).

Beer is great, alcohol free beer is not from what I have tried. If you don't want an alcoholic drink there is almost unlimited alternatives without resorting to a fake alcoholic drink.

True, but beer tastes like beer, there's a lot more to the flavour, aroma, mouthfeel, etc than say a can of coke. Giving it up to avoid alcohol would be like giving up Pizza because you don't like Pepperoni.

Vagabond isn’t too bad, I drink beer as I like the taste not to get drunk, except the times I feel like getting drunk. 😆

Why not just drink something tasty? I dont like the taste of any of it much tbh.

Your unrefined palette does not concern me, peasant.

Do you eat Quorn / TVP at all? It's essentially the same argument.

Have a beer with your mates and then drive home

This is the crux.

If I wanted to drink something and drive later if probably drink water, or pop.

Oddly the one thing I discovered when I was a non-drinker (5 years or so) was that without alcohol it’s a bit pointless drinking 3 pints of anything over a few hours, you need need to pee a lot.

0.0% larger,

Becks Blue does a very good imitation of a citrusy lager.

Unfortunately lager is fizzy gnat's piss, so I'll be imbibing a selection of Tiny Rebel ales all complete with lots of lovely alcohol.

They were a surprise gift from the missus, who is off the booze for the month.
💡
I think I may be walking into a trap...

This is the crux.

If I wanted to drink something and drive later if probably drink water, or pop.

Depends on the kaliber* of your mates maybe. I don't move in that sort of circle thankfully, but I can readily see how for some folk peer pressure might be an issue.

(* sorry)

Erdinger do a half decent one. It's a bit gassy though. Either Sainsburys or Tesco do a Czech one which is quite swiggable.

I quite like them. Gives me that instant beer relaxation feeling but means I can drive to pick up my teenager from whatever late night gathering she's at. (Think Uncle Buck).

Mrs Binners has just done an alcohol free month. Once I'd finished winding her up by conspicuously drinking red wine, I came out in sympathy with her and packed in drinking during the week

I still fancied a beer watching the footy so tried a good few

Becks Blue is ok, the erdinger is nice, but the nicest by far is Sainsbury's Czech pils

[img] [/img]

Or if you fancy something more ale-like, this

[img] [/img]

Czech pils

I'm not sure I could drink a beer that sounds like the English policeman in Allo Allo asking for the bill.

Bavaria wit is my favourite, but they've stopped selling it in tesco. Used to be £3 for 6 so pretty cheap too.

Get erdinger from time to time, but I prefer the franziskaner one. Nanny state is ok, but defo an acquired taste!

It's a more satisfying alternative to a glass of water or vimto. Sometimes I don't want any alcohol effect, like if the little one is poorly and I know we're in for a bad night or when I'm on call for work.

Alcohol free beer? Whatever next, they will probably make pop with alcohol in it.

Good shout binners - will give them a go. Quite like Necks Blue.

Oh wait it’s Nanny State not Vagabond. 😳

There's some very good alcohol free beers as it happens.

Erdinger.
St Peters.
Maiden.
Schneider Weisse.

Easy enough to get a mixed box from any number of places. Don't be put off by the boo boys..!

Makes a nice change.

If I wanted to drink something and drive later i'd probably drink water, or pop

This ^ or try and employ a different mode of transport. I love the taste of good beers and enjoy the effects of alcohol. I think drinking alcohol free beer could put confusion in my brain that these two wonderful things didn't always come together. But takes all sorts.

Thanks for thread. I love a beer, but don't care about its alcoholic properties, I'd happily drink 0% all night if it tasted good.
Will try some of them above.

I like the second bit

Probably get flamed for this, but here goes anyway. If you mix your first (or even, damn you, have a full pint) and add in the alcohol free version then the change is more nuanced.

So for example have a pint of beer and a bottle of Nanny State.... as you drink a bit, top it up and then keep doing so until in the end it's basically all alcohol free.

Of course it still means having had a pint or 1/2 of real beer which will impair your driving but you won't be over the limit.

Works nicely with G&T too, just keep adding a fresh tonic when there's space.

Big eared biker has it.

Alkoholfreies Weißbier is indeed refreshing and isotonic.

Erdinger or Franzikaner alk frei is pretty nice.

Becks blue or the Cobra one are nice - best when properly chilled.

Other things I've sampled over the last month due to Mrs Binners abstinence.....

Once again, from Sainsbury's....

[img] [/img]

Put a bit of this in tonic water and it is absolutely indistinguishable from a G&T, without the alcohol

Oh.... I've also learned that ALL alcohol free wine is absolutely rank!!! Just don't even go there!

I'm all in favour of Alcohol-free beers. I like going out, but hate having to get taxis or buses home. So I figure have a few "non-beers", drive home. I only drink alcohol at home anymore really. In order of preference, Erdinger is most likely to be available and taste nice. Pauliner is muck. Nanny State is quite nice, but I've only recently discovered that one. Becks is larger, so not to my taste. If only there was a way to make a decent ale, but alcohol free... I'd drink little else. I like the taste of beer, but I dislike being drunk.

Brewdog nanny state is good, I’m also quite partial to the Bavaria 0% and their shandy 😳

As an aside we are currently trying out the seedlip gin alternative

As I understand it, and I could be wrong, the decent alcohol free beers are actually low-alcohol and brewed that way. The piss poor ones are where normal beer has had the alcohol removed.

Can anyone confirm?

Bavaria 0% is my favourite, I happily drink that, it’s lovely on a hot day, super refreshing.

St. Peter’s is decent, erdinger is nice too but gassy, not so keen on becks. Had some Holstein alcohol free at a wedding years ago and that was good too.

I’d much rather drink AF lager than coke on s night out. It’s af beer or soda water for me, depending on how cheap I’m happy to look.

mikkeller - drink'in the sun. 0.3% & best I've found at near-enough zero

It's not my fvourite beer by a very long stretch but doesn't have that odd cloying over-malty taste that many low alcohol beers have. It's pretty hoppy/bitter - tastes a teeny weeny tiny bit like american IPA if you keep it nice & cold

Beck's blue is OK, as is that Czech stuff

I find Heineken zero the only lager without the chemical taste if alchohol free, although its a bit Budweiser like.

I defer to Erdinger though, for its taste and for the Polypropol(sp) content.

G&T flavouring? From the look is that in the baking aisle?

It is indeed fella. Give it a go.

Alcohol free beer is to me like vegie/vegan fake "meat". It's saying you really want the real thing.

Just have things that are naturally free of the thing you're avoiding.

Didn’t like Nanny State, but Becks Blue & Erdinger were okay.

I find them pretty useful to help curb the midweek drinking once in a while.

Free damm is where it's at for this stuff. P

Put a bit of this in tonic water and it is absolutely indistinguishable from a G&T

If they do the same thing with bourbon let me know, you might just have saved my liver.

Alcohol free beer is to me like vegie/vegan fake "meat". It's saying you really want the real thing.

No, it's saying you don't need the "real thing."

People who eat chicken burgers are in denial about really wanting beefburgers, accused no-one ever.

I'd drink them if I found one I liked. Over two pints affects my sleep these days, plus in nice weather I end up drinking every night which isn't ideal. Don't really like becks blue, bookmarking this and going to buy a bunch of the suggestions and do a taste test

I like Erdinger. Not a fan of Becks Blue.

The problem with soft drinks like pop, j20, and the rest, is that they are all sweet. Sometimes I might be out for a night but need to drive, or drive early the next day, or like recently in the very last few days before doing Ironman Wales, had to attend a bbq for a few hours. Didn't want to drink alcohol so close to the big race, didn't want lots of sweet sugary pop, so a few bottles of Erdinger for £1 a bottle on offer at Tesco was great.

Ice cold on a warm evening, drive home, well hydrated, no hangover.

Great.

Oh, and I like beer too, and brandy, and whisky, and rum sometimes.

The Erdinger one is OK but definitely still tastes like a non-alcoholic beer. Paulaner Hefe-Weißbier Alkoholfrei on the other hand is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. I've only ever seen it at a Tesco in the next town from us, but it's worth a trip just to stock up on it. Cheap as chips too.

I think it's erdinger they hand out at the end of Manchester marathon. ****in lovely stuff. Mind you I'd probably drink stale piss at that point if it was nicely chilled.

I've been getting selection boxes from DryDrinker and most of the beers I've tried so far have been pretty good.

Don't get the bitburgerone, it's like yeast soup.

Another Erdinger fan here. Not keen on the St. Peters.

I like the taste of beer but I'm not fussed about the alcohol. I find it slightly sad that some folk drink beer [i]despite [/i] not enjoying the taste. I think I grew out of that in my teens.

Erdinger here too, they have a good choice of German alcohol free beers at our local beer emporium

I’d much rather drink AF lager than coke on s night out.

Last time I went out i thought 'I'll drink coke, it'll be a rare treat'
High as a kite off the caffeine and felt like shite the next day.

I like the becks blue on a sunny day when I don't want to get drunk

Erdinger Alkoholfrei is great but it needs to be properly cold IMHO. They are well known for sponsoring Biathlon and Triathlon athletes as an isotonic recovery drink.

[url= https://int.erdinger.de/markenwelt/alkoholfrei/sportler.html ]More here[/url]

Another good one is Rothaus Alkoholfrei again, properly cold....[url= http://www.rothaus.de/en?alter=true ]Rothaus[/url]

Fortunately a lot of our bike tours are close to the brewery so a Alkoholfrei and Weisswurst are de rigour...

Alcohol free beer is very common in French service stations.

At the end of an arduous and long drive one time, exhausted and wired, bagging a late night layby camping stop I thought I'd found my last chance saloon heaven in the chiller cabinet of the petrol station.

I had not. It was alcohol free only. I could barely contain my weeping...

Maybe I should have tried it after all?... 🙂

Cougar - Moderator 
People who eat chicken burgers are in denial about really wanting beefburgers, accused no-one ever.

But that's more like substituting low alcohol for full strength. Quorn and tofu burger eaters are in meat denial though.

I have to admit, I don’t see the point for me personally.

I read an article a while back that scientists had found when you drink alcohol free beer your brain thinks it is about to get a hit of alcohol so releases endorphins to give you that happy relaxed feeling you get when you crack open a real beer. I think I've experienced this to some degree myself but obviously if you do this all the time your brain will wise up and hold back on the endorphins.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=287572211

Going to try this San Miguel tonight, we're having curry, so will be ideal 🙂

I'll report back.

I've been drinking low/non-alcohol beer for a while and tried most things. By far and away the best is Mark and Spencer Czech Lager 0.5%. Like the Saino's one suggested by Binners it's brewed by Staropramen and it truly is indistinguishable from a 'normal' (i.e. mass market) lager. Even better, according to the back of the label it's only 4 calories per 100ml (though I'm sure this must be wrong).

M&S also do a 'Southwold' (i.e. Adnams) 0.5% ale which is okay, if a bit caramel-tasting and a touch of a metallic aftertaste.

The Saino's one is almost as good as the M&S one, and Heineken 0.0/Blue is perfectly acceptable as a bog standard bottled beer.

For curry and chilli type dishes I've often used decent chilled ginger beer (not supermarket plastic bottle sugar water with ginger flavour, the decent stuff of fermented ginger spice). Works well as a booze substitute that goes with spicy dishes.

Typically if I'm doing alcohol free it will be to pair with food as I drink far too regularly with meals (though it is nice). Going out socially I'd rather not got out than be the odd one out feeling uncomfortable because I'm driving and drinking whatever rubbish substitute they have. I still wouldn't have alcohol free beer though. Last one I had tasted like rotten cabbages.

Its quite nice, lots of AF beers available on the continent, we had a pack of that when Mrs P was pregnant and we went to Murcia for a week. Did the trick.

Put a bit of this in tonic water and it is absolutely indistinguishable from a G&T, without the alcohol

When i used to work in a nightclub in the 80s we had a tray with a shallow layer gin in it. We would dip the rim of the glass in there and fill up with tonic. Once you have the gin smell, no one could tell the difference. it's probably frowned upon now

Started drinking it due to heavily pregnant wife not able to drive, then continued as it wasn't 'done' to be semi-pissed whilst looking after an infant.

Still drinking it despite getting permission to move onto the good stuff, mostly because of the low calories (trying to get down to racing weight for CX season which has already started... 😳 ) and because you can do things like crack one open at lunch without getting tutted at, and down one on the drive home from a race (tactfully lowering the bottle when you see a police car...).

Thanks for suggestions above, I was just sticking to Erdinger/Nanny State. The Becks stuff upsets my guts!

Tried alcohol free red wine out of interest, it almost fools you for a second, but then you realise that yes, it's just fruit juice. Not actually bad, but an even poorer substitute than alcohol free beer...

Tried alcohol free red wine out of interest, it almost fools you for a second, but then you realise that yes, it's just fruit juice. Not actually bad, but an even poorer substitute than alcohol free beer..

The only ones I've found to be remotely palatable are the [url= https://www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/our-drinks/type/wine/ ]Belvoir [/url]"wine" drinks - they're not actually wine, but fruit juices combined to look, and come close to (but not actually emulate) the taste of wine. They're quite dry, and have a similar mouthfeel to wine - you can't just chug them like you can Appletise and the like, so it's a half-decent substitute if you can't have the real thing.

Becks blue is OK but more often than not I have 1 normal beer and then move on to a tall glass of Tonic/Soda water, ice and lemon. Still feels like a proper drink and not packed with sugar like coke, J20 etc.

angostura bitters and tonic is also a very palatable alternative to an alcoholic drink

Thanks for the info Jakester. That's interesting to know about them both being brewed by Staropramen.

The M&S one is lovely, but I've found its a bit hit and miss whether our local M&S has any in stock, hence defaulting to the Sainsbury's version.

binners - Member
Thanks for the info Jakester. That's interesting to know about them both being brewed by Staropramen.

The M&S one is lovely, but I've found its a bit hit and miss whether our local M&S has any in stock, hence defaulting to the Sainsbury's version.

Yep, that's been my experience as well. The chap who went to have a look in the back for me said they're really popular, hence I think the patchy availability. That Saino's one is indeed almost as good.

Tried alcohol free red wine out of interest, it almost fools you for a second, but then you realise that yes, it's just fruit juice.

A bit like alcohol-free cider. So... that'll be carbonated apple juice, then?

wow.
main thing to take from this thread is that yeah, stw hasn't changed- there's some awfully judgmental bellends on here still.

why do some of you care that other people might not eat or drink the same stuff that you do?

[quote=xherbivorex ]wow.
main thing to take from this thread is that yeah, stw hasn't changed- there's some awfully judgmental bellends on here still.

The irony is strong in this one.

yeah, i realise that! sort of unavoidable, but i'm not sure it's being judgmental so much as noticing an obvious trend? oh well.

😆

TBF, I'm not sure there's many folk on this tread criticizing the choice of others. It's not like we're discussing phones or drive trains.

it's the usual suspects really. even bringing up the "you eat fake meat because you really want to eat actual meat" BS!

anyway yeah, not touched booze in 3 decades but given the advances (and yes, there's been a lot) in alcohol free beers over the last 5-10 years i've recently got quite into a lot of them.
the weissbiers are probably my favourite, erdinger, schneider and maisels all do lovely tasting variants. innis and gunn do a "none" alcohol free IPA that's very hoppy and tasty, better than brewdog nanny state for me (plus it's not brewdog, who seem to be utter shitbags)...
lager/pils, i never really liked much anyway but becks blue is quite harsh tasting, i find. krombacher is much smoother. if cobra zero is still a thing, avoid. it tastes like licking a rusty battery. yes, i've tried.
that st peter's that tesco sells is very tasty, very malty though. like a snack rather than a drink.

if you prefer to not drink alcohol free beers, then that's great. lots more people nowadays don't though, and that doesn't make them bad people, or wrong, or somehow inferior.

plus, drunk people are easier to kill...

Any one have any good low strength beers say sub 3%?