I quit alcohol a year ago, but still enjoy non-alcoholic beer like Athletic Brewing's [0]. It's got great selection and taste, although lacks the alcohol kick of course (which I don't miss).
I now sleep and feel a lot better, my resting heart rate decreased substantially, among other benefits.
It's not easy to quit alcohol, especially from a social aspect. But good non-alcoholic beer makes it possible for me at least.
Some people enjoy the bitterness, I know I do.
However, I've gotten sick of IPAs everywhere and I share your sentiment.
A few years ago, there weren't as many craft breweries around Central New Jersey. They had a small yet varied selection - one or two different lagers, stouts, wheats, and IPAs.
Then those came around (mostly hipsters who couldn't even handle the alcohol content of one glass!) who started promoting an IPA as an "adult" drink. Now there are craft breweries - if not multiple - in damned near every town on the Shore. At many a good three quarters if not more of their offerings are some variant of an IPA.
I would guess because bitterness is what makes it taste like an "adult" drink.
A lot of non-alcoholic options tend to be sweet: soft drinks, fruit juices, mocktails being the first that come to mind.
The newer trend with companies like seedlip, or with actually good non-alcoholic beers means you can having something "adult" to drink without rotting your teeth
I would assume it comes from disliking the taste of hops. I find hoppy beers taste like soap, personally but IPAs and other hoppy beers have become incredibly popular, so navigating the craft brew landscape can be a minefield for people that dislike it.
Still, it's not like there's exactly a shortage of beers for people that don't really like hops so while it makes it kind of difficult sometimes (especially when all you're given is a name of a beer) it isn't something to get that upset over.
Because there is way more to beer than IPAs! There are lagers, hefeweizens, stouts, radlers, and yet the only beer that's stocked in any quantity are the same boring bitter-ass "craft" IPAs.
And maybe I just hate watching people and the market gravitate towards only one thing.
For a bit more detail than some of the other responses.. for example, seeing Lagunitas on the name made me concerned it would be very hop-bitter (IBU) but that was not the case at all. I found it to be more like a modern flavored sparkling water (think LaCroix and the like) except with the floral flavor of dry-hopping, and a bit of sweetness kinda like tonic water.
Glad to see Athletic getting mentioned here. I haven't quit alcohol, but as I've aged (51) I've found the margin for "trouble free" consumption has narrowed considerably -- in terms of sleep, but also weight gain and impact to my cycling performance.
For the last year or so, there's always a couple kinds of Athletic in the fridge, in addition to whatever regular beer we have on hand, and most of the time I choose the NA as a result.
(Not for nothing, but a good IPA can be 200 calories a can. Athletic's is 50.)
These really are my sweet spot. I'm a very cerebral person (for better and neurotic worse) and the "dumbing" effect of alcohol is sometimes welcome but often comes on too strong. ~2.5% beers are something I can enjoy.
You can of course mix beer with cocaine, but I guess it's better to mix them inside your body, by taking each of them separately the normal way. The parent was talking about cocacola.
If someone is trying to cut back on alcohol consumption I don't think that's necessarily good advice. Sweet drinks like lemonade are so easy for me to suck down without thinking.
Hot beverages are a lot harder to suck down. I try to start most mornings with a hot cup of sencha or oolong tea, but there's a lot of good, hot options like chrysanthemum, ginger, or lime.
Personally speaking, the carbonation in shandies prevents me from chugging them down. Besides, when I prepare them myself I tend to water down the mixer a bit, otherwise they end up being a little too sweet to my taste.
I strongly prefer DIY lemonade, exactly because I've got full control over the sweetness. (and throwing in a few fresh mint leaves is a nice touch, too..)
Just pick up a small bottle of 100% pure lemon juice, add about a half the bottle to a quart of water, ymmv, and whatever (brown!) sugar and other stuff you want.
+1 to lemonade shandies if you're feeling like limiting alcohol intake for an evening. They're actually a good way to enjoy aggressively hoppy IPAs if you find those a bit tough to drink neat.
A brewery near me did a run of "Tomato Gose" which I really liked and then followed by "Clamato" which was interesting... and I learned that clam juice is a thing in Canada.
There a place near me that makes micheladas (beer, Worcestershire, lime, hot sauce), with an added splash of tomato juice. My wife has fallen in love with them and it’s her regular around the house adult beverage .
Kvas(1), a fermented bread drink from Russia and Ukraine, might fit the bill with its alcohol content of 0.5-1% (it’s considered a non-alcoholic drink, but I’ve had Kvas that was _strong_).
There’s nothing better than cold kvas on a hot day - shame we can’t just buy it in the supermarket here in America.
Can't agree with you enough here. It's something I've learned as an adult when it comes to alcohol - better to have that one good beer or wine, enjoy the taste and the feel of it, than to drink more of mediocre stuff.
I always enjoyed a good beer, wine and whiskey. But during the covid year, I took a few months break. Then when I had a drink again, I could see how much it affected me. So I didn’t do it again for a few weeks. I tried couple more times but each time it was just not worth it for the next 1-2 days. (After one or two drinks, that is).
Same for me. Me and my partner had to set an artificial rule to never drink on weeknights. Especially at the beginning, the stress induced by the pandemic made it really easy to want to pop a beer open at 5 every day. It mostly worked, in that there was an obvious benefit even though we slipping every now and and then.
I believe they meant the next day/several hours later.
If you don't feel any adverse effects later, you're probably drinking responsibly (never more than 2, always with food), or are still on the younger side.
Age is a huge factor in how we process booze. As you get older, your liver gets worse at handling the byproducts of alcohol, specifically acetaldehyde. It's the poison that leads to longer, worse hangovers. I didn't get hangovers until my early 30s, and they've gotten considerably worse over time, while simultaneously being _much_ easier to achieve. If I drink at all on an empty stomach, even just a single beer, I really feel it now in my early 40s. Maybe not later as a hangover, but rapid onset sluggishness. The effects on sleep are no joke, and as you get older sleep is harder to come by for a number of reasons, which we've learned is incredibly problematic.
You get to a point where you have rules: always eating something first (which could affect other health goals like calorie counting), drinking water between drinks/every other (which leads to feeling gross and bloated, possible hyponatremia if you're not careful), and taking supplements like NAC before bed/every 2-3 drinks. It becomes clear at some point that not drinking is the only real solution.
Another vote for Athletic Brewing. My wife and I are huge beer lovers who quit drinking recently. We both agree that the benefits are completely worth it but I'm not sure we would have gotten through some recent social functions without drinking (including 4th of July) unless we had a NA beer in hand.
We've tried a few others, the Brooklyn Brewery Special Effects was pretty good too. Totally different flavor from any of the Athletic stuff.
I'm not sure if it was related to my high blood pressure (which was a major health concern before managed, an IVH is NOT fun.) but alcohol was just never an enjoyable experience for me in any large amount (I'm like a 1 drink a month type due to this), I just felt nauseous in a bad way and generally unwell.
Athletic brewing's Upside Dawn is probably the first beer I ever drank that I truly ever enjoyed due to this. I keep a case in the mini-fridge in my office. The other `upside` is that it is socially acceptable to drink an NA beer during work hours and as a programmer I don't have to worry about declining ability or focus.
Also, it's worth noting that local vendors will sell it for ~60% the price as online. My local Wegmans sells it for just $9.99/6 pack compared to $17 at their website.
Athletic really seems to be the leader in this sector in terms of taste. I have a spouse who drinks a lot of non-alcoholic beer and as such I have gotten to try a whole host of them - so far Athletic has handily defeated competition in the few flavors they offer.
The only thing about Athletic is that they don't offer calorie-free options. Lagunitas' Hoppy Refresher is probably my favorite of the calorie-free options available. Though when you go calorie-free with NA beer you're pretty heavily pushing what the definition of a beer is.
Not sure about the US, but in Canada there are a couple of yellow label grocery store brands of non alcoholic beer which are very surprisingly good as well. Seems like there are more and more options every day.
Most of the nonalcoholic beers I've tried are pretty terrible, Athletic have somehow made a nonalcoholic beer that actually tastes like a beer. I've got a case of Run Wild in the fridge and it satisfies my beer craving without the alcohol.
I'm hoping more brewers can figure it out. Athletic is way ahead of the ones I have tried so far.
So I like a beer or two, but any more than that and its downhill later on. So I've taken to bringing beer and high-quality ginger ale to parties. So that I can switch over and have something that I still enjoy and fits in to the scene without close inspection. An alcohol-free beer might fit in... if I enjoy the taste.
Thanks for sharing! Is it this one: [0]? I'm a weekend warrior climber, and Blood Orange beers are my favorite! And even better if it's for a noble cause.
thanks for sharing, looks great, I ordered them right away. I like most non-alcoholic beers, what bothers me most is the lack of variety so I'm always happy to try new ones
I quit beer in favor of cold sparkling mineral water.
I don't miss hops. I don't miss the buzz. I don't miss my belly. I don't miss hangovers.
I realized I was drinking beer and looking beyond all that makes beer what it is and focusing on the qualities of the water (softness, minerality, etc.) and bubble characteristics (small nitro bubbles or big bursty ones) and finding no limit to the quantity I could consume, no scarcity in variety or imposed limits on where I can refresh myself.
I've gone so far as to consider adding hop essence and some barley malt for lulz, but probably have turned that corner for good.
I've not quit drinking (yet), but have thought the same thing. My go to just to get a nice fizzy drink has been the absolute best carbonated water around, Topo Chico. It's from Mexico and has a cult following down here in TX and isn't quite ubiquitous all over the USA even though they were bought by Coke a while back, but the carbonation is like 2x of any soda I've ever drunk and is extremely refreshing when consumed super cold.
Thanks for the link. Interesting that PFAS are so much more common in sparkling water vs. flat water. It must be leaching from the equipment used to carbonate or otherwise process the water - possibly facilitated in part by the fact that carbonated water is slightly acidic.
Makes me also remember that there is PFAS in all kinds of food processing equipment that we know very little about. For example, in the US pasta extruders are coated with Teflon and who knows how often or how well that coating is maintained. (In Europe the pasta extruders are not Teflon-coated by regulation)
What I don't get about the article is if there is a difference between glass, plastic, and aluminum cans. I would assume the article is going over plastic bottles but around here most TopoChico options come in glass.
I usually have a couple cases in my place at any time. I just wish it was cheaper. It's a bit stupid that a 24 pack of Coke costs ~$8, but 24 Topo's cost ~$20.
On the subject of carbonated water, does anyone know why all the Mediterranean lunch restaurants I went to pre-pandemic had plenty of San Pelegrino Blood Orange, but I can never find it at any store? Is there some worry about “blood” in the name that prevents stores from carrying it?
I've been doing this for a while and have had great results. Even if you're not tee-totaling, it's still a fine investment for cocktails and DIY alcoholic seltzers.
For those that don't mind paying a bit more there's of course non-DIY solutions that do the same. We went all out and bought a Quooker with our new kitchen: boiling water, cold and filtered water, and carbonated water. Of course it helps that here in the Netherlands, the tap water is basically mineral water.
For the articles above making your own hop water is very easy as well. Just soak some hops in room temp water and throw in fridge overnight. Toss in a little lemon juice, and carbonate. Could even use tea.
Will need to play with the amount of hops, but it's cheap.
A larger tank (filling a 5lb tank off a 50lb tank) uses less time and money than exchanging 1lb canisters. It also has the ancillary benefit of supporting local welding supply companies and brewing stores than foreign corporations and big box stores.
This is a valid concern. I did years of homebrew beer before I learned there is food grade and non-food grade CO2. You should not be using non-food grade to carbonate water or beer. It can have oils and other residue in it.
you can also wrench open a sodastream canister, buy a 3lb block of dry ice from a grocery store for $4, crush it, and pour the crumbs into the canister. Youtube has tutorial videos.
I've found that I prefer tonic water and lime over every NA beer I've tried so far (which all have an overpoweringly dull bitter aftertaste). Currently looking for a less sugary tonic water and considering quinine or tonic syrup.
You should try tonic syrups. I love them as you can adjust the water:syrup ratio to your taste, and mix and match syrups and waters. My impression (correct or not) is also that there's more tonic syrups out there than bottled tonic water, so a lot of choice (at least last time I looked). Finally, the syrup concentrates take up a lot less space in the refrigerator.
The only tricky part for me was figuring out what ratio of water:syrup to go with for any given brand, but that isn't too difficult.
I've thought about making my own syrup, as I'm a lifelong tonic water fan, and make a lot of other things myself, but haven't wanted to mess with it.
There's relatively dry tonics on the market now too, but nothing will get you to quite the same place as the syrups.
The next step is to drop sparkling water for regular water. There is no particular difference when you are thirsty, and bubbles have some adverse effects, some say.
I don't know about adverse effects, but I've always considered the environmental impact of sparkling water. I still don't get why some people are unaccustomed to the taste of just water.
I was really surprised that non alcoholic beer seems to be so special in the US (especially when trying to find a good tasting one).
In germany, while alcoholic beer is the norm on parties, when drinking to a meal or at hot summer days non- or low-alcoholic beer is served frequently in various forms.
Personally, I am a fan of wheat beer, which comes in normal (5.5%), light (3.3%) and alcohol free (0.0%). All variations have their unique but good taste. Also, beer-mix variations are popular on summer days: Wheat beer with cola, wheat beer with sprite or normal beer with sprite.
All these variations are served in exactly the same glasses and bottles as regular beer. So if you don't want to drink you can easily do so. We even have a soft drink variations served in typical beer bottles, which is also good to fit into the social norm while not drinking. Overall, you can choose taste (sweet softdrink to bitter beer) and alcohol amount quite freely.
Still waiting for the day when USA brewers master Pilsner. It's my favorite beer for hot weather. The European versions are light and crisp without being bland. All the American ones I've tried have too thick of a body, not enough hops/brightness, or both.
I still don't understand why Radler isn't a thing everywhere. Here in Switzerland there is only one dominant brand and it makes TV ads where men turn gay because drinking it. Like seriously?
So there is this wrong idea about Radler (or panache) drinkers.
Still I would recommend anyone to try their favourite beer with their favourite coke or Fanta kind!
Around here, they’re used as a run-around restrictions on alcohol advertisements.
I’m sure growth is great, but I see it stagnating at a small percentage of the market.
Beer-less alcohol in a can is really skyrocketing. Not sure how 5% food-grade ethanol in carbonated water sells for 50% more than beer, but it is what it is.
All the buzz and less the sugar-rush calories.
Maybe one day we’ll grow up and replace alcohol with better recreational drugs that are more fun, easier to manufacture, better targeted and result in fewer health and social problems.
Alcohol-free beer is definitely used as a tool for advertising purposes in Germany, though it also seems fairly popular. It takes up a significant fraction of the beer shelf space in any supermarket.
I don't think we're likely to replace alcohol any time soon - even with other relatively popular things like cannabis. The effects are more predictable and enjoyable by more people.
There's even some evidence, perhaps of questionable quality, but it makes a good story at least, that we may have evolved to prefer alcohol despite its toxicity because it was a reliable source of safe drinking water.
And even newer theories saying it may be related to the smell of ripe fruits leading to some primates getting a better source of energy.
In any case human affinity for alcohol likely goes back very far.
> I don't think we're likely to replace alcohol any time soon - even with other relatively popular things like cannabis. The effects are more predictable and enjoyable by more people.
Ease of manufacturing is also a major factor. All you need is sugar, water, yeast (which can come from a multitude of sources), and patience.
GHB, for one, is said to be all the best parts of alcohol with less of the downsides. It's still addictive and super illegal though, has the stigma of being a "date-rape drug", is maybe more neurotoxic than ethanol (excitotoxicity may be more in play), but definitely less toxic for the rest of the organ systems, and non-carcinogenic.
Kava, a beverage made from the roots of the piper methysticum plant, is broadly similar to alcohol, but milder, more sedate, non-addictive, non-toxic, and legal almost everywhere in the world. It's expensive though (only grows in the tropics), tastes like dirt-water, and takes a bit of work to prepare.
English neuropharmacologist David Nutt has been reportedly working on a synthetic less-toxic alternative to alcohol for years, but it's unsure if anything will ever come of it.
Personally, I don't see the recreational value. For me it was a very, very weak opiate high that wore off in an hour and whose tolerance builds up extremely fast. It should be more widely available though since people have said it helps them taper off actual opiates.
I am all for allowing natural drug use, however I know several people who developed actual addictions to Kratom. I mean they all got over it when they made it illegal (I think) but still would be careful about recommending it without disclaimer.
My observation of this substance was that it was similar to a low grade opiate and seemed to be quite habit forming among several people I knew that tried it.
> Beer-less alcohol in a can is really skyrocketing. Not sure how 5% food-grade ethanol in carbonated water sells for 50% more than beer, but it is what it is.
Fills the same niche as beer in the night without being beer.
In essence, yeah - it really targets a few previously underserved markets. There are a few non-obvious appeals over beer for some:
- For one, the most popular brands are a very easy amount of calories to add up per can. White Claw, for instance, has exactly 100 calories per can, so it's very easy to calculate how many calories are consumed per night by counting cans. So it appeals to calorie counters.
- Along the same lines, the carbs in the can are straightforward and easy to count. People doing keto are usually trying to stay under 30g of carbs per day. White Claw again has an easy-to-remember and easy-to-count 2g of carbs per can. So it appeals to carb-watchers.
- It's gluten free, unlike beer. Obvious appeal for people who have some sort of gluten intolerance
Wrap all of the above together and include the fact you mentioned that it functionally works like beer (you buy it in single serve containers in packs, it's relatively low ABV so it won't get you trashed immediately and you can drink it casually and it's served ice cold) but isn't beer from both a taste and feel perspective and it's pretty clear to see why it's really taken off as quickly as it has.
My understanding is that hard seltzers are mostly made in a fashion similar to beer. They use cane sugar rather than barley in the fermentation process.
Sure but they filter out (almost?) everything besides the water & alcohol. I'm quite confident legal, tax, & cost factors are the reason why they don't use a food-grade distilled ethanol as the alcohol base.
This is correct. What people want is a canned vodka soda, but vodka is taxed at a much higher rate than malt beverages (and depending on the state, harder to sell/purchase). The innovation of using sugar as a fermented base to get closer to that flavorless alcohol is what drove the hard seltzer craze: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/how-tax-policy-gave-...
I remember reading about the fermentation thing before, it just seemed so bizarre.
Just strikes me as so odd, that the real innovation, is a tax workaround. And that innovation basically created an entire market category.
At that point if I were the government, I would look at the current policies and determine if they still made sense. Meanwhile, the actual US customs didn't like that dodge, and apparently wanted imports of it re-classified for tariff purposes. That apparently happened last month.
I actually think if it were just the taxes, the innovation probably wouldn't have happened. The bigger problem is that you can't really sell a national canned hard liquor drink, even if the liquor in it has been diluted by mixers down to beer or wine levels of alcohol. Too many states don't allow liquor to be sold anywhere but licensed liquor stores, and shelf space there is too precious for low-priced high-volume beer substitutes. You can sell malt-based hard seltzer in gas stations nearly everywhere.
That's a very good point. I guess then I would lump those together as 'policy' but you are right, that is a very distinct problem vs taxes. And probably not a surprise, I'm really not a fan of most US alcohol policy.
A nice non-alcoholic drink I stumbled upon (I probably didn't invent it, but I discovered it independently through experimentation):
Ingredients:
Spicy ginger beer (the spiciest you can find, since we'll be watering it down in the next step).
Frozen blueberries.
Preparation:
1) Fill a small glass nearly to the top with frozen blueberries - don't skimp on these because it definitely makes a difference.
2) Slowly pour the ginger beer into the glass until it's full.
3) Let the drink stand for about 5-10 minutes to allow the blueberry flavor to mix with the ginger beer - give it a few stirs during that time.
4) Enjoy!
If this looks like just a weird way to eat blueberries, you're kind of right about that! The drink itself takes up very little volume in the glass compared to the blueberries - and so you'll need to refill the glass from the same single serving bottle of ginger beer several times. Do keep in mind that ginger beer contains nearly an entire day's worth of sugar, so you probably don't want more than one of these in a night.
I'm sure it's quite good. I love a good ginger beer for example. However, when I'm in the mood for a good beer, this would be a woefully inadequate substitute.
this sounds delicious, I wonder how it would be if you muddled the berries a bit so more flavor was released but still chunky enough to eat. Maybe garnish with some mint too
It seems like the biggest markets for drinks all have an addictive hook: sugar, alcohol, or caffiene.
Without any of those, non-alcoholic beer seems to fall into a category of drinks like flavored carbonated water. I enjoy drinking those, but it's not likely to be a habit that sticks. If it's in the fridge, I will drink it; if not, I will forget that it exists.
I thought the same then started drinking non-alcoholic beers recently. Now I actually prefer the non-alcoholic versions, same taste but no harshness. It also fulfils the role where you’d have a beer but aren’t particularly interested in getting drunk or being hungover.
I’d also stress modern non-alcoholic beers are really good taste wise compared with what there used to be.
It is nice, however, when it's an option at a bar and you can have something kind of like a beer, while not incurring the usual "What, just a water?" conversations.
Oh, yeah, it's great for that niche. But it's hard to break out of that niche.
It's also hard to grow that niche. If 20% of people in the bar are ordering NA beer, it would seem to reduce the pressure to be drinking beer at all, or perhaps going to the bar at all.
If we time traveled to the future and you saw 90% of patrons drinking NA beer at the bar, you'd think it was a historical reenactment.
I'm for this idea in principle but part of the reason that makes bars great is the alcohol though. It lowers inhibitions (and anxiety) and makes people more friendly and open to discussions. I see a future where there might be less harmful ways to achieve the same state though (some kind of drinks with a very low quantity of a drug which has the same psycho-social effects as alcohol without damaging internal organs; maybe marijuana or maybe something more synthetic. In SF there are "bars" where you can simply consume marijuana based products, served by "budtenders". I can definitely see a future where bar-like places substitute alcohol for drinks which have some kind of rating that tells you how "strong" the effects might be, similar to how they show the ABV content of alcoholic beverages today.
Looking at other markets (EU,SEA), there is a stable niche for NA beers. We're talking about sustaining a business, so that should be a good enough prospect for employees that don't need buy a Ferrari.
I think it's far more established in the US (assuming the OP found it on the west coast where it's usually called "boba"), and isn't a fad anymore. You can find it anywhere from dedicated fancier boba cafes with their own twists to local restaurants that serve some East Asian cuisine even if bubble tea isn't local to that cuisine.
Most boba places I've been to let you select a percentage of sweetness. But I agree, its not something you could have many "pours" of in the same sitting (like e.g. beers).
How timely. I like good beer and crave one most every day. About four weeks ago I found a store selling a good variety of NA craft beer. I switched to NA beer as my norm. It was a great choice. I sleep less but feel better, and my daily craving is totally satisfied. I've only had two regular beers since then.
Nothing is as tasty yet as the best regular beers, so each one involves a bit of sacrifice, but I've found these to be good choices:
Arthletic Brewing offers some really amazing Beliner Weisse beers and IPAs. I made the partial switch to NA beers over a year ago and it's been amazing. Only problem is that hoppy NA beers still trigger my GERD...
That sounds good - you'll probably find that it's better than my bottom two. The Bravus is like 3/4 quite-good stout mixed with 1/4 Russian "kvass" if you've ever had that malt beverage.
I wish 1% or 2% beers were more readily available. I like to drink beers socially and I like to take a little of the edge off, but it'd be nice to lower the amount of alcohol I consume.
Minnesota is the last state in the US (as far as I'm aware) where 3.2 beer is common. It's sold in supermarkets and gas stations where liquor laws mandate that beer sold in these types of stores must be at most 3.2% alcohol.
One state's worth of demand seems awfully small to me for the big brewing companies to keep bothering to produce 3.2 versions of their products. However that's assuming the legal climate is the main driver for the demand. Maybe the growing interest in NA or low alcohol content beers will lead them to increase availability of 3.2 beers, or market them more.
3.2 is not just available for sale, there are still 3.2 bars in Minneapolis as a relic of a law from 1884.[1]
3.2 is the only beer that can be sold in grocery and convenience stores (grocery stores have separate alcohol stores that sell higher content beers, wines, etc.). From the article, CO, KS, OK and UT also sell 3.2.
That article is a few years old and the laws have changed in at least CO. Grocery stores can now all sell full strength beer so there's no 3.2 any more here.
Most grocery stores near me (in MN) have added separate liquor stores that are attached, but separated. But then they also still sell 3.2 beer in the main portion of the store. Seems weird to me. I assume it will disappear if they think of something better to put on the shelf.
Out of curiosity, how do you achieve sub 2%? Did you dilute with RO water at packaging time?
I've made a 2.9% English Mild by way of a partigyle brew that resulted in a very low OG. Low enough to make me concerned that the yeast would struggle. Perhaps that worry was unfounded.
Roughly 75% Rye as base malt for the body, then 25% golden naked oats. Mash at 163F (not a typo). Water profile with a lot of Chloride, though I use tap water because my city water is really good. I've tried quite a few yeasts with this setup, but S-04 has given me the best results. 1.023 OG to 1.010 FG. I do a separate BIAB mash + sparge for this because full volume mash would be WAY too watery, it's already pushing it. Though honestly the goal isn't to extract sugars, it's to extract flavours and that sort of gives you a different way to approach your brew day.
I haven't seen beer that low, but here in Ontario a number of breweries started offering beer around the 3% mark. I really can't handle anything much above 5, and these are good breweries offering a nice alternative from their usual boozy, hoppy IPAs.
Of course, a lot of American beers are around that percentage point, but the ones I'm talking about are a bit higher quality in my opinion :)
> Of course, a lot of American beers are around that percentage point, but the ones I'm talking about are a bit higher quality in my opinion :)
Don't worry, it's usually only the worst American beers that end up exported outside the US, and unfortunately this seems to go both ways between every pair of beer-producing regions I've been to. You can't even find a decent selection of German beers here (~50km away) in Switzerland, let alone ones from local American/Canadian/... breweries which are rare exceptions at this point. The same seems to be true of Canadian beer quality in the US, even in neighboring states like Michigan which at least had some Canadian options.
I agree - have been enjoying session beers more and more since I like to be outside with a cold beer and I like to drink a lot of it but I don’t like being drunk. Would love if I could find some 3% IPA’s. I’ve found some 4% IPA and it’s nice to be able to drink 3 tall cans and not be half in the bag like I am after three 8% IPA’s.
I’ve been seeing a fair groundswell of “all-day” lagers and IPAs between 3-4% as of late, so it feels like there’s a market for lower ABV brews getting tapped.
BrewDog have some great "AF" beers, such as Pale AF and Nanny State. They're a bit different from normal beer, but they're nice and hoppy and carbonated, and also low in calories. Partake is another one I like.
Not a fan of most other brands of alcohol free beer. They taste like they're just wort they stopped fermenting early, so it's oversweet and smelly.
I still can't justify the cost. One of the reasons I want to cut back on beer is to save money. A lot of these alcohol-free beers cost more than their real counterparts.
I get that these are still small-batch, artisanal products and eat up the same shelf space as beer. But my brain can't get past the idea that this is really fancy soda being sold at beer prices.
Want to save money? Make your own. It is seriously dirt cheap to do.
Want a low alcohol carbonated beverage? Make ginger beer with low sugar and only ferment long enough to carbonate. Want something that gets you a good buzz? Make a fruit wine or strong ginger beer.
I make my own and the only downside is I drink more than I used to. I enjoy the process of making it and it has to go somewhere. I'll make several gallons of cider for like 10 bucks. I haven't made low alcohol brews yet, but I'm going to start soon. Most of what I make is 10%-15% abv.
I recently brewed some ginger beer. I'm reasonably satisfied for my first attempt, got about 20 litres of tasty beer at around 8% abv, and I'm sure I could do better next time. It was pretty easy (not very very easy though). However, it was also quite time consuming, and I can't say I enjoyed the process that much so I doubt I'll do it again.
To each their own I guess. I'd much rather spend my free afternoons hiking or on a beach, or cooking a great meal that I can eat straight away.
Yeah, it’s crazy expensive, basically double. It’s worth it to me, though. I no longer appreciate being drunk because after the TGIF drinks at work, I often want to read or do some gaming when I come home.
You can drink beer without getting drunk and still be productive. Just sip it. This is why I buy craft beers and make it last over the course of like an hour-ish. This is also coming from a regimented ex religious who has never been drunk until I was 26. I still retained the non-drinking thing afterward losing my faith but then picked it up a few years later to see why people do it.
On a rational level I've discovered it's solely an excuse for people to get away with something socially that they normally wouldn't. I don't chase getting drunk. I drink beer the exact same way and reason I drink any other beverage: because I enjoy the taste, not the "high" it brings.
All these teetotalers on here sound like they're chanting some sort of weird praise that quitting alcohol is the panacea of fixing yourself. Like losing weight, having a better life, or wrestling with demons when in actuality it's just your own individual inability to have self restraint. The fact that people on here consider an edible as less destructive to beer is nothing but astounding to me. A drunk with one beer at like 5% alcohol maybe lasts an hour. An edible can last several if not all day.
> when in actuality it's just your own individual inability to have self restraint
There's more to it, though... it's addictive, and there's often group pressure or rather conformancy.
> get away with something socially that they normally wouldn't
Yup... dating is a good area here. You can make a social faux pas and then say "my apologies, perhaps that last glass of wine wasn't a good idea". And get forgiven rather quickly. And actually I don't really like that part, which is one of the reasons I prefer 0.5%-2.5% beers.
I have never been a part of a group that never was accepting of the fact that if you weren't out to get hammered, they weren't okay with it. What you're insinuating about the social aspect just sounds like a very shitty friend group to be around. Like people who you hang around with that encourage you to get into heroin basically. If you can't say no to that, maybe you have some self confidence issues and it's not the alcohol that's the problem.
I feel like once craft took a more dominate position, basically everything was 6%+ ABV and anything IPA was 7% or more, sometimes up near 9%. That's, IMHO, too much.
For a lot of health and wellness reasons mentioned throughout, I much prefer a 4-5%. They're often marketed as "sessionable" and I like that trend. I'm not sure I'm looking for a NA brew (yet) but I'd much rather something just as flavorful without the race to high ABV.
My favorite feature of NA beer is social. I found myself enjoying one too many beers sometimes with my group of friends I play hockey with, which made for terrible mornings after and the poor health effects overall.
What I do now is enjoy a real beer or two, and then finish the rest of the evening with NA. Athletic brewing is my favorite. I wish bars had it on draft. It fits both needs, I get to enjoy the taste and effect of the real at first, but continue socially with the NA after that won’t lead to drunkenness.
Alcoholism runs in my family, I could very easily go down that road if I’m not careful, but I found combining the two short circuits the desire to binge on the real thing. I can easily do most events with just NA beers and enjoy myself all the same.
This describes me as well. Sometimes I have a couple of beers, and want to have a couple more. But I don't really want anymore alcohol. I find N/A beers to have a nice harmony with regular beers.
This might be an unpopular opinion, but non alcoholic beer tastes like crap. Ive tried to “quit” alcohol in the past and tried drinking NA beers: Lagunitas NA IPA (disgusting taste), Odoules (meh), and Athletic Brewing (one flavor was drinkable).
Heineken 0.0 was the best tasting NA beer but still, it just felt like I was drinking sugar for no reason.
I dont like Alkohol free beer, mostly because I don't like beer enough to justify drinking without buzz.
However nearly all breweries in Europe have Alkohol free editions (I assume mostly for their TV ads) which aren't at all bad usually. The few I sometimes drink, Siegel, Feldschlösschen, basically taste identical minus the slight Alkohol taste. It's not artisan product around here, but done from the same people that brew the same beer for 500+ years. Maybe it's worth looking into importing some.
I feel you. I’ve tried a ton. Athletic is one of the better ones, O’Doul’s is decent compared to the cheap domestics it’s replacing but that’s not my style, and wheat is my style, where I’ve found some satisfaction with Well Being and Weihenstephaner NA.
Half of drinking is the ritual of cracking open a cold can/bottle of something a little sharp, and so while I don’t need the sugar, I find that nothing has worked better to replace beer than a Reed’s Strongest ginger ale.
Been on the wagon for close to 20 yrs, so I have had it all. Surreal Brewing(SF based) is by far and away my favorite. Very low cal - 17-75 cals (Kolsch is 17 cals). Might be a good option if you are looking for something less sugary.
I don't drink because of a medication I take and I miss beer with certain types of food. For so long the best available was beer flavored water. It makes me so happy that I now have a wide range to choose from.
Drinking an entire 6-pack of 0.5% beer is equivalent of drinking 6oz of a "normal" 6% beer. And I suspect people who drink non-alcoholic beer generally don't binge drink them. But I guess it may be important if you really can't drink any alcohol at all. But there are also beers labeled as truly 0.0%, not just "less than 0.5%"
The only good-ish citation for alcohol content in OJ I could find is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5421578/ which found 0.16–0.73 g/L ethanol content in OJ (but with low sample size, so...). To 1 sig-fig, ethanol has a density of 0.8 g/cm³, so that comes out to an ABV of 0.02%–0.09%; much lower than 0.5%.
I'm a fan of IPAs, but the calories and alcohol content make them something that I don't like to indulge in regularly. I've found that Athletic Brewing's IPA has a great taste, is super refreshing, and only 70 calories. As someone who likes to run, too, it's a great way to have something tasty without the negative dehydratic effects of alcohol. It's great, I'd love it if my local stores stocked more types of NA beer from them.
I actually prefer the flavor of Partake's IPA and Pale Ale, and the almost total lack of calories is fantastic. It's so great for having with dinner on weeknights without having to worry about your sleep quality or weight gain.
A younger me would scoff at this idea as missing the point. An older matured version of me definitely craves a selection of good very low or zero alcohol beers. I genuinely enjoy the taste of beer and nothing beats a crisp pilsner on a hot summer night, but sometimes I dont want the buzz, the lethargy, or worse the rare hangover from a misguided overindulgence.
I'm still irked about the declining availability of caffeine-free diet soda. It's getting hard to get caffeine-free Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke, and I haven't been able to get caffeine-free Diet Dr. Pepper since Febuary 2020. Shelf space was apparently needed for the various new flavors of Coca-Cola.
I wrote to Dr. Pepper HQ. They replied with a list of "nearby" locations where I could get Dr. Pepper in caffeine-free diet form. I'm located in Silicon Valley. Here's their list of locations:
Livermore CA 94551
Morgan Hill CA 95037
Elk Grove CA 95758
Soledad CA 93960
Sloughhouse CA 95683
You have to go way out in the boonies to get it, apparently.
I am surprised that nobody mentioned non-alcoholic wheat beers. They really taste better than other kinds of non-alcoholic beers. Bavaria for instance is really tasty.
Czechs love beer, so much so that there are two taps in the company cafeteria--1 with alcohol, and 1 without.
Drinking beer without alcohol is no big deal. It can actually be quite good, though I've never found a non-alcoholic beer in the US that is worth drinking.
Non alcoholic Guinness (or maybe its like <0.5%) is excellent and is definitely approaching the real thing. I think people respond well when it's not puritanical and provides a viable alternative.
Its frustrating that it often costs the same price as its alcoholic counterpart. In many countries the tax on alcoholic drinks is taken as a acceptable reason for the high prices in bars. But when the non-alcoholic versions are just as expensive, it feels like robbery. There seems to be huge interest from customers but bars and govts haven't pulled the right strings to enable a change that would benefit society in general.
Beer is very cheap to make. Bars are expensive to run. Furthermore you're taking up a chair that they could be selling alcohol to. Making NA beer cheaper than the real stuff would be very counterproductive for everybody involved in trying to run a business.
Quit drinking a year ago. I still drink one beer max if social setting requires it and I limit it to like once a week tops, ideally once a month.
Best decision I made in my life. If I want to get tipsy to enjoy some movie or music, I just take an edible. Weed is orders of magnitudes more practical than alcohol. Alcohol hangover is the worst. Edibles (especially sugar/calory free edibles they make now) are a lot healthier than alcohol and my mental health doesn't take a toll.
I found that I had a bad reaction to indica strains. One time, I started shivering uncontrollably, though I didn't feel cold. Hit me super hard, super quickly (though it was with someone else's vape - not sure how well I can compare versus edibles, my vape, or smoking flower).
I've never had a problem with sativa, though. Maybe whatever you've used is due to a particular strain?
You likely vaped something with poor genetics and/or was grown with too many synthetic nutrients.
Also, the majority of strains are hybrids - so it's unlikely you have a bad reaction to indica (unless you only ever vape landrace sativas - which is highly unlikely).
I spent about 2 years using 1:1 THC:CBD weed. I do this by mixing THC and CBD strains/edibles since it's cheaper that way (because CBD is federally legal so it's cheaper to get online from Oregon etc).
After quitting alcohol and started getting high regularly with my friends, I got used to THC. Now THC doesn't give me anxiety/heart palpitation/paranoi etc. I think it's so worth it! The way I see it, getting used to THC is a life skill. I spent way too much health drinking alcohol in parties and getting wasted. Just take an edible before the party and you're all set; fuck hangovers. I'm so happy I'm not wasting my 20s on alcohol.
To be fair i think a lot of the anxiety and heart racing issues come from the way the weed was grown (and not washed properly after fertilizing). CBD seems to lessen this issues. As far as I can tell well grown THC heavy cannabis also never gave me negative effects by itself.
I've been cutting down on alcohol recently and have been pleasantly surprised by what's available here in the UK. Last time I did this is was mainly Becks Blue and precious little else. Mostly from specialist retailers like Dry Drinker and Wise Bartender, but there's usually something available in supermarkets.
I don't reckon much on some of the offerings from UK brewers: things like Doom Bar, Adnams Ghost Ship and Brewdog's Punk AF just seem thin and with no body.
In the supermarkets, Brooklyn Special Effects is pretty good, and if you like lager then FreeDamm works.
Current online favourites include St.Peter's Without and Harviestoun Wheest from the UK; Force Majeure Tripel and Brugse Zot from Belgium; anything from Insel Brauerei and Nittenau in Germany and Nogne O in Norway.
It’s great to be able to grab a decent beer knowing that I’ll have to drive later.
Ever since my wife got pregnant, we've been trying to cut out alcohol so she doesn't feel left out as much. And even now that our son is here, she still can't drink much due to breast-feeding.
While I still drink alcohol from time to time, I find myself drinking alcohol-free far more often. Usually as a post-workout drink or something to relax with in the evenings without wanting to disturb my sleep.
For anyone looking for great alcohol-free options, my favorites so far have been Athletic Brewing[0] for NA beer and Lyres[0] for NA cocktails and spirits.
I've been drinking hop tea and hop seltzer from HopLark. It's not trying to replicate beer. I like that with the exception of some limited releases, they're just carbonated tea and hops or carbonated water and hops. Unsweetened and have both caffeinated and caffeine free variants.
My favorite so far has been a spruce tip tea with sabro hops.
I haven't quit alcohol consumption entirely, but I limit it to once every few months if I feel like having one, typically with family.
Also working on just making it myself, with tea, hop pellets, and using a "drink mate" (like sodastream but can carbonate any liquid, not just water) to carbonate it.
I don't mind alcohol, especially at the low amounts that it is in a regular beer, but I wish calorie-free/low-calorie free beers were more common. I know they exist in the US but not really a thing in EU.
I started drinking alcohol-free beer recently and it's really nice. Funny though, the best ones are not the same I used to drink and like before, with alcohol.
For example here, the 1664 is pretty popular but I don't like it that much. But the blonde alcohol-free version really tastes like a real beer. I even doubt sometimes that I'm drinking a beer without alcohol: I have to double check! Maybe my brain is playing with me.
Some beers add too much fruit Flavours or sugar like the Leffe ones. Not good.
The one thing alcohol-free beer is ideal for is making mush if you want to fry something. With regular beer the temperature rises due to alcohol and the crust gets burned.
The temperature of an alcoholic frying batter (boiling away in the fryer) should be lower than a non-alcoholic batter, but with beer it's probably not going to make a meaningful difference. Batters made with hard liquor cook faster because they dry out faster though.
The difference with your beer/NA beer might be due to sugar contents.
Just drink juice? Fresh, unpasteurized grape juice is unparalleled in taste. It has a shelf life of maybe 3 days, but in those 3 days it is the best thing to drink on earth (milk fresh from the coconut right off the tree is close).
Acid League is somewhat decent, not quite as good as a really nice bottle of wine but pretty good. Sadly the cost is a bit prohibitive, especially for what it is.
I was cursed (blessed?) to find the taste of nearly all alcohol kind of repulsive (especially beer), and I almost never drink anymore as a result.
While most bars will happily serve me Diet Coke when I ask for it (sometimes for free depending on the city), I gotta say that it does a pretty good job making me look fairly lame around my friends or coworkers.
Maybe some alcohol-free booze would help with that.
I'm also a super-taster, especially bitter far more than anything else. So until I discovered some German hefeweizens like Weihenstephaner (especially the kristalweiss) or Franziskaner, and sometimes Paulaner, I ghated all beers. Now I only hate ALMOST all beers. :D
Note, the hops in beer has a much stronger bitter effect than the alcohol, so I looked for beers without hops, which are the hefesweizens. Non-alcholic beer with hops tastes just as bad as alcoholic beers.
Where I'm from, they go to a lot of effort to make it look obviously different. Soft drinks will come in a large glass which is different from a pint glass that's used for beer, and will always have a straw and ice unless you ask them to leave it out. Rum and coke comes in a highball glass, no straw, usually a garnish, and no ice unless you ask for it.
Didn't everyone see this coming from a mile off? The OG skinny jeans and man bun demographics that popularized microbrews are rapidly barreling towards the age where your body starts being much more vocal about telling you you have poor taste. The question is whether this is a temporary uptick or a longer lived trend.
I drink beer or cider, and doubt there is anything better as social drink or to go with a meal. Refreshing during summer... maybe on a bar by the sea side
Because of that I have several non-alcoholic ciders, at home, for when I can't drink alcohol. Before driving, taking care of children...
For all the alcohol-free beers that I have tried, none tasted anything close to a real beer.
It was always a kind of disgusting caramel taste.
Alcohol-free is just a marketing trick of the beverage industrials to pretend that there is a product worth buying at a price higher than soft drinks to target non alcoholic drinkers.
There are a lot of recommendations for real-beer tasting brands in the comments here. But. What if one is a recovering alcoholic or pregnant or want to stop, but like the taste and feeling of beer? Why call it a marketing trick? If people get some repeated enjoyment from NA beer?
I seriously never heard of anyone that was addicted to the "taste" of beer so much that they would need an alternative.
At the opposite, I know close to no one that is a beer drinker and that would drink an alcohol-free beer. In all cases, it is almost always better to drink something else.
Alcohol-free beer are targeting persons that don't normally drink alcohol.
It is like if you would say a person loving "burgers" would appreciate to temporarily eat "meat-free" burgers when they can't eat "meat", just to have the "taste" of a burger...
Looking at your examples, I don't think that they are correct:
if you are pregnant, even alcoholic-free beer is probably still a shitty drink for you.
If you are a "recovering alcoholic", you would probably avoid everything that will give you the "brain feeling" and the "habit" of drinking any alcohol.
To say that you are "tasty" alternatives, you are probably North American, because alcohol-free might taste like american beers, but at least nothing like tasteful Europeans beers.
I'm not American and I'm not sure why you think you can talk for all pregnant women (or maybe pregnant women), or for all recovering alcoholics (what's with the quotes?) or for all beer amateurs. I am giving you an example of why those 2 categories of people might crave the taste and feeling of beer. I suggest you take that anecdata and try and open your mind to other people's tastes. Also, not everyone is a beer snob, and can still like beer. Not everyone has to know the whole gamut of stout to ipa to lager to ale. Some people (I'm guessing most people, judging by the sales of kronenburg and Heineken) just like the general taste of beer. It rings like a discussion with our wine snobs that can't imagine someone liking the refreshing taste of a rosé (most French people I know that like wine also like rosé and yes they don't worry so much about le millésime, la robe, le cépage of their bbq drink)... I can guarantee they enjoy it a lot.
Recovering alcoholics might crave the feeling of being refreshed and would probably prefer that drink to a 'water' or coke. What do you know about coping with alcoholism. Do my 10 years dry count? It's hard enough to police oneself without people having opinions on what I should drink... The fact that I can go meet friends, colleagues, business contacts in a pub and not drink while avoiding the shit question is good for recovery.
The thing is you can get non alcoholic beer throughout Europe I restaurants and supermarkets (do Poland, Portugal, France and Germany count?) and they're getting better and better every year.
As to your point about... burgers? It's getting more and more shunned to get shitfaced for lunch, yes even in France, and maybe you can have the 2 or 3 beers at noon with your meal and still drive (well, no...), work (good luck of anyone smells wine on your breath), etc. No, just because you 'can' drink, should you be only drinking an alcoholic beverage.
I have been asking for more NA beers of every small producer I know of and have been making them deliver them to me, across Europe, sometimes across the pond. There are very good NA beers, far tastier and refreshing or interesting than the generic beer.
You pretend to represent the ideas of the majority over my comment that would be too general, but you clearly look like to be a special case of a particular fan of NA beer for whatever reason.
<<I have been asking for more NA beers of every small producer I know of and have been making them deliver them to me, across Europe>>
In Europe, no NA beer tastes anything like a real non-industrial European beer. And by non industrial I mean anything not like kro, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, 1664, ... That are clearly not known for their tastes.
I pretend nothing of the sort. I was asking what was your point of reference for recovering alcoholic. I have a good one, being one and having done the whole AA and other methods. This AA opinion states several arguments for and against. And talks about competitive drinking? That's your point of reference? Substitutes can help in the social aspect of being a non drinker, and also maybe you can have NA beer without relapsing. I'll take my recovery advice from a doctor or a sponsor, not someone who's found an article on the net.
My points stand. You clearly don't know enough about European beers I'll drop this thread. Just try and drink some brewdog punk af or some brooklyn af or some of the delicious Polish AF IPAs I've had.
You may want to open your mind to what exists or, please, show your work and cite the ones that you tried and were so bad you can't call them 'beers'.
We have alcohol free beer and wine in the office.
Have been on a few 11am zoom calls with a big glass of beer in my hand - which was really nice (especially on a hot day with an ice cold non alc beer), but has sometimes confused the clients I was on a call with.
There are definitely times I would love a non-alcoholic beer that was good. There are many a work nights where on the one hand I could really go for a beer, but on the other hand I'm not interested in getting drunk or even buzzed. I'm a big fan of this.
I switched almost completely to non- and low-alcohol beers. These days there's so much good stuff to choose from. For example, Mikkeller brews some fantastic beers in the 0.2-0.3% range (Henry and His Science is my current firm favourite).
In the US, at least, anything below 0.5% can be labeled "non-alcoholic." So I'm surprised that Mikkeller are able to label themselves as being in the 0.2-0.3% range.
I don't like alcohol (never had a taste for it). I have tried both alcoholic beers - just a few sips, since I can't stomach the stuff - and non-alcoholic beer. I can, and have, drank full bottles of non-alcoholic beer on occasion, but it basically felt like liquid barely/wheat, slightly bitter. So, I can drink it, but it's a pointless activity AFAIAC. I feel like I'm drinking bread.
> beer has been relied upon both to refresh and intoxicate.
I've never understood how beer could be described as refreshing. Is bread refreshing?
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Having said that, I am partial to "malta" - a carbonated soft drink with mostly the same basic ingredients as bear: barley, hops and water; but with a higher ratio of water, I think. It has added sugar and caramel flavoring typically.
i haven't found a truly alcohol-free beer. most of them have at least .03% or so. If you have medical reasons to avoid it (pregnancy), it's still questionable
Yeah. I don't know if I'd kill for it, but that would be cool. I guess it's easier to take the alcohol out of something that doesn't taste like alcohol (beer), that it is when alcohol is most of what's in it.
Didn't know that was a thing. I'm guessing they just take whiskey, heat it up enough to boil off the alcohol but not enough to boil off the water, and then they're done?
I'd guess that they burn it off. It's fairly easy, though you can't get 100% of the alcohol out this way at home. You can make a vinegar out of liquor this way by burning the alcohol off of a handle of liquor, pouring a fifth back in, and adding a vinegar mother with some live vinegar to kick it off before waiting 4-6 weeks.
I was considering trying this one. It's interesting that they're trying to replicate the burn of alcohol.
I gave up beer because of the calories, but I have since gotten hooked on whiskey. I enjoy the ritual of having a glass or two in the evening but also would like to reduce my alcohol consumption. Alcohol-free liquor is intriguing to me, although it would obviously be better for me to drink water instead.
I used to live in a Muslim neighbourhood with a wide variety of malted drinks for sale, albeit not advertised as beer. Seems humans just like the taste. When I lived in the Caribbean you’d see Supermalt everywhere too
Kava's nice but getting the desired effects can be a bit hit-or-miss. It's milder and more of a clearheaded serene/sedate effect, tastes like dirt-water, and can be a bit expensive, about on par with craft beers. But it's non-toxic, non-caloric, and non-addictive. I enjoyed kava for quite awhile before quitting after realizing that it was exacerbating my seasonal allergies (it seems to have a pro-histaminergic side effect). For awhile it totally filled the glass-of-wine-or-beer-to-unwind-at-home niche (I actually think its effects are superior for that purpose), though I still drank/drink alcohol in social situations.
The Athletic folks had a tent up at the Lutsen MTB race a few weekends back. It is actually really good, no difference in taste quality from the "leaded" stuff. This has definitely come a long way.
