Alcohol Free Beer.

G

Ginge

Well-known member
I've tried a few alcohol free lagers and they're all pretty much the same.
Usually 3/4 bottles and I'm done.
I'm just after opinions regarding beers/real ales of the alcohol free variety and also is the 0% Guinness any good.
Also alcohol free wines.....red in particular, any good ones to look out for.
One other thing, and my initial enquiry is not for weight loss, more memory loss but what are the calorie differences between 0% and normal beers.
TIA. UTMP.
 
Can’t get past 1 bottle on any Alcohol Free Lager unfortunately. They all seem a bit sickly tasting and just ‘not quite right’ to me. I’d love to find one that actually tastes anything like the real thing, but so far no luck.

Blood mentioned that the Guinness is good and I’ve heard that from a few people. The sugar content in most seems to be quite a bit higher that the alcoholic alternative, not really looked into it in any great depth though… Be interested to hear what others have to say👍
 
Chunkylad said:
I’m struggling to see the point of them?

High sugar and calories. No alcohol in them. Might as well buy a ‘soft drink’ that actually tastes nice.
Click to expand...
I absolutely love the taste of lager and miss a ‘cold beer’ on a sunny day, but I don’t want to drink much alcohol at all. Can’t stand ‘soft drinks’ of any kind and they’re probably worse for you than alcohol 😂

At the minute I go with fizzy water, which I’m fine with, but a decent alcohol free lager would definitely be a game changer for me personally 👍
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I absolutely love the taste of lager and miss a ‘cold beer’ on a sunny day, but I don’t want to drink much alcohol at all. Can’t stand ‘soft drinks’ of any kind and they’re probably worse for you than alcohol 😂

At the minute I go with fizzy water, which I’m fine with, but a decent alcohol free lager would definitely be a game changer for me personally 👍
Click to expand...
My mate is the same. He prefers the taste of lager to a Diet Coke or a strawberry milkshake. His kids hate the taste so alcohol free lager would be pointless for them.

Think everyone is now waking up to soft drinks being either loaded with sugar or being sugar free but carcinogenic 😳
 
Last edited:
I’m with Bifster it’s fizzy water for me as the no alcohol beers send me to sleep and I don’t like fizzy pop.

Sorry not much help. I did have a few Free Damm when in Spain and they tasted ok but just sent me to sleep.

Free Damm 0.0% Alcohol Free Beer | Waitrose & Partners

Buy Free Damm 0.0% Alcohol Free Beer online from Waitrose today. Picked, packed and delivered by hand in convenient 1-hour slots
www.waitrose.com

Good luck. Maybe try a decent shandy if you don’t mind a bit of alcohol.
 
Last edited:
A German 0% Fruh is the best but hard to get hold of.
Guiness 0% haven’t tried it myself but general consensus is favourable.
Tonic water,ice and lemon is my tipple when driving.
 
I'm a massive fan of some alcohol free beers, there are some great ones out there. I love beer but I'm choosing to reduce my alcohol intake these days as I've lost a couple of extended family members to the sauce and I've got my first kid on the way. I loved nothing more than a pint after a long day in my 20s and early 30s but they satisfy that urge for refreshment and ritual without the booze.

How nice they are normally correlates with how nice the alcoholic versions are, the shops in the UK tend to stock some of the worst for some reason.

Booths has a good selection, the Ilkley Brewery Pale is very nice, tastes like the real thing. Brooklyn special effects is excellent and the Guinness is good too.

Some of the lagers can be a bit tasteless but there are some good ones too, Free Damm from the brewery that makes Estrella is decent, Corona tastes like Corona if that's your thing, the Budvar one is good. There are some excellent ones in Sweden but I'm not sure they're available in the UK.

As with any beer it depends on which one you're drinking, there's different types of alcohol free beer.
 
No thanks would rather have a brew.

If I'm driving I just drink shandy
3 half's lager + some food means I can have 3 pints normally less.

My landlord tried to catch me out with his new Lager (Heineken 0 on draught) tastes like low alcohol stuff I said correctly.😁
 
Last edited:
Tried them a couple of years ago when I was trying to drink less but they all tasted dreadful.

I’m cutting down on alcohol again but as it’s partly to lose weight I can’t see the point in replacing booze with something with more calories.

Water. Coke Zero. Orange juice occasionally for the vitamins. Tea and coffee.

Makes evenings very boring if I’m honest. And I know I probably need “an Interest” and thanks for the suggestion, but no I’m not taking up stamp collecting.
 
Mexboroseasider said:
Tried them a couple of years ago when I was trying to drink less but they all tasted dreadful.

I’m cutting down on alcohol again but as it’s partly to lose weight I can’t see the point in replacing booze with something with more calories.

Water. Coke Zero. Orange juice occasionally for the vitamins. Tea and coffee.

Makes evenings very boring if I’m honest. And I know I probably need “an Interest” and thanks for the suggestion, but no I’m not taking up stamp collecting.
Click to expand...
Should take up politics

Comical Ali would have nothing on you
 
poolseasider said:
No thanks would rather have a brew.

If I'm driving I just drink shandy
3 half's lager + some food means I can have 3 pints normally less.

My landlord tried to catch me out with his new Lager (Heineken 0 on draught) tastes like low alcohol stuff I said correctly.😁
Click to expand...
There's some that taste much better than the piss in your profile picture 😉
 
Sven said:
I'm a massive fan of some alcohol free beers, there are some great ones out there. I love beer but I'm choosing to reduce my alcohol intake these days as I've lost a couple of extended family members to the sauce and I've got my first kid on the way. I loved nothing more than a pint after a long day in my 20s and early 30s but they satisfy that urge for refreshment and ritual without the booze.

How nice they are normally correlates with how nice the alcoholic versions are, the shops in the UK tend to stock some of the worst for some reason.

Booths has a good selection, the Ilkley Brewery Pale is very nice, tastes like the real thing. Brooklyn special effects is excellent and the Guinness is good too.

Some of the lagers can be a bit tasteless but there are some good ones too, Free Damm from the brewery that makes Estrella is decent, Corona tastes like Corona if that's your thing, the Budvar one is good. There are some excellent ones in Sweden but I'm not sure they're available in the UK.

As with any beer it depends on which one you're drinking, there's different types of alcohol free beer.
Click to expand...
Good insight. Thanks for that, there's a Booths not far from me so I'll have a look. 👍
 
Another vote for Guiness 0%, close to the real stuff

Tried many others and they all have metallic taste to me, except StPeters which tastes like bottled wort, disgusting.

On the very rare occasion I have a beer these days, like DavePick, Hobgoblin Ruby, nice
 
Davepick said:
There's a Booths in Poulton, go in often shopping.
However, I've never been tempted by the O% alcohol.
I buy the Hobgoblin 4,5% Ruby beer. very good.
Click to expand...
I like a bit of Hobgoblin, I like the Ruby, Gold and IPA.
Honourable mention for Doombar, Shipyard IPA and Whitstable Pale Ale.

Yet to try a 0% beer of any description I've liked. Kalibur was awful!
 
I gave up drinking alcohol 18 months ago and have been very surprised at the quality of no / low alcohol beers.
Notable mentions - Lucky Saint, Ghost Ship, Big Drop Paradiso and Erdinger.
So many yet to try, especially as there are approx. 2,000 of them in Germany
 
Not that I was ever a huge drinker - used to be mainly just every Saturday drinking too much - but for some reason I now don't drink very much at all.

On the drinking side, I was lager - the thing to do, then a spell on cider - sickly and bad for teeth, then gin - don't know where that came from.

On the non alcohol side, no problem with folk enjoying them but I struggle to see the point so I'm a still flavoured volvic - sugar free - water man and when I feel the need to go sparkling, I have either Fanta Fruit Twist (no sugar) or Doctor Pepper Zero.

Very rock and roll.
 
Tried a few at the stag do I was at over the weekend as I'd had enough after 3 pints and didn't want to appear not to be keeping up. One or two of them were pretty good
 
As said above Booths is good for choice .
Guinness and Peroni are the only zero beers I like .
As for red wine the only one I find drinkable is Sangre de toro( usually have it in Booths but was sold out last time I went in) the others I have tried are awful.
There are plenty of alcohol free white wines that are excellent though
 
Decided to give the Adnams Ghost Ship a go after reading this and then spotting it in Tesco.

The plus points
It smells nice, like a real citrus Ale 👍

It doesn’t have that artificial (almost saccharine type) aftertaste that leaves a bit of a film on your tongue, that I’ve experienced with most others I’ve tried.

Negatives
It tastes nice when initially sipped, but then it just seems to shut off. It’s kind of like drinking a beer flavoured cordial…

I think I could probably drink one, but I wouldn’t be going out of my way to but it again. A bit of a none event on the whole.
 
Last edited:
Against all my expectation the best I've tried are the Brewdog ones. I drink them or alternate them as like many others I don't like chugging fizzy pop by the pint. You can get a kind of Brewdog 0% selection box at the supermarket. Really not bad at all. The worst I've tried lately are Peroni and Mahou - absolute piss and not cheap. The worst ever has to be Clausthaller - the Devil's business in a stubby bottle. They are all top notch when compared to alcohol free wine which is on another level when it comes to undrinkability - if that's a word 😗
 
Guinness is the best alcohol free I've had but i dont like lager. I drink a lot of low abv beers between 3 and 3.8% cos there's lots of good stuff in that range. Compromise solution.
 
Quick Update:

Decided to give ‘Lucky Saint’ a test drive last night. After coming recommend by @seasideone (our resident lager drinking expert 🍺) and @tangerine_neil (our resident afterlife expert👻)

I have to say it’s without doubt, the most drinkable of everything I’ve tried so far and falls into the ‘acceptable’ category.

Where ‘Ghost Ship’ had a bit of a dry finish, Lucky Saint is quite refreshing and didn’t leave a dodgy taste on the tongue.

It doesn’t hit the spot that a quality premium lager might, but it’s certainly good enough as an alternative and the first one where I’ve managed more than a couple and been left wanting more.

Thanks for the recommendation 👍👍
 
Nobody mentioned wine yet. A friend turned up with a bottle McGuigan's red. Fortunately as the driver it was for him. It was awful.
 
Kurtan said:
As said above Booths is good for choice .
Guinness and Peroni are the only zero beers I like .
As for red wine the only one I find drinkable is Sangre de toro( usually have it in Booths but was sold out last time I went in) the others I have tried are awful.
There are plenty of alcohol free white wines that are excellent though
Click to expand...
I have never found a drinkable non alcohol white wine - which ones would you recommend?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top