19 ms·

Alcohol-free beer is fizzing

132 points by edward 5y ago

lkasdlkdad 5y ago
https://archive.is/QRAQY https://archive.is/QRAQY
Scoundreller 5y ago
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. There’s a bazillion candidates out there.
- my_usernam3 5y ago
  > There’s a bazillion candidates out there. Other than cannabis, and maybe psychedelic mushrooms, what candidates are there exactly?
  - black_puppydog 5y ago
    Most other research chemicals, really. Check "TIHKAL: The Continuation" for some discussion :P
  - pstuart 5y ago
    kratom makes a good replacement for alcohol
    - JohnWhigham 5y ago
      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.
      - pstuart 5y ago
        There's a lot of variability of response, but plenty of people report on /r/kratom that it's helped wean them from alcohol. It certainly helped me. It's not without concerns (tolerance/addiction) but for those who respond well it is incredibly valuable.
    - anoraca 5y ago
      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.
    - herbst 5y ago
      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.
      - pstuart 5y ago
        Yeah it has it's issues as well and I normally include that in the proposition. It's been a struggle for me as well, but it's worth it for the upside.
  - yao420 5y ago
    Phenibute is popular in fitness communities as an alternative to alcohol when going out.
    - exo-pla-net 5y ago
      Chronic use of Phenibut is associated with psychosis and physical dependence. Alcohol is no angel, but Phenibut is probably not the answer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6758981/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6758981/
  - drew1492 5y ago
    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.
- SllX 5y ago
  > 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.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
    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.
- zip1234 5y ago
  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.
  - KingMachiavelli 5y ago
    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.
    - jdminhbg 5y ago
      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-us-white-claw.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/how-tax-policy-gave-...
      - gimmeThaBeet 5y ago
        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.
        jdminhbg 5y ago
        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.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
  It's going to be hard to top alcohol for "ease of manufacture", prisoners routinely manufacture their own.
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    Their constraints are different than most.
- arsome 5y ago
  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.
  - thisisnico 5y ago
    Additionally it is a source of energy. Alcohol is digestible. There is a caloric benefit.
  - messe 5y ago
    > 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.
    - romwell 5y ago
      Um, I don't see how that's easier than cannabis. With cannabis, all you need is... cannabis. No patience required. Sugar, historically, has not been available or even cheap.
      - messe 5y ago
        > Sugar, historically, has not been available or even cheap. Sugars are commonplace. If you can make bread, you can make beer.
        romwell 5y ago
        Making bread required agricultural advances, and it's a complex, labor-intensive, multi-step process (as is anything that has to do with grains). Making alcohol by fermenting fruits is comparatively much easier, but then again, cultivating and harvesting fruits is a pretty laborious process. Then actually brewing beer is not that simple. Even today, with availability of source materials and technology, homebrewing is a rather involved hobby. Same with producing wine that's drinkable. On the other side, we have literally a weed that needs very little to grow, and requires nearly zero processing. I really see no comparison here. The theory that we started making alcohol for food safety/nutrition reasons makes the most sense to me.
- TillE 5y ago
  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.
MangezBien 5y ago
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.
- mesh 5y ago
  Note, most Non-Alcoholic beer actually has a small amount of alcohol (usually around 0.5%) which can add up depending how much you drink.
  - debacle 5y ago
    Most fresh squeezed orange juice has a higher alcohol content than 0.5%
    - Falling3 5y ago
      Got a source on that? What I'm seeing is 0.16% as a high for orange juice.
      - debacle 5y ago
        Looking for a source, but oranges on the tree can be up to 4% alcohol when picked. All of my DDG searches are just telling me how to make swill from concentrated orange juice.
        Falling3 5y ago
        Aren't oranges typically picked well before much if any fermentation has had a chance to take place?
    - LukeShu 5y ago
      The only good-ish citation for alcohol content in OJ I could find is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5421578/ 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%.
MarkLowenstein 5y ago
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: Bravus Oatmeal Stout Surreal 17 Mile Porter Wellbeing Hell-Raiser dark amber
- liketochill 5y ago
  And you can have a cold one while you are driving!
- rel2thr 5y ago
  Oh I just picked up a 4 pack of that oatmeal stout, looking forward to trying it. Lagunitas NIPA is the best I’ve tried so far, doubt I could tell that’s it non alcoholic in a blind taste test.
  - MarkLowenstein 5y ago
    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.
- jwuphysics 5y ago
  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...
  - bartvk 5y ago
    Not a native speaker so I looked up GERD, which is: Gastroesophageal Reflux
jlhonora 5y ago
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. [0] https://athleticbrewing.ca/ https://athleticbrewing.ca/
- barbazoo 5y ago
  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
- agloeregrets 5y ago
  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.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
    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.
mariojv 5y ago
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.
- lanstein 5y ago
  Check out Partake’s IPA - up there with Athletic but 10 calories
  - jdminhbg 5y ago
    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.
    - Kluny 5y ago
      I prefer the stout, but yes, agreed. Weirdly, my favorite NA beer right now is a store-brand red ale - President's Choice from Superstore.
deregulateMed 5y ago
Wine next please. I can't get over the taste of Ethanol. I know there are notes and stuff, but all I can taste is yuck. I wish soda and juice had a following like wine and beer.
- dluan 5y ago
  there's already some for wine, notably wine proxies like acid league.
- debacle 5y ago
  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).
  - kd0amg 5y ago
    > Just drink juice? Far too sweet to be a suitable wine replacement
    - debacle 5y ago
      Maybe Ocean Spray, but not fresh pressed. We have to cut our juice with water because it's so tart.
  - the-dude 5y ago
    Lots of wines are melanges.
    - airstrike 5y ago
      The spice must flow
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- lanstein 5y ago
rdxm 5y ago
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. Perhaps timely too! https://youtu.be/3Xa1L01ZNaY https://youtu.be/3Xa1L01ZNaY
itomato 5y ago
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.
- canadianfella 5y ago
  Lulz?
- innot 5y ago
  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.
  - cdcarter 5y ago
    That "some say" is doing a lot of work. Any sources?
    - advanced-DnD 5y ago
      No sources beyond pseudo-sciences... according to my first page of googling.
    - hawski 5y ago
      AFIAK bubbled water is acidic and it can hurt mucous membranes.
    - eyko 5y ago
      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.
hivacruz 5y ago
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.
GongOfFour 5y ago
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.
- mcrider 5y ago
  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 :)
  - vinay427 5y ago
    > 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.
- FourHand451 5y ago
  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.
  - 5y ago
xor99 5y ago
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.
- asjdflakjsdf 5y ago
  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.
  - selectodude 5y ago
    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.
throwaway210222 5y ago
Now that I have Uber, WTF do I need alchohol-free beer for?
- senorjazz 5y ago
  finally a sensible comment
kybernetyk 5y ago
I'd kill for alcohol-free Bourbon.
- jaywalk 5y ago
  Have you tried looking for it? It definitely exists.
- ukyrgf 5y ago
  Not quite there yet but I've heard good things about https://www.ritualzeroproof.com/ https://www.ritualzeroproof.com/
  - patwolf 5y ago
    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.
- trey-jones 5y ago
  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.
- bqe 5y ago
  Spiritless Kentucky 74: https://spiritless.com/products/kentucky-74 https://spiritless.com/products/kentucky-74 It's pretty good!
  - JohnWhigham 5y ago
    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?
vowelless 5y ago
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.
- pieterr 5y ago
  Did you try Jever Fun? Does taste like real lager. https://www.jever.de/biere/jever-fun/ https://www.jever.de/biere/jever-fun/
- derwiki 5y ago
  I recommend checking out NA beers by Surreal and Bravus, esp the darker beers. I agree that Lagunitas/Odoules NA doesn't taste good.
- jkestner 5y ago
  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.
- mikelward 5y ago
  I dislike all the ones you mention, but I like BrewDog and Partake.
- 1001101 5y ago
  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.
- herbst 5y ago
  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.
haddr 5y ago
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.
- rjsw 5y ago
  Also supposed to be one of the best post-exercise drinks.
Gregordinary 5y ago
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. https://www.hoplark.com https://www.hoplark.com 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.
remir 5y ago
I mostly stopped drinking alcohol 2 years ago as an experiment and was shocked at how ingrained in the culture it is. In some cases, in social events, it felt like I had to explain myself as to why I wasn't drinking. It was so strange to me.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
aitchnyu 5y ago
IIRC a 2005 Discovery Channel episode saying 0.0 is wildly popular in Iran.
- mh8h 5y ago
  Well... it's illegal to buy/sell/drink alcohol in Iran. So that's the only type of beer you can buy in store. Black market is a different story.
- peteretep 5y ago
  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
guilhas 5y ago
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... I would rather quit coffee than alcohol
lolsal 5y ago
disclaimer: I don't work for or have any interest in this company other than I like their product: These are fantastic: Non-alcoholic, hoppy, carbonated tea: https://hoplark.com https://hoplark.com - green, white, black teas - varying levels of hoppiness - varying levels of caffeine - will ship cases at a time!
deleted 5y ago
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chmod600 5y ago
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.
- snakeboy 5y ago
  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.
  - chmod600 5y ago
    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.
    - atatatat 5y ago
      What's wrong with just making a small fortune these days, holy fuck
      - r00fus 5y ago
        The issue isn't profits, per se, but profit sustainability. Right now NA beer is trending, but what happens when that trend dies down? Also, our entire market economy is based on constant upward inflation/growth, and rewards those who grow faster.
        atatatat 5y ago
        What happens when PBR/Michelob hype dies down again? They still make a small to medium sized fortune =^)
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
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.
elorant 5y ago
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.
- SamBam 5y ago
  Mush? Batter?
  - elorant 5y ago
    Yeap
- phonypc 5y ago
  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.
tombert 5y ago
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.
- semicolon_storm 5y ago
  A Diet Coke in a class is indistinguishable from a rum & coke.
  - Kluny 5y ago
    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.
- burnte 5y ago
  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.
- leetcrew 5y ago
  if appearances are important, consider ordering a club soda with lime. bartenders will usually understand that it ought to look like a gin and tonic.
watertom 5y ago
I gave up every type of drink except for water 10 years ago. After about 1 year of drinking only water I lost the desire for everything except water. After about 2 years I've found that I got significantly more enjoyment from water than I ever got from any other drink previously. I now find that trying to drink anything other than water is not enjoyable.
- ywain 5y ago
  Out of curiosity, have you given up on hot drinks entirely?
  - agarv 5y ago
    It is common for Chinese people to drink hot water if they don't feel like tea, so you can still have hot drinks.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
  Even black coffee or tea? What about milk or kefir? May I ask why?
aix1 5y ago
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).
- SamBam 5y ago
  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.
  - kingosticks 5y ago
    In the UK it needs to be less than 0.05% to be 'Alcohol free' compared to the EU where it only needs to be below 0.5%. And Mikkeller's Drink’in the Sun is a great beer.
odiroot 5y ago
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.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- chris_va 5y ago
  Alcohol is intrinsically very caloric, that might be tough
greatgib 5y ago
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.
- touisteur 5y ago
  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?
  - greatgib 5y ago
    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.
    - astrange 5y ago
      American beers don't taste like they used to. They're mostly IPAs that taste like eating a shoe.
    - touisteur 5y ago
donatj 5y ago
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.
zucked 5y ago
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.
- eyko 5y ago
  Most craft I drink is 4.5% - 6% for IPAs, 2.5-3.5% for Session IPAs. DIPAs are generally 7-9%, which I avoid. I normally go for Sessions.
- romwell 5y ago
  >For a lot of health and wellness reasons... I think I missed those. How is drinking lower-ABV beer more healthy than drinking less of the higher-ABV beer?
spaginal 5y ago
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.
- CubsFan1060 5y ago
  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.
mikelward 5y ago
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. Heineken 0.0 isn't too bad in a pinch.
legitster 5y ago
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. I just want a line of dry-hopped La Croix.
- metalliqaz 5y ago
  NA beer is made just like beer but with the added step of having to remove the alcohol. It is real beer, it just doesn't get you drunk. Of course that makes it not as popular, so economy of scale comes into play. You might want to check out Athletic Brewing company, which has a line of hops-flavored seltzers.
  - legitster 5y ago
    $13 for a 6 pack + shipping (since it's not sold in my area). Again, this is significantly more than I pay for beer when I buy it. I'm not much of a heavy drinker, so I just buy beer still when I want some. This is kind of like alternative meats that I love the concept, but the price point just isn't there yet to impact my shopping decisions.
- bartvk 5y ago
  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.
  - MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
    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.
florianfritz 5y ago
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.
- subpixel 5y ago
  Having lived in Bavaria for years, and drunk beer for many more, I am of the opinion that nothing beats sub-6% helles, pilsner, or hefeweißen. Hops and alcohol are like white pepper - great but just a little too much ruins the recipe.
  - rhino369 5y ago
    Bavarian beer is so great. It’s a shame the bottles don’t seem to hold up well when they are imported into the USA. A local restaurant gets kegs and it’s almost like being there.
  - blt 5y ago
    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.
  - Teknoman117 5y ago
    My primary beer consumption at this point is imported hefeweißen. It's so good.
mattwad 5y ago
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
dumpsterdiver 5y ago
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.
- deelowe 5y ago
  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.
- hiidrew 5y ago
  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
- TylerE 5y ago
  There are some sugar free ginger beers that are fairly decent.
- toastal 5y ago
  Blueberries: nature's boba
Animats 5y ago
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.
- Animats 5y ago
  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.
uberdru 5y ago
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.
amelius 5y ago
I got stomach issues after drinking Alcohol free beer. I suspect it is because they add a lot of citric acid, and the PH value goes through the floor.
- bartvk 5y ago
  Order a glass of warm milk to go with that beer. Milk being a base should settle the stomach :)
  - oftenwrong 5y ago
    Milk is slightly acidic: https://sciencenotes.org/is-milk-an-acid-or-base/ https://sciencenotes.org/is-milk-an-acid-or-base/
  - selimthegrim 5y ago
    This should be an evil advice mallard pic
einpoklum 5y ago
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? --------- 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink)
sunny--tech 5y ago
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. [0]: https://athleticbrewing.com https://athleticbrewing.com [1]: https://lyres.com/ https://lyres.com/
daanlo 5y ago
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.
- daanlo 5y ago
  The alcohol free wine is mainly nice to accompany lunch :)
mrfusion 5y ago
Has anyone tried kava as a beer substitute? Does that even make sense?
- drew1492 5y ago
  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.
gnulinux 5y ago
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.
- k__ 5y ago
  Weed always pushes my heartrate to the max.
  - throwaway73851 5y ago
    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?
    - l33tbro 5y ago
      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).
  - herbst 5y ago
    Try getting a weed with lower thc and rather high CBD. Or mix it with CBD high cannabis. I too hate that THC heavy strains everyone is into these days
    - gnulinux 5y ago
      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.
voidfunc 5y ago
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.
pacman2 5y ago
I prefer alcohol free apple wine. (no, it is not apple juice)
julian_t 5y ago
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.

132 points by edward 5y ago

https://archive.is/QRAQY https://archive.is/QRAQY

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. There’s a bazillion candidates out there.

my_usernam3 5y ago
> There’s a bazillion candidates out there. Other than cannabis, and maybe psychedelic mushrooms, what candidates are there exactly?
- black_puppydog 5y ago
  Most other research chemicals, really. Check "TIHKAL: The Continuation" for some discussion :P
- pstuart 5y ago
  kratom makes a good replacement for alcohol
  - JohnWhigham 5y ago
    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.
    - pstuart 5y ago
      There's a lot of variability of response, but plenty of people report on /r/kratom that it's helped wean them from alcohol. It certainly helped me. It's not without concerns (tolerance/addiction) but for those who respond well it is incredibly valuable.
  - anoraca 5y ago
    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.
  - herbst 5y ago
    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.
    - pstuart 5y ago
      Yeah it has it's issues as well and I normally include that in the proposition. It's been a struggle for me as well, but it's worth it for the upside.
- yao420 5y ago
  Phenibute is popular in fitness communities as an alternative to alcohol when going out.
  - exo-pla-net 5y ago
    Chronic use of Phenibut is associated with psychosis and physical dependence. Alcohol is no angel, but Phenibut is probably not the answer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6758981/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6758981/
- drew1492 5y ago
  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.
SllX 5y ago
> 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.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
  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.
zip1234 5y ago
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.
- KingMachiavelli 5y ago
  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.
  - jdminhbg 5y ago
    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-us-white-claw.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/how-tax-policy-gave-...
    - gimmeThaBeet 5y ago
      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.
      - jdminhbg 5y ago
        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.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y ago
It's going to be hard to top alcohol for "ease of manufacture", prisoners routinely manufacture their own.
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  Their constraints are different than most.
arsome 5y ago
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.
- thisisnico 5y ago
  Additionally it is a source of energy. Alcohol is digestible. There is a caloric benefit.
- messe 5y ago
  > 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.
  - romwell 5y ago
    Um, I don't see how that's easier than cannabis. With cannabis, all you need is... cannabis. No patience required. Sugar, historically, has not been available or even cheap.
    - messe 5y ago
      > Sugar, historically, has not been available or even cheap. Sugars are commonplace. If you can make bread, you can make beer.
      - romwell 5y ago
        Making bread required agricultural advances, and it's a complex, labor-intensive, multi-step process (as is anything that has to do with grains). Making alcohol by fermenting fruits is comparatively much easier, but then again, cultivating and harvesting fruits is a pretty laborious process. Then actually brewing beer is not that simple. Even today, with availability of source materials and technology, homebrewing is a rather involved hobby. Same with producing wine that's drinkable. On the other side, we have literally a weed that needs very little to grow, and requires nearly zero processing. I really see no comparison here. The theory that we started making alcohol for food safety/nutrition reasons makes the most sense to me.
TillE 5y ago
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.

MangezBien 5y ago

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.

mesh 5y ago
Note, most Non-Alcoholic beer actually has a small amount of alcohol (usually around 0.5%) which can add up depending how much you drink.
- debacle 5y ago
  Most fresh squeezed orange juice has a higher alcohol content than 0.5%
  - Falling3 5y ago
    Got a source on that? What I'm seeing is 0.16% as a high for orange juice.
    - debacle 5y ago
      Looking for a source, but oranges on the tree can be up to 4% alcohol when picked. All of my DDG searches are just telling me how to make swill from concentrated orange juice.
      - Falling3 5y ago
        Aren't oranges typically picked well before much if any fermentation has had a chance to take place?
  - LukeShu 5y ago
    The only good-ish citation for alcohol content in OJ I could find is https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5421578/ 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%.

MarkLowenstein 5y ago

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: Bravus Oatmeal Stout Surreal 17 Mile Porter Wellbeing Hell-Raiser dark amber

liketochill 5y ago
And you can have a cold one while you are driving!
rel2thr 5y ago
Oh I just picked up a 4 pack of that oatmeal stout, looking forward to trying it. Lagunitas NIPA is the best I’ve tried so far, doubt I could tell that’s it non alcoholic in a blind taste test.
- MarkLowenstein 5y ago
  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.
jwuphysics 5y ago
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...
- bartvk 5y ago
  Not a native speaker so I looked up GERD, which is: Gastroesophageal Reflux

jlhonora 5y ago

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. [0] https://athleticbrewing.ca/ https://athleticbrewing.ca/

barbazoo 5y ago
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
agloeregrets 5y ago
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.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 5y ago
  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.

mariojv 5y ago

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.

lanstein 5y ago
Check out Partake’s IPA - up there with Athletic but 10 calories
- jdminhbg 5y ago
  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.
  - Kluny 5y ago
    I prefer the stout, but yes, agreed. Weirdly, my favorite NA beer right now is a store-brand red ale - President's Choice from Superstore.

deregulateMed 5y ago

Wine next please. I can't get over the taste of Ethanol. I know there are notes and stuff, but all I can taste is yuck. I wish soda and juice had a following like wine and beer.

dluan 5y ago
there's already some for wine, notably wine proxies like acid league.
debacle 5y ago
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).
- kd0amg 5y ago
  > Just drink juice? Far too sweet to be a suitable wine replacement
  - debacle 5y ago
    Maybe Ocean Spray, but not fresh pressed. We have to cut our juice with water because it's so tart.
- the-dude 5y ago
  Lots of wines are melanges.
  - airstrike 5y ago
    The spice must flow
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lanstein 5y ago

rdxm 5y ago

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. Perhaps timely too! https://youtu.be/3Xa1L01ZNaY https://youtu.be/3Xa1L01ZNaY

itomato 5y ago

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.

canadianfella 5y ago
Lulz?
innot 5y ago
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.
- cdcarter 5y ago
  That "some say" is doing a lot of work. Any sources?
  - advanced-DnD 5y ago
    No sources beyond pseudo-sciences... according to my first page of googling.
  - hawski 5y ago
    AFIAK bubbled water is acidic and it can hurt mucous membranes.
  - eyko 5y ago
    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.

hivacruz 5y ago

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.

GongOfFour 5y ago

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.

mcrider 5y ago
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 :)
- vinay427 5y ago
  > 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.
FourHand451 5y ago
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.
- 5y ago

xor99 5y ago

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.

asjdflakjsdf 5y ago
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.
- selectodude 5y ago
  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.

throwaway210222 5y ago

Now that I have Uber, WTF do I need alchohol-free beer for?

senorjazz 5y ago
finally a sensible comment

kybernetyk 5y ago

I'd kill for alcohol-free Bourbon.

jaywalk 5y ago
Have you tried looking for it? It definitely exists.
ukyrgf 5y ago
Not quite there yet but I've heard good things about https://www.ritualzeroproof.com/ https://www.ritualzeroproof.com/
- patwolf 5y ago
  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.
trey-jones 5y ago
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.
bqe 5y ago
Spiritless Kentucky 74: https://spiritless.com/products/kentucky-74 https://spiritless.com/products/kentucky-74 It's pretty good!
- JohnWhigham 5y ago
  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?

vowelless 5y ago

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.

pieterr 5y ago
Did you try Jever Fun? Does taste like real lager. https://www.jever.de/biere/jever-fun/ https://www.jever.de/biere/jever-fun/
derwiki 5y ago
I recommend checking out NA beers by Surreal and Bravus, esp the darker beers. I agree that Lagunitas/Odoules NA doesn't taste good.
jkestner 5y ago
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.
mikelward 5y ago
I dislike all the ones you mention, but I like BrewDog and Partake.
1001101 5y ago
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.
herbst 5y ago
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.

haddr 5y ago

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.

rjsw 5y ago
Also supposed to be one of the best post-exercise drinks.

Gregordinary 5y ago

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. https://www.hoplark.com https://www.hoplark.com 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.

remir 5y ago

I mostly stopped drinking alcohol 2 years ago as an experiment and was shocked at how ingrained in the culture it is. In some cases, in social events, it felt like I had to explain myself as to why I wasn't drinking. It was so strange to me.

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aitchnyu 5y ago

IIRC a 2005 Discovery Channel episode saying 0.0 is wildly popular in Iran.

mh8h 5y ago
Well... it's illegal to buy/sell/drink alcohol in Iran. So that's the only type of beer you can buy in store. Black market is a different story.
peteretep 5y ago
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

guilhas 5y ago

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... I would rather quit coffee than alcohol

lolsal 5y ago

disclaimer: I don't work for or have any interest in this company other than I like their product: These are fantastic: Non-alcoholic, hoppy, carbonated tea: https://hoplark.com https://hoplark.com - green, white, black teas - varying levels of hoppiness - varying levels of caffeine - will ship cases at a time!

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chmod600 5y ago

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.

snakeboy 5y ago
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.
- chmod600 5y ago
  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.
  - atatatat 5y ago
    What's wrong with just making a small fortune these days, holy fuck
    - r00fus 5y ago
      The issue isn't profits, per se, but profit sustainability. Right now NA beer is trending, but what happens when that trend dies down? Also, our entire market economy is based on constant upward inflation/growth, and rewards those who grow faster.
      - atatatat 5y ago
        What happens when PBR/Michelob hype dies down again? They still make a small to medium sized fortune =^)

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

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.

elorant 5y ago

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.

SamBam 5y ago
Mush? Batter?
- elorant 5y ago
  Yeap
phonypc 5y ago
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.

tombert 5y ago

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.

semicolon_storm 5y ago
A Diet Coke in a class is indistinguishable from a rum & coke.
- Kluny 5y ago
  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.
burnte 5y ago
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.
leetcrew 5y ago
if appearances are important, consider ordering a club soda with lime. bartenders will usually understand that it ought to look like a gin and tonic.

watertom 5y ago

I gave up every type of drink except for water 10 years ago. After about 1 year of drinking only water I lost the desire for everything except water. After about 2 years I've found that I got significantly more enjoyment from water than I ever got from any other drink previously. I now find that trying to drink anything other than water is not enjoyable.

ywain 5y ago
Out of curiosity, have you given up on hot drinks entirely?
- agarv 5y ago
  It is common for Chinese people to drink hot water if they don't feel like tea, so you can still have hot drinks.
2OEH8eoCRo0 5y ago
Even black coffee or tea? What about milk or kefir? May I ask why?

aix1 5y ago

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).

SamBam 5y ago
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.
- kingosticks 5y ago
  In the UK it needs to be less than 0.05% to be 'Alcohol free' compared to the EU where it only needs to be below 0.5%. And Mikkeller's Drink’in the Sun is a great beer.

odiroot 5y ago

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.

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chris_va 5y ago
Alcohol is intrinsically very caloric, that might be tough

greatgib 5y ago

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.

touisteur 5y ago
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?
- greatgib 5y ago
  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.
  - astrange 5y ago
    American beers don't taste like they used to. They're mostly IPAs that taste like eating a shoe.
  - touisteur 5y ago

donatj 5y ago

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.

zucked 5y ago

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.

eyko 5y ago
Most craft I drink is 4.5% - 6% for IPAs, 2.5-3.5% for Session IPAs. DIPAs are generally 7-9%, which I avoid. I normally go for Sessions.
romwell 5y ago
>For a lot of health and wellness reasons... I think I missed those. How is drinking lower-ABV beer more healthy than drinking less of the higher-ABV beer?

spaginal 5y ago

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.

CubsFan1060 5y ago
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.

mikelward 5y ago

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. Heineken 0.0 isn't too bad in a pinch.

legitster 5y ago

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. I just want a line of dry-hopped La Croix.

metalliqaz 5y ago
NA beer is made just like beer but with the added step of having to remove the alcohol. It is real beer, it just doesn't get you drunk. Of course that makes it not as popular, so economy of scale comes into play. You might want to check out Athletic Brewing company, which has a line of hops-flavored seltzers.
- legitster 5y ago
  $13 for a 6 pack + shipping (since it's not sold in my area). Again, this is significantly more than I pay for beer when I buy it. I'm not much of a heavy drinker, so I just buy beer still when I want some. This is kind of like alternative meats that I love the concept, but the price point just isn't there yet to impact my shopping decisions.
bartvk 5y ago
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.
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y ago
  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.

florianfritz 5y ago

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.

subpixel 5y ago
Having lived in Bavaria for years, and drunk beer for many more, I am of the opinion that nothing beats sub-6% helles, pilsner, or hefeweißen. Hops and alcohol are like white pepper - great but just a little too much ruins the recipe.
- rhino369 5y ago
  Bavarian beer is so great. It’s a shame the bottles don’t seem to hold up well when they are imported into the USA. A local restaurant gets kegs and it’s almost like being there.
- blt 5y ago
  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.
- Teknoman117 5y ago
  My primary beer consumption at this point is imported hefeweißen. It's so good.

mattwad 5y ago

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

dumpsterdiver 5y ago

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.

deelowe 5y ago
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.
hiidrew 5y ago
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
TylerE 5y ago
There are some sugar free ginger beers that are fairly decent.
toastal 5y ago
Blueberries: nature's boba

Animats 5y ago

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.

Animats 5y ago
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.

uberdru 5y ago

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.

amelius 5y ago

I got stomach issues after drinking Alcohol free beer. I suspect it is because they add a lot of citric acid, and the PH value goes through the floor.

bartvk 5y ago
Order a glass of warm milk to go with that beer. Milk being a base should settle the stomach :)
- oftenwrong 5y ago
  Milk is slightly acidic: https://sciencenotes.org/is-milk-an-acid-or-base/ https://sciencenotes.org/is-milk-an-acid-or-base/
- selimthegrim 5y ago
  This should be an evil advice mallard pic

einpoklum 5y ago

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? --------- 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. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malta_(soft_drink)

sunny--tech 5y ago

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. [0]: https://athleticbrewing.com https://athleticbrewing.com [1]: https://lyres.com/ https://lyres.com/

daanlo 5y ago

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.

daanlo 5y ago
The alcohol free wine is mainly nice to accompany lunch :)

mrfusion 5y ago

Has anyone tried kava as a beer substitute? Does that even make sense?

drew1492 5y ago
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.

gnulinux 5y ago

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.

k__ 5y ago
Weed always pushes my heartrate to the max.
- throwaway73851 5y ago
  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?
  - l33tbro 5y ago
    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).
- herbst 5y ago
  Try getting a weed with lower thc and rather high CBD. Or mix it with CBD high cannabis. I too hate that THC heavy strains everyone is into these days
  - gnulinux 5y ago
    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.

voidfunc 5y ago

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.

pacman2 5y ago

I prefer alcohol free apple wine. (no, it is not apple juice)

julian_t 5y ago

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.