4 ms·

Actually, my impression is that the main driver of that "alcohol free beer taste" is the absence of the taste of alcohol. I kind of want to test this hypthesis

Actually, my impression is that the main driver of that "alcohol free beer taste" is the absence of the taste of alcohol. I kind of want to test this hypthesis by adding pure alcohol to an alcohol free beer, but pure alcohol is not really something you find in the supermarket. Germany has a non-alcoholic drink called "Malzbier" (malt beer), which is basically the liquid you would ferment to make beer. It is _insanely_ sweet. So I would expect that a lightly fermented beer would be much closer to a sweet drink than to what we expect under the name "beer".

avar 3y ago
I have an experiment for you, pour e.g. a 0.5L Erdinger Weißen upside down and observe the resulting mess, then do the same with the 0.5% version of the same beer. There's much less foam in low alcohol beers, so it's not just the alcohol content (unless that affect it directly in some way I don't know about).
- aftoprokrustes 3y ago
  As far as I understand a Hefeweizen is put into the bottle with live yeast, which continue the fermentation and create the characteristic thick foam. So indeed, in that case, you cannot have that effect without alcoholic fermentation. But I am more of a Pilsener guy, and there are a few good alcohol free Pils which I am convinced would taste like the "real deal" with the added taste of alcohol.
  - OkayPhysicist 3y ago
    All beer, historically, was bottled with live yeast. That's how you got the carbonation. Some times we cheat today.
- ouchjars 3y ago
  Alcohol does change the surface tension so foaming will be different. Ever seen a security guard shake someone's water bottle to check if it's really water? The thing that makes beer foam stay there is the protein content. Yeast contributes some, but it's also in the grain. The foam should be less different if you compared something filtered like Heineken and Heineken 0.0.
brewdad 3y ago
I can buy grain alcohol that’s 95% pure alcohol at my local liquor store. It might be kept behind the counter where I have to ask for it, but it is available.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago
  Grain alcohol is illegal in many states. California restricts alcohol to 60%, for example, so you won't be able to find it in any corporate place, though you can occasionally luck out and find a bottle in a small liquor store that doesn't mind selling pseudo-legal things.
fsckboy 3y ago
> So I would expect that a lightly fermented beer would be much closer to a sweet drink than to what we expect under the name "beer" this is not a good expectation. Yeast will consume all available sugar till the alcohol %age gets too high for them (depends on the yeast but even the hardiest cultured strains poop out at around 16%. But they can only consume what sugar is in there, so if you ferment starting with something with little sugar, it will not arrive at a high alcohol level. Our ancestors did not have access to lots of sugar, even their fruits (therefore juices) were less sweet. to your point about insanely sweet starter, wine grapes are also insanely sweet, so sweet we don't want to eat them. Table grapes like you buy at the grocery, sweet as they are, are much less sweet than wine grapes. So, starting from the ultra sweet grapejuice, average wine gets to 12% alcohol.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
gniv 3y ago
> Actually, my impression is that the main driver of that "alcohol free beer taste" is the absence of the taste of alcohol. I think it depends on the style. For hoppy ales Athletic Brewing in the US makes really good beers, you can hardly tell there is no alcohol. As far as I heard they don't really remove alcohol, but I don't know how they brew it. (Might be a secret process.) Regarding German beers, this is also what I find near me now, and they are all decent, but you can definitely tell they don't have alcohol.
- matwood 3y ago
  Athletic brewing is easily the best non-alcoholic beer I've had. They have less than .5% alcohol which makes me wonder if that little bit helps keeps the flavor profile correct.

avar 3y ago

I have an experiment for you, pour e.g. a 0.5L Erdinger Weißen upside down and observe the resulting mess, then do the same with the 0.5% version of the same beer. There's much less foam in low alcohol beers, so it's not just the alcohol content (unless that affect it directly in some way I don't know about).

aftoprokrustes 3y ago
As far as I understand a Hefeweizen is put into the bottle with live yeast, which continue the fermentation and create the characteristic thick foam. So indeed, in that case, you cannot have that effect without alcoholic fermentation. But I am more of a Pilsener guy, and there are a few good alcohol free Pils which I am convinced would taste like the "real deal" with the added taste of alcohol.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  All beer, historically, was bottled with live yeast. That's how you got the carbonation. Some times we cheat today.
ouchjars 3y ago
Alcohol does change the surface tension so foaming will be different. Ever seen a security guard shake someone's water bottle to check if it's really water? The thing that makes beer foam stay there is the protein content. Yeast contributes some, but it's also in the grain. The foam should be less different if you compared something filtered like Heineken and Heineken 0.0.

brewdad 3y ago

I can buy grain alcohol that’s 95% pure alcohol at my local liquor store. It might be kept behind the counter where I have to ask for it, but it is available.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 3y ago
Grain alcohol is illegal in many states. California restricts alcohol to 60%, for example, so you won't be able to find it in any corporate place, though you can occasionally luck out and find a bottle in a small liquor store that doesn't mind selling pseudo-legal things.

fsckboy 3y ago

> So I would expect that a lightly fermented beer would be much closer to a sweet drink than to what we expect under the name "beer" this is not a good expectation. Yeast will consume all available sugar till the alcohol %age gets too high for them (depends on the yeast but even the hardiest cultured strains poop out at around 16%. But they can only consume what sugar is in there, so if you ferment starting with something with little sugar, it will not arrive at a high alcohol level. Our ancestors did not have access to lots of sugar, even their fruits (therefore juices) were less sweet. to your point about insanely sweet starter, wine grapes are also insanely sweet, so sweet we don't want to eat them. Table grapes like you buy at the grocery, sweet as they are, are much less sweet than wine grapes. So, starting from the ultra sweet grapejuice, average wine gets to 12% alcohol.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

gniv 3y ago

> Actually, my impression is that the main driver of that "alcohol free beer taste" is the absence of the taste of alcohol. I think it depends on the style. For hoppy ales Athletic Brewing in the US makes really good beers, you can hardly tell there is no alcohol. As far as I heard they don't really remove alcohol, but I don't know how they brew it. (Might be a secret process.) Regarding German beers, this is also what I find near me now, and they are all decent, but you can definitely tell they don't have alcohol.

matwood 3y ago
Athletic brewing is easily the best non-alcoholic beer I've had. They have less than .5% alcohol which makes me wonder if that little bit helps keeps the flavor profile correct.