I have been reading some very complimentary reviews of 0% Guinness and I am wondering if anyone here has tried it? I believe topping it up from the “real” Guinness tap once settled is the favoured way, making it indistinguishable from the original version.
I have had mixed results from 0% beers – most notably waking up with a hangover – but it recently I have been drinking 0% hazy IPAs. I don’t particularly like the hazy ones at the best of times, so I can’t tell the diff.
Gatz says
The Guinness is pretty decent. My other half ordered some on a meal out and after we both tasted it had to confirm with the waiting staff that it was alcohol free as she was driving. Neither of us are connoisseurs though. I picked to some cans when I saw them cheap in a supermarket, and, yep, still fine. But if I’m out and not drinking alcohol I’m more likely just to have a lime and soda.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Guinness zero is really good – if you’ve necked a lot of the black stuff in your time, you’ll likely detect the slight difference in the low stuff, but really it’s not worth worrying about. If you want a stout beer with no alcohol, it’s the one to drink.
Timbar says
The daily aggregator “The Knowledge” posted this today
“If you’ve ever wondered why the non-alcoholic bestseller Guinness 0.0 costs almost as much as the real thing – given it doesn’t attract the 50p per pint alcohol duty – there’s a simple answer, says The Sunday Times: it’s really hard to make. First they cool a batch of normal stout from 22C to 10C. Then they separate the concentrate from the water – where the alcohol is – and remix it with fresh, booze-free water. Finally, because the lack of alcohol increases the risk of bacterial infections, they have to quarantine it for four weeks for testing. This process is much more involved than the usual methods of boiling off the alcohol or producing the beer with a different yeast – and, so Guinness says, much more expensive.”
Leedsboy says
It’s very good. Well worth a go if you like the black stuff. The absolute best non alcoholic beer I’ve had though is draught Goram IPA from Buttcombe.
fentonsteve says
I’m rather partial to Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5%, but then I’m rather partial to Adnams Ghost Ship.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
The virtually no-alcohol Ghost Ship is brilliant. Not a big ale drinker these days having not yet found an Adnams pub in France but on last week’s experience I’d happily sit in a beer garden one sunny afternoon and down 3 or 4 of those.
Twang says
In France the amber Jenlain is magnificent. I imagine you know it.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Thirded – the 0.5% Ghost Ship is a triumph of low alcohol booze. I developed a taste for the full fat version while on holiday in Suffolk. A year or two later, looking to renounce the evil molecule, I was delighted to find that the 0.5 version is virtually indistinguishable on the pallette.
The only problem is that unless you arrive at my local Waitrose within a hour of their delivery, it’s all gone. You can, however, also get it from Sainsburys, but their supply chain is even less reliable!
attackdog says
Absolutes agree. Wonderful stuff. Ghost Ship – there nothing in it!
Feedback_File says
Nothing is more cheerless than an alcohol free beer but there are times when I have to resort as I hate pretty much all soft drinks. San Miguel is almost passable as is the 0.5% Ghost Ship. Not tried the Guinness as yet and very much like the idea of topping it up with the real stuff – bit like having full fat mayo on your weight watchers salad.
fentonsteve says
I know, but live music sounds better with a pint of beer in your hand. And I’m driving home from the gig.
Rigid Digit says
The world has moved on a long way sine Barbican (which frankly was bloody awful). I heartily cocur on the Guinness. San Miguel 0 is very good too.
moseleymoles says
Another vote for the Guinness, Mrs Moles had it at a pub lunch yesterday. Helps us in the week when you want a beer in hand but also it’s only say Tuesday. The Paulaner weissbier 0 also good.
MC Escher says
We’ve been investigating a lot of them. I find the drier they are the better their 0% equivalents are, so my picks are Asahi and Stella Artois.
The Guinness 0% is vile stuff, absolutely nothing like the original in taste or texture.
GCU Grey Area says
As said upthread, the Adnams almost none is good. I quite like the Thatcher’s Zero ‘cider’. Needs to be served very cold; I had a couple at a get-together earlier on the year when I was driving, and had them with ice, and a straw.
dai says
If I am not drinking I go with water. I find alcohol free beers a bit pointless, like decaf.
SteveT says
I am with you @dai. I have tried 0 percent Heineken under duress.
Mike_H says
I believe our Niall is a Guinness Zero drinking man these days. He seems to like it well enough.
exilepj says
been alcohol free for over a year now … there is an increasingly good selection out there … i enjoy Lucky Saint, on tap at the 100 club which was a surprise. in cans I really like Brewdog’s Elvis AF a grapefruit infused IPA and also Clear Head from the Bristol beer Company which is on tap in one of my local brewhouses as well as being good in a can. the increased range means you don’t have to stick to Soda and Lime or a pint of Henry (OJ & Lemonade)
Leffe Gin says
I’m going to go off at a slight tangent… instead of alcohol, try Trip CBD infused drinks instead. You get a slightly mellow feeling (possibly psychosomatic) and no after effects. The lemon basil one is really nice. I’ve not tried other brands and have no idea if any pubs have them.
Martin Horsfield says
I’m not a big lager drinker but I’m yet to find an AF beer that beats Becks Blue. It has the other advantage of being considerably cheaper than the rest. Incidentally, I was at alcohol-free Indian restaurant the other day where I was given something called Days lager. That’s a stinker: it tasted like fragrant mineral water, although the curry was brilliant.
Guiri says
Don’t suppose it’s available in the UK but if you’re ever in Spain Mahou’s Tostada 0,0 is by a distance the best non-alcoholic beer I’ve yet come across.
Bejesus says
I try and have a few weeks alcohol free and like others on here Guinness Zero is one of the best along with Cobra. My mate works in our local pub and says more and more people are trying Zero % beer for a variety of reasons.
Leedsboy says
Beer somewhere between the 2% and 3% mark is, I think, where this should be heading. I have had a few beers around the 2% strength in a couple of London pubs (both at the hipster end of the pub scene). They taste exactly like beer and you can have a couple and still be in a better place than having a pint of typical strength beer.
They tend to be hard to find in the main supermarkets and shops though. I stocked up on Northern Monk Sup which is 3.2% from Lidl last week but I’d love to find a 2% beer that was freely available. Paying £3 a can and then postage always seems a little extravagant financially.
fentonsteve says
2-3% is a bit much for me. It plays havoc with my meds, which was my main reason for going dry, and after a decade or more I honestly don’t think I’d be safe to drive home from a gig after a pint of that. I sometimes wonder about the 0.5% stuff.
Leedsboy says
I’ve found the 0.5% stuff is not really different from the 0.05% stuff to be honest. If you do see a 2% or thereabouts beer at a bar its worth trying – maybe a half? It is the least compromised compromise (to my tastebuds).
All no alcohol lagers don’t quite taste right to me – it’s a lack of body. Heineken is pretty much the same as the rest and has the benefit of being 50-60p a bottle at Costco fairly regularly. Lucky Saint at £3 a bottle (or more in a bar) isn’t doing it for me. I’d rather have lime and soda.
fentonsteve says
I’d be happier if Adnams did a 0.05% Ghost Ship, but it’s brewed as full-fat and then the alcohol removed, not “brewed” AF. As Foxy says, the taste is almost indistinguishable from the real thing. So I suppose the taste would get worse if they were to take out the remainder.
The real thing tastes different keg vs. bottled, too. I haven’t tried 0.5% on tap. I need to go to Southwold again.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Was there last weekend. Pint in the Lord Nelson then fish & chips down by the river – fabulous! My only complaint is that the ferry to Walberswick is now by engine rather than rowboat – that’s cheating in my book.
Martin S says
I was in Southwold a couple of weeks back and was rowed across the river in the traditional method. I have a book somewhere about the history of the ferry. A wonderful institution !
Lodestone of Wrongness says
I want my money back! Perhaps the rower had sunk too many proper Ghost Ships the night before?
fentonsteve says
Was it the lady rower (daughter of the previous ferry captain), or her nephew? She was on the idiot latern with Susan Calman a year or two back.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
No lady rower for me, a grumpy bloke with an outboard motor and a face that had forgotten how to smile.
Martin S says
Was indeed the lady rower for me. Must have been a dozen of us (including dogs) that she effortlessly got us from one side to the other .
BryanD says
Another vote for Adnam’s Ghost Ship 0.5%. Not that keen on the bottled version but its better than most. I actually prefer the keg version to the normal strength cask which, like any cask, can be a bit hit and miss. Probably helps if you live in Suffolk.
Other than that, I have tried loads of them and they have all made me think that I might as well have a Fever Tree or a Fentimans.
Leedsboy says
A Fever Tree with a few splashes of Angastora Bitters is a great low alcohol option. as well.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I love the Fentiman’s drinks – esp. the Dandelion & Burdock, when I can find it. Trouble is, as I’m diabetic, I always look at the sugar content, and there are stratospherically high levels in their products. The only drinks with more sugar in them are the San Pell fruity ones – which are absolutely stacked with the stuff.
BryanD says
Their ginger beer is excellent. I hadn’t realised the sugar content is really high, even though I normally check, which is why I stopped drinking San Pallegrino.
The Fever Tree light drinks are probably the best to have on a regular basis.
MC Escher says
London Essence is the way to go, tonic-wise, tastes much less sweet than the Fever Tree soda pop masquerading as tonic water.
Sitheref2409 says
Preach, brother.
Fever Tree is cloying in the mouth. There’s at least tree tonic brands ahead of them, and London Essence is at the top of the list.
Smudger says
I’ve tried a few in recent times and I’ve been quite surprised with the quality on offer. They’ve all been hazy IPA types, some of which have already been mentioned such as Days, Lucky Saint and Impossibrew. There’s plenty of hoppy taste which overcomes what can often be the lack of body criticism which AF beers get.
Any recommendations for an AF bitter would be appreciated.
Would be nice to see more options in the pubs but I think it’s going to come as more pubs focus on food and people want more AF options with their meal.
Twang says
I have never had one I like so if I’m booze free I drink sparkling mineral water. I have had a pint of 50 50 proper beer and alcohol free which is ok but not AF obvs
Leedsboy says
That reminds me of the expat Saudi drink which was 50% home brew and 50% Moussy no alcohol local stuff. Not great but it worked.
Twang says
My mum was in Libya and they did that too.
fortuneight says
Wide variety available here, albeit not that cheap
http://www.drydrinker.com
Article in todays FT reports the UK is the fastest growing market for no / low alcohol drinks, with consumption doubling from 2022 to 2023.
I’m surprised that prices remain relatively high. Duty on alcohol is pretty steep – £21 per litre on alcohol between 3.5% and 8.5 per cent ABV, while for beers below this it’s £9.27 a litre, and zero if the ABV is below 1.2%. That ought to offer quite a drop.
fentonsteve says
Yes, and zero doesn’t mean zero, but less than 0.5% IIRC.
Gatz says
Today’s The Knowledge email contains this, lifted from The Times
fortuneight says
Thanks – that’s helpful.
I wonder whether all low / no brews have to be quarantined. About 30 years ago I worked for Bass Brewers who had just launched Barbican, and the head brewer talked about it being starting life as Carling Black Label but then having the alcohol extracted. Needless to say something that already tasted like cat piss didn’t improve in the process. he was adamant that taste and ABV ran hand in hand so wasn’t much of a fan of the early alcohol free beers.
He reckoned Carling had grown in popularity with publicans because unlike cask ale they needed no special treatment – you could bounce the barrels down the cellar steps and leave them unchilled. That would ruin a cask ale – it might have improved Carling. Sounds like there would be nothing to quarantine in a lager but this was a very long time ago.
MC Escher says
A friend of mine who knows about these things tells me that Madri lager has nothing to do with Spain but is in fact simply Carling Black Label with a new name.
The brewers just needed a product capitalising on the current thirst (SWIDT) for Spanish beers.
NigelT says
Yes, I came across a YouTube video on all this. Carling, which for some reason is very popular, reduced the abv of the original brand and then used the original recipe for Madri.
As for being easier to handle than cask beers, this was also the case for going over to keg beers liking bloody Watneys Red Barrel and so on in the 60s and led to the formation of CAMRA, bless their hearts. Cask ale had virtually disappeared.
fortuneight says
I remember reading about the ABV drop. Molson had to admit in court they did it to save money – they kept the price to consumers the same, but saved money via reduced duty. And “overlooked” the need to change the ABV on cans which stayed at 4%.
Quite a few brands were watered down including John Smith’s Bitter (3.8% to 3.4% but sold to customers as 3.6%) whilst reductions of around 0.2% / 0.3% were made to Strongbow’, Stella, Bud, Beck’s and Cobra to exploit new tax breaks.
When I started drinking, Red Barrel and the dreadful Party 4 / Party 7’s were still commonplace, along with Worthington E and the equally dire Ben Truman. Luckily cask ales were making a minor comeback and my local pubs had Wadworth’s and Ushers Ale, the later of which was killed off in in all but name in 2004 and the brewing gear sold to North Korea. Hopefully it’s given as many North Korean’s as many headaches as Ushers gave me.
Guiri says
The weirdest non-alcholic drink I’ve come across is Tanqueray 0% ‘gin’. It kind of tastes ok, basically adding a bit of flavour to a tonic, but nothing like gin. But it costs the same as a bottle of full strength. So it’s just basically a stupidly expensive way of making your tonic taste slightly different. So the sensible thing, surely, is just to drink a good tonic.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
The Tanqueray Orange Seville 0% is actually rather good. It’s not a proper G&T but on a late, hot summer afternoon it is more than acceptable. I imagine on a wet and cold January day it tastes vile.
bigstevie says
I’ve had this conversation before. I think the duty on a bottle of whisky is 75%. Your bog standard bottle is about £15 meaning about £11 of this is tax.
I know nothing of gin(other than that my partner drinks it), but I assume that the figures are something similar. As with the zero beers, the manufacturers claim that it is much more expensive to make. 75% more??? I doubt it.
As mentioned above…2/3 of the g&t is tonic. Why not just drink toinic?
Not for me to judge of course. Drink what you like, but I think it’s a huge con.
I don’t really drink soft drinks and one beer always leads to 4 or more, so on weeknights I have a zero beer with my dinner and rarely do I have a second. I’ve only tried San Miguel and Peroni and both are fine.
Mike_H says
Sliding scale of duty on alcoholic drinks*. The higher the alcohol content, the higher the duty percentage. The duty percentage on beers and cider is a lot lower than it is for spirits. I’m sure they’re doing some profiteering, but there’s also factors of scale of production. They all must currently sell a hell of a lot more alcoholic beer than alcohol-free.
I was looking in my local Sainsbury’s the other day and there’s quite a large choice of alcohol-free drinks available now.
*Or rather bracketed rates of duty across the spectrum of alcohol content in beverages.
As an aside, a friend in the independent brewing trade says the alcohol percentages that are printed on cans, bottles etc. are guaranteed minimums (to comply with trading standards legislation). The actual alcohol content of beers tends to vary slightly from batch to batch (fractions of 1%), dependent on ingredients, brewing room temperature etc.
NigelT says
Another vote here for Guinness 0%, but it’s pricey in a pub when you think they just pour it out of a can like you do at home. Adnams Ghost Ship I discovered a couple of years ago, and they nailed it.
The Brewdog ones are very good, like Nanny State. Whilst on Brewdog, has anyone tried their Black Heart stout..? It beats Guinness in my opinion.
niallb says
As a man who reached 1000 days of sobriety on 22nd September, I am a bit of a conner-sewer when it comes to zero beers:
Good:
Guinness
Ghost Ship
Erdinger
Doom Bar
San Mig
Birra Moretti
Peroni
Free Dam
Asahi
Meh:
Lucky Saint
Corona
Stella
Awful:
Heineken
Becks Blue
I’m quite happy to drink up to 0.5% since that is just the brewer being ultra cautious with the legality of the labelling.
Gins, vodka and rum have some excellent zeros, including products like Pentire and Seedlip. Tanqueray 0% is terrific and much better than Gordon’s.
Sparkling wines? Plenty of choice but only a few decent ones.
Still wines? Where are you? Everything out there tastes like Ribena. Do better.
Clive says
Yeah I’m 10 years in but like you I’ll drink 0.5 occasionally I like Heineken though. Alcohol free vodka is too close to the bone though
dai says
Congratulations, both.
niallb says
Thanks, @dai
retropath2 says
Alcohol free vodka does seem a bit pointless. Like drinking decaff for the taste.
My bro is 30 years sober, but reckons anything above 0.5% would fire him up again, so is an expert on true 0%s. I try them when he stays, and agree on @niallb ‘s list, apropos taste. One to try, however, and not mentioned, is the Leffe 0%. Such a distinctive taste does it anyway have, whilst a little different from the 5%, it remains quite a pleasing facsimile of the flavour, which is anything but bland.
Clive says
Heineken do a draft 0 or 0.5 that’s really good but not many pubs sell it … alcohol free wine is the work of the devil.
Chrisf says
From todays Times…..
https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/zero-low-alcohol-beers-tested-best-nngqsnf9z
In case it’s paywalled (probably) here’s the text….
“Cheers to a Sober October? The zero and low-alcohol taste test
Booze-free ales are having a moment and Anne Shooter is an expert on them, thanks to her husband’s new obsession
My husband’s recent preoccupation with alcohol-free beer was becoming, I felt, slightly obsessive. Yes, he stopped drinking “proper” booze about 18 months ago, after a successful Dry January, but did he really need to fill our utility room fridge — previously used by me for leftovers, oversized cauliflowers and bottles of “just in case we need it” bubbly — with endless cans and bottles of 0 per cent lager and IPA?
However, it turns out he’s merely riding the wave of the latest drinks trend. A third of us are choosing alcohol-free versions of our favourite tipples, according to the charity Drinkaware. Its latest survey says sales of non-alcoholic spirits, wines and beers are booming, mostly with health-conscious middle-class drinkers and millennials.
Statistics show that non-alcoholic beer in particular is surging in popularity, with the UK market said to be worth a whopping £809.7 million in 2023. Sales of low or no-alcohol beer doubled in 2023, according to the analyst IWSR, and the UK was the fastest-growing market of 160 countries it looked at. One of the biggest alcohol-free beer producers in the US, Athletic Brewing Company, is a sponsor at Arsenal, and Ocado says searches for low-alcohol lager increased by 102 per cent between January 2023 and January 2024.
I have also found myself reaching for alcohol-free beer on an increasingly regular basis. Sometimes, particularly when I have made something spicy for dinner, water just doesn’t cut it, and alcohol-free beer is perfect — sure, there’s no buzz, but there’s also no disturbed sleep, no hangover and it’s refreshing, can be quite complex and is remarkably low in calories compared with the original.
No-alcohol beers are generally so much better than the non-alcoholic wines on the market, most of which taste like mouldy apple juice to me. And although some of the spirits are brilliant — we get through bottle after bottle of Tanqueray 0.0% and are big fans of the trendy, alcohol-free aperitif Botivo — they are better before a meal than as an accompaniment to it.
Alcohol-free beer can contain up to 0.5 per cent ABV (alcohol by volume), the same as a kombucha or even a ripe banana, and that can be achieved using different methods that have varying results — some lose their bubbles quickly.
Not all non-alcoholic beers are created equal. Some are absolutely grim, some so similar to the real thing that you’d be hard pushed to tell the difference. Below are my views — and some of my husband’s — on 25 of the most widely available.
Zero alcohol drinks
Guinness Draught 0.0
17 calories per 100ml, 75 calories a can; £5 for 4 x 440ml cans, widely available
This has no alcohol and half the calories of the real version and uses that clever Guinness widget to create a proper head so when you pour it, it looks like a draught pint. The mouthfeel is the same too and though it tastes ever so slightly sweeter and less bitter than the full-fat version, it’s still, in my husband’s words, “a breathtaking achievement”.
Score: 5/5
Carlsberg 0.0
19 calories per 100ml, 63 calories a bottle; £3.75 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
Light and refreshing with a decent hoppy, piney flavour and a good, crisp mouthfeel with the right amount of fizz. Husband is a fan too, he calls this one a “seriously tasty beer”.
4/5
Estrella Galicia 0.0%
21 calories per 100ml, 69 calories a bottle; £4.75 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
This slips down a treat, it’s a real holiday beer. It’s a bit lacking in body to the point that it is almost beer-flavoured water but I don’t mind that. It’s fresh, easy drinking, thirst-quenching — sometimes that’s just what you want. As my husband said, “It’s the beer you want in your hand when you’re hosting a barbecue.”
4/5
Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%
23 calories per 100ml, 76 calories a bottle; £4 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
If you like standard Peroni, you’ll like this too. It’s uncomplicated: light, refreshing, easy-drinking and slightly grassy and floral. It’s the kind of beer you could pack into your picnic basket before you took off on your Vespa for a day at the lake with your handsome Italian boyfriend. If only …
4/5
Birra Moretti Zero
20 calories per 100ml, 66 calories a bottle; £5 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
This has a slightly biscuity, sweet flavour from the malt but it’s not cloying. It reminds me of Italian holidays and is a pretty good version of the original. Would be good with a takeaway or barbecue, maybe not one for the depths of winter.
3/5
Asahi Super Dry 0.0%
25 calories per 100ml, 82 calories a can; £5 for four x 330ml cans, widely available
My health-conscious husband avoids this as it’s not as low in calories as some, but says it’s also not quite as crisp as you expect from Asahi. I rather like it, it’s fresh and clean, though slightly on the watery side.
3/5
Cobra Zero Beer
17 calories per 100ml, 56 calories a can; £4 for 4 x 330ml cans, widely available
I wanted to like this as it’s an obvious choice with a takeaway or homemade curry. But it looks like R White’s lemonade and it tastes a bit like it too. It’s refreshing but with no depth. It contains fructose (sugar) and flavourings, which makes me think this is a commercially driven product rather than being made with a true commitment to a good alcohol-free beer.
2/5
San Miguel Alcohol-Free Lager
24 calories per 100ml, 79 calories a bottle; £4.25 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
This has a rather cloying, malty sweetness I am not keen on, which makes it taste like a weak shandy, and it is highly carbonated and frothy. Having said that, it would pair well with salty or spicy food.
2/5
Corona Cero
17 calories per 100ml, 56 calories a bottle; £4.50 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
I like the fun of an easy-drinking, ice-cold Corona, with its wedge of lime and teenage memories and I was expecting to like this just as much. After all, Corona doesn’t have a terribly strong flavour so I thought it would be easy to replicate. But it tastes just like cream soda. Too sweet, too much vanilla and caramel. Husband said it would be acceptable on the beach, but I am not sure.
0/5
Days Pale Ale
21 calories per 100ml, 69 calories a bottle; £1.80 for a 330ml bottle, widely available
This is too syrupy, both on the mouthfeel and the taste. It’s very sweet, with a burnt caramel flavour from too much malt and not enough hops, in my opinion. Not one that I would buy again.
0/5
Low-alcohol drinks
Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5% Beyond the Pale Ale
0.5 per cent ABV; 12 calories per 100ml, 60 calories a bottle; £1.60 for a 500ml bottle, widely available
This is an excellent craft English beer and you would never guess it was alcohol-free. It is heavy and substantial and you’d feel very happy drinking it while watching the cricket on the village green or after a muddy dog walk while eating a ploughman’s. One of my husband’s favourites.
5/5
Athletic Brewing Co Run Wild IPA
Less than 0.5 per cent ABV; 17 calories per 100ml, 65 calories a can; £2.49 for a can, wisebartender.co.uk, £5 (reduced from £6) for 4 x 355ml cans, ocado.com
My husband and I were in total agreement on this, it is an absolutely brilliant beer, alcohol-free or otherwise. It’s hoppy, substantial, complex and powerful. I don’t think you’d know it was alcohol-free in a blind tasting. It’s a proper IPA. It is apparently about to become a regular in our fridge.
5/5
Brooklyn Brewery Special Effects Hoppy Lager
0.4 per cent ABV; 29 calories per 100ml, 96 calories a bottle; £4.50 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
This is my favourite non-alcoholic beer. It is a real treat and almost identical to the alcoholic version. It has a great, hop-forward flavour, an excellent level of bitterness and is the kind of beer you can drink on its own or with a plate of pasta or a bowl of soup. My husband thinks it’s a bit of a “big beast” to drink every day, but I fully embrace its beastliness!
5/5
Clausthaler Dry Hopped Non-Alcoholic Beer
0.4 per cent ABV; 26 calories per 100ml, 86 calories a bottle; £1.45 for a 330ml bottle, widely available
This is excellent, full-flavoured, with all the dry notes of a German unfiltered lager. You can really taste the hops and there is a strong bitterness, just offset by the malt. One of my favourites. Would be excellent with a stew or sausages.
5/5
Heineken 0.0
Less than 0.05 per cent ABV; 21 calories per 100ml, 69 calories a bottle; £5 for 4 x 330ml bottles, widely available
My husband sees this as the non-alcoholic beer to have in the fridge for when one of our dads comes over. It’s the biggest-selling non-alcoholic lager and almost the same as the original version. It is fresh, quite fruity, hoppy and has the right balance of bitterness — a great all-rounder.
5/5
Lucky Saint Alcohol–Free Hazy IPA
0.5 per cent ABV; 18 calories per 100ml, 59 calories per can; £6 for four cans, widely available
Lucky Saint has nailed the alcohol-free beer game and brought its products to a new, younger market. We always have both variants in the fridge — this and the original lager in the blue packaging — though the IPA is my husband’s favourite. He says it has “depth, power and an extra complexity” compared with most non-alcoholic beers. He loves the original too and calls it “the daddy of non-alcoholic beers” — that one is actually my favourite, as it’s lighter but still has substance.
5/5
Erdinger Alkoholfrei Refreshing Isotonic Drink
Less than 0.5 per cent ABV; 25 calories per 100ml, 125 calories a bottle; £1.75 for a 500ml bottle, widely available
This might be isotonic, but it tastes less like Lucozade and more like a proper German wheat beer — plenty of froth; smooth and fresh. It is slightly more watery than its alcoholic equivalent but I wouldn’t kick it out of a bierfest.
4/5
Brewdog Punk AF
0.5 per cent ABV; 15 calories per 100ml, 49 calories a can; £5 for 4 x 330ml cans, widely available
I like this more than my husband does. He was a big fan of the original, alcohol-containing version and doesn’t think they can stand side by side. I rather like it, though. It is easy to drink, not too heavy and has a gentle fruitiness.
3.5/5
Athletic Brewing Co Alcohol–Free Lager
Less than 0.5 per cent ABV; 7 calories per 100ml, 25 calories a can; £2.39 for a can, wisebartender.co.uk or £4 (reduced from £6) for 4 x 355ml cans, ocado.com
The calories in this are astonishingly low and it’s sugar-free. It is crisp, light and refreshing — it’s what the Americans would call a lawnmower beer, because you’d crack one open to cool down after mowing the lawn on a summer’s afternoon. My husband thought it tasted watery, “like a diluted craft beer”.
3/5
Beck’s Blue
Less than 0.05 per cent ABV; 14 calories per 100ml, 39 calories a bottle; £4 for 6 x 275ml bottles, widely available
The husband said this is OK if you like Beck’s, which he doesn’t … but I do! Yes, it tastes fairly neutral and unsophisticated — it reminds me of those little, stubby bottles of European lager you buy on holiday — but it is also refreshing and slightly grassy. I also like the fact it is very natural, containing just water, barley malt, hops and yeast, and that it is so low in calories. It does have a slightly sour after taste, though.
3/5
Nirvana Brewery Traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen
0.3 per cent ABV; 26 calories per 100ml, 130 calories a bottle; £2.70 for a 500ml bottle, ocado.com
This left me quite conflicted. It’s extremely wheaty and has the soft, creamy mouthfeel you get with a German wheat beer. But it has notes of banana and vanilla that I am just not keen on and it’s missing the bitter notes that make up for the lack of alcohol in many beers. You can instantly tell it’s alcohol-free.
3/5
Beavertown Lazer Crush IPA
0.3 per cent ABV; 27 calories per 100ml, 89 calories a can; £1.65 for a 330ml can, widely available
My husband thinks this is “citrussy and fun” and tastes like a proper craft beer — which it is — but I am not so keen. It’s a bit too sweet and tropical, like peachy iced tea.
2/5
Big Drop Brewing Co Poolside DDH IPA Alcohol-Free
0.5 per cent ABV; 8 calories per 100ml, 28 calories per can; £1.80 for a 330ml can, waitrose.com
I wanted to like this — the packaging is cool and the calories are low — but it’s not for me. It’s too fruity with a slightly fake edge and the bitterness lingers. For some it will be worth noting that it contains lactose, which is not unusual to create smoothness in a stout, but is less common in an IPA.
2/5
Bristol Beer Factory Clear Head Alcohol-Free IPA
0.5 per cent ABV; 18.5 calories per 100ml, 81 calories a can; £2.25 for a 440ml can, ocado.com
I wanted to like this beer simply because it is called a Mental Health Movement IPA and they give some proceeds to charity. Luckily, the flavour is genuinely quite good — hoppy with a nice, citrussy freshness — but it’s very flat even on opening and is watery with little body. It contains lactose too, which seems unnecessary.
2/5
Old Speckled Hen Low Alcohol
0.5 per cent ABV; 22 calories per 100ml, 110 calories per bottle; £1.50 for a 500ml bottle, widely available
“This doesn’t taste like beer,” declared my husband and I fully agree. It’s watery, insipid and rather flat and it has some strange ingredients too, like natural hop “flavouring” and colouring.
0/5
Black Celebration says
That’s a very helpful guide – thank you!
I haven’t seen Ghost Ship in NZ but I will definitely seek it out after so many good reviews. Similarly, my question re Guinness 0.0 is answered – it sounds like it’s a miracle of our modern age, so I will seek that out also.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
That ‘helpful’ guide says the San Miguel 0% “tastes like a weak shandy” – that’s just plain Wrong, it’s actually the best 0% lager I tasted this summer and better than most of the other ones she mentions. Lists eh, what’s the point?
NigelT says
It probably depends if you like original San Miguel – I find that very sweet and cloying and prefer a crisper lager.
Gardener says
I’ve just ordered a bottle of this new alcohol free drink on the recommendation of a friend, anyone else tried it yet? It’s got botanicals goddam it!
MC Escher says
Re the Guinness review above “The mouthfeel is the same” is absolutely incorrect. It’s just Wrong, it’s watery and an umpleasant schock.
Mike_H says
Tried some (bottled) Ghost Ship 0.5 last night as I was out and about but driving home after. It’s OK.
Drinkable, but it’s extremely obvious there’s little or no alcohol in it, as it tastes rather watery and weedy. A very slight sour aftertaste, which fortunately doesn’t linger.
I’ve drunk proper beers that were a lot worse.