So I went to a gerontologist for the first time, had many body parts scanned, and among his orders was a “Hey, Stay Away From These If You Don’t Want To Get Any Worse” Diet.
#1: Alcohol … Cue sad trombone.
Now, the sport I’m best at is running off to the neighborhood pub to watch baseball (and soon, the Packers!). And I usually have a beer or an Old Fashioned.
So I’m on the hunt for N/A beers. I mentioned this in the September Mini-Rants, but so far, I only like Heinekken N/A and Guiness 0% - -comes close to the real stuff, frothy head and all!
The only other N/A beers the pub carries taste like gym socks.
Another problem: I hate hops. I go with malty/grainy beers, so “Hop-Infused Tap Water" (the slogan of one N/A beer) is doubly-horrid to me.
So what have you folks (or your friends) tried? Hope you have some you liked!
And so far, I’ve struck out on N/A spirits. I’m afraid that it’s a lost cause; so much of the flavor of whisky is that “bite” that the ethanol imparts.
I like what I’ve tried from Athletic (although much, but not all, of it is hoppy). The Go Brewing pilsner is pretty good as well. Guinness is the one that for me comes the closest to the original.
I’d suggest just giving up alcohol completly and try and develop new, healthier habits. But if you must have something to hold in your hand to socialize with at a bar I guess a NA Guinness would do.
Myself, I stopped going to bars and only have a beer once or twice a month with friends over dinner.
My husband was a brewer in a brew pub for 15+ yrs. The man loved his beer!
Now older and put on a no alcohol regime, the only beer he’ll take is Corona zero alcohol. (They have one that’s low alcohol, that’s not it!) He says it tastes best.
Would love to try any Notch, and especially the Czech offerings. Have heard the brewer/owner in several podcasts. He went for low ABV long before it became a thing.
I’d think that it’d be easier to transition to something completely different, than to something sort of but not quite right. Maybe a good ginger beer, like Bundeberg?
And then maybe have a real beer of a kind you like, but only very rarely, like once or twice a month. The dose makes the poison.
I was drinking Heineken 0.0 for a while but then I discovered Corona NA. Really tasty, no bite, just crisp. Enjoy. (I drink NA at home and regular beer when out.)
I see Guinness Zero has already been mentioned and that’s my favorite. Next best for me would be Blue Moon NA; also extremely close to the real thing and better than Blue Moon Light. I’ve heard many good things about Athletic NA beers, but none are really my style. Budweiser Zero is very close to the real thing, whether that’s a good or bad thing, but it pairs well with certain foods for me. My partner also really likes Clausthaler NA, but again not my style.
I didn’t know about Black Butte Porter NA. I’ll have to try it!
Great ideas! I wonder if I should wait until afternoon to try Corona NA? And I’ll seek out the Notch pils.
And I’m thinking about other beverages I can order… like Coke Zero with a splash of cranberry juice (kills the diet flavor). And I’ll see what ginger beers the bar has.
Keep those beers coming, gang!
~ ~ ~
Oh, BTW, I found a reddit thread on NA bourbons, and the concensus is bad enough that I may give up.
I’ve never had any NA beer, but Athletic is the NA beer I sell the most of at my store. So I’ll add in another vote for it. Their Oktoberfest is out right now, if that’s something you like.
I’ve joked that, technically, all our THC stuff could go on the NA shelf. So, that’s something to consider as well. There are Non-alcoholic, THC-infused beers and booze as well as all the THC tonics.
I’ve been non-alcoholic since 2020. When it comes to NAs I like to treat myself with, it’s Guinness NA. That’s probably my favorite NA overall. It does come damned close to what I remember a real Guinness draft tasting like, though with a bit of a different mouthfeel. Heineken, also mentioned, is pretty good. I didn’t much like Heineken as a drinker, and it does taste like the Heineken I remember, down to the occassional slight skunkiness. That’s the beer we have around the house most often as my wife really likes it, even though she drinks regular beer, as well.
Meanwhile, I actually enjoy pretty much all the NAs I’ve had, minus O’Douls, Sharp, and Busch NA. Sam Adams Just the Haze IPA is good, but a little hoppy. Lagunitas IPNA is kind of middling, also a little hoppy. If you can find anything by Big Drop brewing, they’re fantastic. They in particular have a Galactic Milk Stout that is quite nice. I’ve enjoyed Partake’s Peach Gose for a very light (25 calorie) change of pace, little hoppiness. Or their Red, also low on the hop side. (Though their website suggests they no longer make it. They do have an Octoberfest now that may work, though.) Sierra Nevada’s Trail Pass is quite nice, but also hoppy. If you can find it, Weihenstephaner has a non-alcoholic wheat beer. Oh, Athletic has a seasonal Octoberfest that might be up your alley. Also, their Cerveza Athletica would be worth trying if you’re minimizing hops.
Sober over 20 years - used to drink A LOT of beer, enjoy tastings, etc. All I can say is you just have to try a bunch and decide what you prefer. Some relatives regularly stock NAs - both for me when I visit and to reduce their own intake. Every time I stop over, it seems they have several new brands. All impress me as pretty good. But there seem to be a tremendous number of offerings.
Much of what they have is not to my tastes - which run somewhat parochial. A lot of fruity, wheaty, hazy brews. I very much like Beck’s NA. My standard go-to is Clausthaler Dry Hopped. Certainly avoid anything like Sharps or O’Douls - tho O’Douls Amber isn’t completely undrinkable.
These days, tho, my preferred libation is tap water. If going fancy, I might add a couple of ice cubes!
BTW, you might want to search. ISTR we did this quite recently.
Yeah, that one’s pretty solid, too. I agree — the best approach is to just buy and try. It’s a great time to be drinking <0.5% and 0.0% beers; the options are wild if you’ve got a well-stocked shop nearby. My local mega liquor store shows over 150 NA beer products, though some of that is duplicate listings for 6- and 12-packs, so I’d guess maybe 40–50 unique brews. You can even find mixed packs — Brooklyn Brewing and BrewDog both have variety packs with four different beers — and even the regular grocery stores are stocking more than just O’Doul’s and Sharps these days.
My parents have started keeping a few NAs around for me (and themselves), and Clausthaler Dry Hopped is one of their go-tos — I like it, too. Even the Polish brands they usually drink, like Żywiec and Łomża, now have 0.0 versions, which are nice if you’re into lagers. Personally, I lean Heineken 0.0 for that flavor, but Żywiec is solid.
One heads-up: skip Old Milwaukee NA. Yes, it exists. Yes, it’s exactly as bad as you’d imagine. Maybe it’s fine if you’re already a fan of the regular stuff — but hey, at least it’s cheap.
ETA: Oh, I just thought of another one: I bought some Peroni 0.0 on sale at my local supermarket the other day, and I found it did a good job. Same general profile as all those Euro lagers, maybe a bit on the lighter side.
This is what I was going to say, since the OP said they like malty/grainy beers. I had lunch outside on a hot day once and really felt like a beer, but I couldn’t drink alcohol at the time for some reason (maybe it was a work lunch). So I had a Beck’s NA (might have been a St. Pauli Girl NA) and it really hit the spot. German beers are typically more malty/grainy, and the maltiness was even more forward in the NA version.
