# If beer had no alcohol, would you still drink it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [May 2, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277 "2013-05-02T00:47:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/1 "2013-05-02T00:47:26Z")
Let’s assume that the taste of beer would be exactly the same as before, but there would be no alcohol. Would you still drink it, or does the taste of beer by itself not that good?
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/2 "2013-05-02T01:08:25Z")
Hell yes. I love all kinds of beer, especially wits, weisses, porters, brown ales, etc. If you can make the experience the same except that the alcohol wouldn’t affect me/there’s no alcohol but still the same “burn” to it then sign me up.
I had to **stop drinking** a particular beer at one point - Dogfish Head’s 18% ABV [Raison d’Extra](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/64/3089) (not to be confused with their lower alcohol Raison d’Etre) - because the alcohol level was too high and I was getting too intoxicated. I had a few other places to hit that night and had to pace myself, so I put the beer aside, regretfully. Plus there are many times out with friends that I have to hold back on trying more beers due to worries about alcohol intake.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/3 "2013-05-02T01:16:56Z")
I would drink _more_ if it weren’t alcoholic; I don’t like feeling drunk, and I don’t think alcohol likes me, either - I get hangovers from ridiculously small amounts of booze.
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### Author:  [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/4 "2013-05-02T01:20:33Z")
All else being equal, I would drink beer all day long.
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### Author:  [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/5 "2013-05-02T01:32:07Z")
If it still tasted the same, sure. I might actually drink it more often.
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### Author:  [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/6 "2013-05-02T01:35:40Z")
I probably would not have STARTED drinking beer, but already having developed an appreciation for it, I would continue to drink it.
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### Author:  [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/7 "2013-05-02T01:39:30Z")
Probably not - although maybe the odd Guinness or Boddingtons here or there.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/8 "2013-05-02T01:50:30Z")
Absolutely. I’d drink more of it. It’d be even worse if there was a way to de-alcohol wine.
I drink for the taste. Sure, a mild buzz is fine, too, but there’s more than a few evenings where there comes a time that I want another drink, but I don’t want to feel it in the morning or I want to stay clearheaded or whatever, and I’d love to be able to switch to the same flavor but no alcohol version. Nowadays I switch to water or fizzy water or ice tea or whatever, but it’s never quite as good as the wine/beer/cocktail.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/9 "2013-05-02T01:53:00Z")
I don’t drink it now.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/10 "2013-05-02T02:25:41Z")
Absolutely not. I don’t like the taste of beer anyway, so only drink it for the buzz when nothing else is available.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/11 "2013-05-02T02:30:24Z")
Can we get rid of the calories, too, while we’re at it?
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### Author:  [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/12 "2013-05-02T02:33:51Z")
No.
Or, only as an option if I was out and had to drive.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/13 "2013-05-02T02:42:04Z")
But of course. The taste is the thing - the buzz is a bonus.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/14 "2013-05-02T02:43:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> Can we get rid of the calories, too, while we’re at it?
Oh shit. Right. Please don’t remove the alcohol; I’d really be fucked in terms of weight maintenance.
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### Author:  [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/15 "2013-05-02T02:49:50Z")
Hell yes! I had to stop drinking it because it was messing me up. Take away the bad stuff? Yum! I love the flavor!
ETA: **Ferret Herder** has a good point: can we also get a low-calorie “diet” version?
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/16 "2013-05-02T02:50:53Z")
I like both the taste and the buzz. It’s rare for me to have more than two beers in a day, but my daily beer with dinner is a lovely wind-down to the day, both a ritual and a physiological relaxer.
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### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/17 "2013-05-02T02:51:31Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> Can we get rid of the calories, too, while we’re at it?
Excellent! Then I drink this nectar at work too 🙂
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### Author:  [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/18 "2013-05-02T02:53:16Z")
I’d still drink it. On some days I might drink more (as others have said). Sometimes I don’t mind the buzz. In fact, sometimes I like it. Sometimes I can’t risk it – before driving, or while at work, for example.
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/19 "2013-05-02T02:56:13Z")
No. The buzz is the whole point of it for me.
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### Author:  [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-beer-had-no-alcohol-would-you-still-drink-it/657277/20 "2013-05-02T03:49:10Z")
I would. I can’t drink alcohol now because it conflicts with at least one of my prescription meds. I’d love a non-alcoholic beer that actually tastes good.
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