Non-Alcoholic Beer

[billisaacson]

My Brother-in-law recently quit drinking alcohol. It was a neccesary thing for him, at least for now. This doesn't mean he wants to stop drinking beer. Currently he is drinking either O'Doul's Amber or Kaliber. Does anyone have any recommendations for some NA's, good or bad? Does anyone know of any dark NA's? Thanks for your input. Please, let's not flame on NA's, if you can't have alcohol, this still let's you enjoy your brew. It's also great for spacing out a regular beer or two when you're the designated driver.

[Beer Nazi]

Wadda ya mean don't flame him?????

j/k From what I hear Kalibur is not too bad. I guess one of these years I should find out for myself.

[Brewstervii]

I have seen a few good NA beers in the liquor stores here in Nevada, but I don't know the names of the off the top of my head.

Brew

[mribm]

I have tried several of the NA beers and have found most of them to be really bad. However there are some decent ones out there. My favorite is Kaliber and my back up is St. Pauli NA. My friends wife refers to the St. Pauli beer as "St. Paulina".

I would rather drink water than O'Douls, Sharp and Coors NA.

I have found that ginger ale makes a nice beer substitute.

Steve

[Brewstervii]

I thought I was the only one who thinks that about ginger ale!!

[hnrblbrbrn]

One of the local homebrew shops sells soda kits. Maybe your local shop might have advice on using those to make NA?

[bsardin]

I gave up alchohol for awhile to make the girl I was dating happy and never found a N/A that I liked. I did find that cream soda was really satisfying whenever I wanted a beer.

[dansting]

My wife is pregnant, and she really likes the Paulander Non-Alcoholic. I've heard from others that that is the best.

[b3s]

having been on the NA wagon for a 15 year stretch i did not encounter a single NA beer on the market that was sans alcohol; they all had a little under 1% abv. in the examples given thus far (sharps, odoul's, and kaliber) each of these ha some (albeit incredibly low) alcohol in them (i mention this only if the original posters brother is either on the atkins diet, diabetic, or otherwise in need of avoiding alcohol for medical purposes).

secondly, having been on the wagon for 15 years at one point in my life i can honestly say that, imo (based on the many i've tried), the NA beers all taste worse than the normal bud/miller/etc. in fact, in my experience, every one of them gets incredibly bitter as they warm, causing one to drink fast...the problem with this is, as i asserted in the beginning, NA beers all have some kind of alchohol in them and chugging 3 of those in an hour, well, may as well have savoured a nice stout or porter in that same time period as far as i'm concerned.

FWIW, i've also found the same to be true of dealcoholized wine (which, imo, is not even suited for cooking)...i'm so glad that i found my way off the wagon...now i can enjoy the flavors of real bear and wine again.

just my $2*E-02, ymmv.

[CaptHook]

Originally posted by Brewstervii
I thought I was the only one who thinks that about ginger ale!!
I have 4 taps on my bar. I made 1 N/A, for who ever. The drink of choice? Ginger Tea without sugars. Very satisfying and no carbs or calories.
The carbonation makes it taste like ginger ale. In winter, drink it hot. Good for colds and sore throats.(warm or cold i would never add whisky to it)
In 3 qts of water add 1/2 lb. sliced ginger, 2 tbls whole cloves and simmer for 30 mins. Add to cold water to fill a corny (5 gals)
and add the gas. The ginger is the key element. If you bag your hops and add to the keg now you make your hophead friends happy. Let me know if you improve it.

[hopjack13]

clausthaler (i think thats how its spelled) from germany,
taste like a becks.

buckler (made by heineken) is a n/a that i preferd when i had to go dry, i think they make a dark too. o'douls , coors n/a , sharps all suck! clausthaler and buckler both taste better then bud! not that i've ever drank bud.:eek:

[fretlessman71]

Haake Beck is another good choice for an NA. There are times when I'm going to be driving right away and I want to have something other than water or soda, and I always liked this particular brand. Don't call it "beer" and your taste buds won't expect "beer", and I'll bet you'll be surprised.

[hopjack13]

beautiful pic! gotta be a porter......put me down one too!!!

[fretlessman71]

You mean you don't recognize the "storm in a pint glass" even from a measly 70x70 pixel shot? ;) It's a Guinness, actually... when I first met my wife on the internet, I was taking pics of all the steps there were for me when I would enjoy a beer, and Guinness happened to be on the menu that evening. It's been so long since I've had the time to sit down at a pub or bar and watch one being poured that I can't remember if it does the same thing when it's on tap, but the widget cans (all of them, I guess) have this really cool visual effect when you first pour them--probably due to the nitrogen widget. It's become an important part of enjoying a Guinness for me - at least at home.

Back to the original topic of NA beer (or Near Beer, as we used to call it... I even think there was such a brand at one time - AWFUL stuff).... stuff like O'Douls and Sharps and Coors NA to me really isn't all that bad. Remember, when I drink these I'm not expecting, say, a pint of Guinness. They're refreshing because they're not sweet, there's usually something in there to at least REMIND me of beer, and I think that all three of these - macrobrew products though they may be - actually taste better than their alcoholic counterparts. Maybe there's not a whole lot of craft put into them, but neither is there in Coca-Cola, and I still like soda just fine. I've only been able to get through a few sips of Bud for about 13 years, and then only if it's EXTREMELY hot outside, and anything cold tastes good right off the bat. O'Douls, I seem to be able to handle.

Once upon a time there was a NA beer out of Texas who made a light and a dark variety. Don't remember the company, and don't remember just how good it was, but I DO remember that even the dark was sold in cans.... talk about shooting your own product in the foot.

I will say this: if NA beer tasted as good as properly brewed beer ALL the time, I don't think I'd drink much else. Of course, it never will, and I know that, but it'd be nice if there was at least ONE.....

[hopjack13]

guinness ....i should've known. i was drinking a 6th anaversary porter ( stone brewing ) that looked just like your pic, the bubbles even rushed downwards as the head went the other way
guiness is a very popular brand so yhea i shoulda known ,i thought the head on guinness was a lot darker though , shows how much guienness i drink, i guess im more of a hop head.
cheers

[MmmBeer]

Harp makes a N/A now. Haven't tried it but might be interesting.

[Doug Schultz]

Hmmmmm, non alcoholic beer.....that's kinda like 'sex in a canoe'......


.......'effin' close to water'............

[fretlessman71]

My defense of NA beer comes in this form:

I like malted beverages, and I like driving. This way, I can do both if I have to. I'd prefer not to do both, but sometimes it's a necessity.

There. I've said it. Wouldn't it be nice if we were able to hold a tankard of Arrogant Bastard between our legs while offroading? Sure. But it's just not a good idea. So there. PHTBHBHPTHPTHBT.