What is your favorite non-alcoholic beer?

FringeTheory999@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 63 points –

I’ve gone on medication that makes drinking kind of problematic, but I really love beer of all kinds, IPAs, sours, etc. I like flavorful and varied beers. I’d like to try some interesting non-alcoholic options. What is your favorite non-alcoholic beer?

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Athletic brewing company has a a stout...that if they billed as an ESB would be amazingly convincing.

I swear to you, I am (or I guess used to be) a BJCP certified beer judge. (former) Cicerone ii

Athletic is the best out there for NA, that I've seen. And that stout... I was intrigued to see how you could make beery. And you can't. But... an ESBs flavor profile is, for all intents and purposes, a watered down (Still spritzy) dry stout.

I'll bet there are better for hopheads. Hell, I prefer lagunitas's NIPA offering more than athletics pale ale. So... yeah.

I read this twice and have no idea what you said.

ESB means "extra special bitter," which is a beer style

One that BJCP judges need to know. They also need to know a variety of stouts. BJCP stands for beer judge certification program.

And cicerone is like sommelier.

Sommelier is like wine expert but certified.

Idk about wine, but cicerone has three levels.

Level 1 is trivial and about glassware and cleanliness and beer style general knowledge.

Level 2 is a bit more intense (identifying specific problems with a slightly imperfect beer)

Level 3, to me, is wizardry. It's like mouth-brain-beer turning completeness. Basically.

Thanks! This helps. I really wish they made a decent non-alcoholic beer. I don’t drink alcohol by choice, but I love the taste of beer.

I tried a few non-alcoholic things that are local, but they are all pretty water downed tasting.

2 more...

Guinness has the best NA stout because it tastes just like regular Guinness. When I had to stop drinking, I really missed this and none of the other NA stouts scratched the itch. Once this came out, I was really happy. Other than that, anything from Athletic Brewing Company is awesome. They have some good IPAs, their sour and gose options are really good, there’s a cerveza that tastes similar to negra modelo and a bunch of their seasonal offerings are really good. A big problem with a lot of NA beers is that they don’t get the carbonation right (brew dog has some good tasting ones, but their carbonation is no good). Athletic nails it. After that I’d say Brooklyn Brewing and Partake both have a few really solid ones; just pick whatever looks interesting from them and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

I love Athletic Brewing Company. Their Oktoberfest is very good, and their Blueberry Lemon Mango sour is my favorite NA beer on the market. I also really like Best Day, especially their Kolsch.

I've never had a NA beer, so this is kind of a joke answer, but I actually wonder it technically counts.

Root Beer?

In the same vein- Ginger Beer. Specifically the great Jamaican brand in the yellow labeled bottles

Agree with everyone on Athletic I like their upside dawn golden. I also like Black Butte Port which is a NA I’ve only seen at BiMart of all places. I go through a lot of the Claushaller dry hopped.

So far the Athletic IPA

Solid hops hit. It’s a bit thin in the mouth feel. But the. Hops hit home.

For IPAs: Brooklyn Special Effects and BrewDog Punk AF

I agree with BrewDog Punk AF. It has the mouthfeel of a real IPA.

I had a NA Guinness Stout that I really enjoyed. Had I not followed it up with an actual Guinness, I may have been convinced it was the real thing.

Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is fantastic, but it's not trying to be a beer or anything.

Lagunitas IPNA tastes fucking awful, DO NOT BUY.

Brew Dog NAs are great.

All Athletic Brewing offerings are great as well!

Give mulled cider (NOT spiked) a try. Super easy to heat up a batch, fairly inexpensive (and Simply Apple works for cider if you can't get apple cider out of season), and, to me, at least, it "feels" like something alcoholic but with zero alcohol (unless you make the spiked version).

https://www.acouplecooks.com/mulled-cider/

Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0 -- really scratches the lager itch.
Sam Adams, Just The Haze -- my fav NA IPA
Athletic Brewing Company -- many offerings but Upside Dawn Golden is my favorite.

Fremont Brewing Non-Alcoholic IPA. Tastes real.

Guinness 0 is surprisingly good as well.

Non-alcoholic beer has come along in leaps and bounds and there are many very drinkable beverages available now.

For the past 2 years, I've bought a non-alc beer Advent Calendar, which is basically a case of beer with perforated "doors" that you get a can from for the first 24 days of December and then about 4 cans for 25 December itself. Only one or two that I didn't like enough to not drink them and several I thought were amazing.

As I live in Australia, the majority are from here. There were some from the US and Europe, though. Some that spring to mind are : Athletic, Løwlander, Vandestreek, Sheep in Wolf's Clothing, Bravus, Big Drop.

If they'll ship to wherever you are, you should give Mash Gang a try. My personal favourite is a fruited west-coast IPA, but mostly I just like that they're constantly trying new things. Since giving up alcohol, it's the closest I've gotten to that feeling of trying a bunch of crazy craft beers and not knowing exactly what you're about to get.

I actually prefer malt drinks like Barbican. For me it is significantly cheaper than NA lager. I also like the flavored Barbicans (pomegranate) but they're closer to a soft drink than a NA Radler.

Alcohol free Guinness was amazing, until Celiac ruled that out.

Came here to suggest the Guinness 0, it's so good and practically indistinguishable from the standard stuff.

Molson Excel. I'm a recovered alcoholic, and it does it for me. There are some nice other options, but I go through so many of the Excels.