RA, LA or NA beers

With the lawn mowing season bearing down upon us, and with this topic side-tracking the Kuma's thread, I thought we could discuss Reduced Alcohol, Low Alcohol and Non-alcohol Beers. Namely, are there any good ones out there or do they all suck? I have several friends who actually drink beer just for the flavor, and will often buy NA or RA beer. Personally, I think the alcohol is a necessary part of the flavor profile. I also find that alcohol sometimes gives me a headache, if I drink only a small amount and stop before achieving the brain-numbing side effects. I would be willing, however, to occasionally drink an RA or NA beer (in lieu of soda or juice), for those times when I have a yen for beer but don't want the alcohol (or have the time to drink a twelve pack ). I have yet to find a RA or NA beer that does it for me taste-wise. It seems that low on alcohol also usually means low on flavor (like some low fat snacks). I know that many stouts are low in alcohol, but when I am craving the flavor of beer, I want something light and refreshing. When I say "light" in this context, I am referring to the viscosity and sugar levels, not the flavor. So, what about it? Are there any RA or NA beers that pack a decent hops punch? Looking for something where I truly won't miss the alcohol.

Saisons can be quite complex and the yeast will give the perception of more body and add an interesting flavor. I also think low ABV Sour beers will give you a really refreshing bite yet stay quite complex.

Le Petit Prince from Jester King one of my favorites
Dupont makes a table saison as well - Avril
Jolly pumpkin makes Bam biere and the other bam series which are in the 4.x% range.

Lowest ABV style I can think of is the Kvass, a russian beer made from old rye bread. It is often flavored with unusual (for beer) herbs and fruit, and therefore wouldn't be very boring. Traditionally it was probably sour, but you'd find some that aren't today. It is still very popular in Russia, being sold on the streets, but in the US you'd probably have to make your own - the few american breweries that make them don't make them year round and they also increase the ABV... - traditionally 0.5% to 1% ABV

Sours in genearl are traditionally low ABV,
Gueuze and lambic can be quite low, traditionally around 4% but a lot these days are a little higher
Berliner Weisse 2.5-3% ABV
Gose 4.?% ABV

d4v3 wrote: I am aware that many stouts are only around 3% or less, due to the amount of residual sugars. The fact that this was described as a sour confused me since sours are generally higher in alcohol (but still relatively light, since a great deal of the sugars are digested by non-alcohol producing bacteria).

re: the comments on the Kuma's thread ^: The majority of stouts, especially the sweet ones are in fact quite high in alcohol. Having residual sugars is not an indicator of a low ABV beer, in fact the opposite is typically true. The level of residual sweetness is a decision made by the brewers and controlled by mash temps, yeast type, malt selection, and many other factors. If alcohol plays any part in it, the yeast actually become worn out and quit fermenting at higher alcohol levels, thus dropping out of suspension and leaving more residual sugar behind. That works out well because sweetness is generally more welcome in higher alcohol beers to balance the alcohol heat and roasted malt character of stouts. I have never heard of a stout under 3%. You got me interested so I started scrolling through the beeradvocate.com stout category and gave up after scrolling through a few hundred or so stouts and didn't see a single one under 3%.

Some american sours can get pretty high, but historically that wasn't always the case. Most range in the 4-6% range with a few exceptions in either direction. Boon makes the Boon Mariage Parfait Gueuze at 8% and that is a pretty extreme and rare example to be that high made by a traditional Gueuzerie. The german sour styles mentioned above are very low at 2.5% to 4%. Wild beers do get very dry since nearly all of the sugars, even the long chain dextrins are are converted by brettanomyces and bacteria, though it's not necessarily true that the bacteria doesn't produce alcohol.

Thanks for all the info Ed. I will try some of the beers that I haven't yet. I like Geuze and other Lambics, but i can only drink a glass or two before the acidity starts to get to me. Unfortunately those beers usually come in 750 ml bottles (I know that is not always the case). I have one bottle left from a case of 3 Fontienen Oude Geuze bottled Feb. 2005 (which makes the oldest Lambic in the blend from about 2001). The ABV is around 5%, which is relatively light but certainly not Low Alcohol. Anyhow, the last bottle I drank had mellowed considerably. In fact, it was the best sour Lambic I have ever sampled. I hung onto one bottle just to see what would happen, but I suspect it is now past its prime. A cold glass of Oude Geuze certainly is refreshing (especially after the sour mellows a bit), but once I open the 750ml, I have to finish it. I do believe the lacto-bacilli may still be semi-active, because an open bottle stays carbonated for a long while. Maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part. What is interesting is that the flavor of the beer changes dramatically once it is exposed to air, The last few glasses in a bottle taste like a completely different brew.

Thanks also for reminding me about Kvaas. I had intended to brew some a while back, but never got around to it. I am very familiar with the stuff, my Grandparents always had a crock of the it bubbling away behind the stove in the kitchen. It was very low in alcohol, but it is an acquired taste. When I was a child, my Grandpa would sneak me glasses of the stuff (when my mom wasn't looking). Most Kvaas available in the US is flavored seltzer water, but there is a company in Toronto that makes 2 liter bottles of close to real Kvass. At least it contains live lacto-bacillus cultures, and actually has a few balls of rye bread floating in the bottle for the bacteria to feed on. The stuff never goes flat. I would take an old bottle out of the fridge and let it warm for a day on the counter, and it would get bubbly again. Like I said, the stuff is as close to the real thing as you can get (it is sold at the Greenwood market in Niles, if that place still exists), but it is still not the same as what I drank as a kid. I will enlist the aid of my mother in re-creating my Grandfather's brew. A few years ago, I brewed some ginger beer using a real ginger beer plant (GBP) supposedly descended from the original plant brought to England from the Crimea. I figured that the original great-great-great grandaddy was used to brew Kvaas. Unfortunately, I was out of town for an extended period of time, and my GBP culture died before I had a chance to experiment with making Kvaas (I also wanted to try making a 'real' root beer). I figured it would be weird to ask a neighbor to stop in to feed sugar to a gelatinous blob in a beaker. The company I obtained the culture from went out of business. As far as I know, I need to have new GBP granules shipped from the UK.

As to stouts, traditional stouts were low in alcohol (in the 3-3.5% range). I am sure some must have been even lower. Modern stouts are higher in alcohol because that is what the market wants. I'll bet the ABV in Guiness is higher than it used to be (just guessing).

Stouts are mashed at a higher temperature which activates the alpha-amylase enzymes and deactivates the beta-amylase in the malted barley (or is it the other way around?). That renders much of the maltose into larger bits which are indigestible to traditional yeasts, creating a sweeter and less alcoholic brew. Holding the initial mash temp below 155 deg. does produce a more alcoholic brew, but that will leave less undigested residual sugar which must be compensated for by adding (non-active) sweeter roasted malts or sugars (like dark brown sucrose and molasses). Still, the wort will only hold so much sugar before it starts to precipitate out. Larger yeast has been bred which can convert larger sugar chains into alcohol, allowing stouts to become more alcoholic and making abominations like Dark Lord possible.

(Sorry Ed, I don't mean to come off as being pedantic. I know you probably know all this. I was not directing my mini-primer to you, but to others who might not be familiar with the relationship of sugar and mash temps to alcohol content.)

All that said, I am still interested in finding other NA and LA brews, which might be in other traditional ale or lager styles with very low alcohol content(< 2%). I was hoping that a beer specifically sold as Non-Alcoholic might actually taste good. I don't need anything fancy, like a low ABV American Lager with a decent bit of hops, or a lower ABV Pils like Goose Island used to make (was it called Dortmunder?). I loved that stuff on a hot summer day. Too bad GI no longer makes it. I even liked their mass-market Pilsener, but I suspect it never found a market (maybe they should have advertised it as a lower calorie beverage). I do have some Hop oil. A few drops can make even Bud light more palatable. I know there must be some decent NA beers out there, but I don't have the stomach to search for them.

I thought of another (of course) obscure style. I read an article in Zymurgy a while ago about a Gratzer. It's a polish style made with only smoked wheat malts, no barley and is aggressively hoppy. It was originally about 3 or so %. From what I read, it was then aged in barrels, sometimes for years to tame some of the smoke character which would have in turn imparted brett and other wild yeast character to it. This sounds like quite the interesting beer, certainly not boring, though maybe a bit strange for most people. I think the article also mentioned a malt company that started producing the smoked wheat malt used in a Gratzer.

- A reall Kvass in Toronto, awesome! I'd be really interested to know the name of the producer or where to find it.

I'd like to know your source for the info on stout. Most sources say the stout was a stronger version of a porter, originally called a Stout Porter, which would place it at around 7-8%. The Dry Irish stout came later in the history which eventually reached ABV as low as ~3.2%, but that is the only reference to a stout with a low ABV. Guiness originally brewed ales, then porters and didn't even brew the stouts until the next generation took over.

Agree on Le Petit Prince being a flavorful 2% beer. It would be nice if it was in a six pack making it more economical in its consumption.

Berliners from Pipeworks are refreshing and tart. Perfect to me for easy drinking in hot weather.

For a hops punch, I particularly like All Day IPA from Founders is a flavorful low abv (around 4.5%) beer.

Half Acre has a beer on tap & available for growler fills called the Grotto. 4.5% pale ale that has a juicy citrus hop flavor and is easy drinking.

laikom wrote:- A reall Kvass in Toronto, awesome! I'd be really interested to know the name of the producer or where to find it.

I'd like to know your source for the info on stout. Most sources say the stout was a stronger version of a porter, originally called a Stout Porter, which would place it at around 7-8%.

I will look through old pictures and see if I ever photographed the bottle of Kvass. I used to get it at the Greenwood Market. They also sold it at Farmer's Best, which is now closed. I am pretty sure that I have seen it at Eurostyle in Skokie.

I based my assessment of stouts mostly on recipes in a vintage brewing book I have, or had (I made the mistake of loaning to a friend). The book's stouts were all around 3.2%. That said, I saw that I was wrong in using the term "Stout" to refer to sweeter malty beers in an historical context. Porter was the style of beer, and "Stout" porter indeed referred to the alcohol content. I guess lower alcohol beers were called "small beers", so "small porter" would probably be the right terminology. Anyhow, my point about alcohol versus residual sugar remains true. I am not referring to beers that derive their sweetness from added sugar, molasses or sweet roasted barleys (like most modern "stouts"), rather I am referring to beers that are mashed at higher temperatures for longer periods to produce a maltier profile.

From Half Acre, I would actually suggest Gossamer. It should be a little easier to find and still clocks in at only 4.2.

When Off Color starts producing their own beer, look for the gose -- I believe they plan on releasing it in 12oz. 4-packs.

Revolution has been making a few lower alcohol beers lately but would only be available in growlers. They have also been a little hit or miss (Poetic Justice was all right - Midi just tasted like water). Fun fact - the first version of A Little Crazy was the small beer they made after brewing Institutionalized. As much as I love the current version, I miss that small beer.

danimalarkey wrote: Midi just tasted like water

thank you. I may not be a beer "expert" but I'm glad to hear confirmation (from someone who IS!) that I wasn't crazy or stupid.

When I was pregnant with my first I tried some of the N/A beers -Clausthaler, Buckler, Becks, St. Pauli Girl and Kaliber. They were all pretty much awful, although I believe Kaliber was the least awful. They tasted either skunky, or were totally bland, flat and sour at times. Not worth the $$ or calories. I gave up towards the end of my pregnancy and just drank 1/2 a regular beer now and then with food. When I went past my due date, I drank a whole beer every day.
Pilsner Urquell is only 4.4% alcohol and is refreshing on a hot day.
LO

My family lived in Saudi Arabia in the 1980s (when I was a teen). My dad made "white" and "brown" in his still and my mom was in charge of wine, which was "aged" in a big Rubbermaid trash can. The grocery stores all had aisles devoted to alcohol-making, including cases of various unsweeted grape juices sold in heavy glass bottles with recapping mechanisms, and sugar and yeast sold in huge bags. But apparently the Saudi government had banned the sale of malt and hops years earlier. They did, however, allow the sale of Moussy Beer, which apparently is Swiss brewed (not what I think of when I think of Switzerland) and one of the first and best-selling non-alcoholic beers in the Middle East. I'm sure I had sips of it when we lived there, but as I recall, my Dad mainly drank it after hot-weather activities like mowing the lawn. Ratebeer gives it an overall score of 1.

Peach lambic (Lindemans, 2.5) is very tasty, & less acidic I feel than other flavours.