Non alcoholic beers

Though this sounds like blashphemy, I am curious to know if there are any good non-alcoholic beers available.

I've recently had to give up alcohol for some health related reasons.
Going to the Hopleaf is painful now, like a diabetic going to a candy store.

Sharps and O'douls are, well, nasty.

I'll have a Becks NA if I'm out with friends, usually since that is all that is offered. Its not that bad, but I've never been a fan of Becks regardless.

Are there possibly any IPA, stouts or ESBs that are NA?

St. Pauli NA might be a slight upgrade, but not much I am unaware of any fuller styles available non-alcoholic. There are a number of options in low-alcohol around 2-3%, but I think you're out of luck for non-alc beers.

I don't know of any NA's that are done in any other styles than lagers or ambers.

Klausthaler Amber isn't bad and is better than the O'Douls attempt at an amber.

Buckler (Heineken) and Kaliber (Guinness) and Haake Beck are about equal in my opinion, but all could fool a casual light beer drinker. I always like the story where some contractors in my apartment drank a 6 of leftover Klausthaler from my frig. It was like the joke was on them when they could have stolen the New Glarus stashed in there.

If I had to drink NA beer, I'd garnish them with some hops, just to give them the bite they need to be a real beer.

Of the nonalcoholic beers, I like Kaliber (by Guinness) the best.

Warsteiner makes a decent NA beer called Fresh. Like most NA beers, it is not very hoppy. Freshops sells little bottles of hop oil. A couple of drops will impart a nice hops aroma (but not much bitter) to hopless beers. It also comes in handy for those summer barbecues where only B*d is being poured.
http://www.freshops.com

Katie wrote:Of the nonalcoholic beers, I like Kaliber (by Guinness) the best.

I'll second or third the recommendation of Kaliber. It was my NA beer of choice for the 10 years of motorcycle riding and bar hopping

A couple of other OK German NA beers, aside from the Warsteiner mentioned above, are Bittburger "Drive" and Paulaner "Thomasbrau". I have a friend who drinks NA beer, and he says he prefers Clausthaller, but I guess it is a matter of personal taste.

Thank you all for your input and suggestions.

I had Kaliber recently, not sure where, but remember that it didn't suck.

The hop oil is a good idea. Think there is anyplace local to buy this? Not that I'm totally against internet ordering, I'd rather prefer to find it local. I'll probably look around...

And I like the idea of pulling out a bottle of hop oil and adding a few drops to an NA beer when at a bar or restaurant. Reminds me of when I travelled the south and would bring my own maple syrup, grade B, with me to the Waffle House.

Who knows, it might start a trend.

Again, thanks!!

I like the Clausthaler regular (tastes alot like Beck's to me) and occasionally the Amber (though it's a little sweet.

Laschet's had the Bitburger NA - I also enjoyed that as well.

KSeecs,
Are there really 2-3% beers available? Seems like I haven't seen those on the shelves for quite some time.

stewed coot wrote:KSeecs,
Are there really 2-3% beers available? Seems like I haven't seen those on the shelves for quite some time.

3.2% beer is all over the grocery stores in KS and OK, among other places.

A bit off-topic, but while I like Kaliber among nonalcoholic beers, I'm not much of a beer fan in general. Can anyone recommend a good nonalcoholic wine?

Aaron Deacon wrote:

stewed coot wrote:KSeecs,
Are there really 2-3% beers available? Seems like I haven't seen those on the shelves for quite some time.

3.2% beer is all over the grocery stores in KS and OK, among other places.

It should also be noted that three-two beer is 3.2% alcohol by weight, and that translates into 4% ABV (alcohol by volume), which is, in my experience at least, the more common scale used.

Katie--

If you're looking for non-alcholic (NA) wine, check out Ariel Vineyards products . Their brut cuvee "champagne" is good enough that if you gave a glass to someone without telling them is was "de-alcoholized" (the term Ariel uses), they most likely would be surprised to hear that after tasting it. It has a fruity "extra dry" flavor that is very enjoyable and does not taste like soda pop or funky grape juice

I have tried as many NA wines as I've been able to find in Chicago, and so far Ariel's "champagne" is the only one I actually enjoy drinking and would serve to friends/guests without reservation.

They also make a "rouge", a "chardonnay" and a pink "white zinfandel", none of which I have yet tried but plan to. I have a bottle of their red in the kitchen right now.

NOTE: I'm new to LTH (just joined today) so I haven't had a chance to explore it. I point this out as the info in this post may well be more appropriate in the wine forum (which I presume exists somewhere on LTH).

So, Katie, hope you can find Ariel products and that you enjoy them. In Chicago I've purchased them at Binney's (Clark/Halsted just south of Belmont) and at Kafka's Wine Shop (Halsted just north of Belmont).

Bonne chance!

Thanks for the suggestion, Frater G. I think I tried an Ariel white once in the past and found it closer to white grape juice than I liked. But I've never tried the champagne, and on your recommendation I'm willing to give that a try. I nearly bought a bottle of Ariel red wine a few days ago but balked. So let me know how that bottle of red that you've got turns out.

Katie--

When I sample the red I'll let you know. Except for Ariel's "champagne", every bottle of non-alcohol wine I've ever tried has been pretty insipid. Grape juice at best. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with their sparkling brut cuvee.

I'll be interested in what you think of it. So be sure to post feedback.

Peaces,

Frater G

Katie--

I tried the no-alcohol Ariel "rouge" today. While it does not taste bad, it definitely does not taste like wine. Think "wine flavored kool-ade". It's a pleasant, even refreshing beverage, but you can forget about anything wine related while drinking it.

So when it comes to Ariel products, I guess I'll stick with the sparkling brute cuvee. Maybe someday someone will come up with a no-alcohol red wine that rivals the quality of some of the better German no-alcohol beers (such as Beck's).

So far the US has yet to come up with any NA beer that's worth drinking; although I must admit that O'Doule's amber almost gets there, for me--a bit more malt and/or hops might actually make it worthy of the label "beer".

Peaces,

--Frater G