Independent Leyton Orient Forum

Picked up a 4-pack of Peroni alcohol free lagers by mistake yesterday and didn't notice until I opened one last night. Have to say I was mildly impressed - taste wise it's a little different but also perfectly acceptable gassy Peroni experience with a wedge of lime in the top.

My first experience of 0% lager was Kaliber back in the early 90's - truly hideous stuff. Does anyone else drink alcohol free beverages? As someone who is usually a designated driver, I'd be interested to receive recommendations of other products.

Guinness 0 is superb. There are quite a few really good alc free IPAs around too, Infinite Session is a good example.

I have 2 or 3 dry months each year, and these help, especially when socialising.

I've had quite a few different ones, all acceptable

Becks
San Miguel
Leffe
Corona
Lucky Saint
Heineken
Punk IPA

The industry has clearly moved on from the dark days of Kaliber!

Gave up drinking at the start of the summer, and going to have my first dry Christmas, and I’m seriously considering just carrying on indefinitely.
Have become a bit of a connoisseur of low alcohol beers in recent months, so here’s my take.

1: if you’re drinking them as an occasional alternative to alcoholic drinks, and not as a substitute during a longer period of abstinence, there’s no avoiding that you just are not gonna get that feel, so in that context, they’re all a bit boring.
The alcohol free beer that I can say gets closest to tasting like the original to the point you’d barely realise it’s not, is Guinness Zero. If I was recommending one beer to someone having one night off the booze because of driving, that’s what I’d recommend.

2: big brands: Heineken zero, nice but gassy, peroni zero - all round really good, tastes nice. Becks blue: avoid, moretti zero: serviceable

3: if you can find it on tap, Lucky Saint hits the spot nicely and is as close as you can get outside of expensive craft beers. I don’t really like the bottled version though, but plenty of others do, so don’t trust me on that

4: craft beers: signature brew’s Lo-Fi is my favourite of the lot. If I call myself a non-drinker now, that’s the one I can drink and I have to actually remind myself “oh wow, this isn’t me giving up on the no-alcohol plan”. If you can find it on tap - which I’ve only seen at signature brew’s own places - it’s well worth it (we’ll, relatively speaking)
Wiper and True’s alcohol free beer is a nice one, and gets additional points for coming in proper can sizes instead of the pathetic 330ml cans that have for some reason become accepted.
Not a big fan of beaver town’s non alcoholic beers. If you can get yourself into a branch of Clapton Craft, they have a non alcohol section that’s always got something interesting to try, and stops it from being too boring

Long slender neck wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 4:18 pm I've had quite a few different ones, all acceptable

Becks
San Miguel
Leffe
Corona
Lucky Saint
Heineken
Punk IPA

Think you mean PunkAF, unless you want to get him arrested for drink driving and take over the board completely

I discovered Bavaria by accident while on holiday in Tenerife. Was very pleasantly surprised and ice cold from the fridge is the way to go.

Tried to find it when back in the UK and my regular supermarkets (Sainsbury and Waitrose) don't stock it. Wandered across to Tesco Barkingside and they don't stock it either but Tesco Highams Park does. I now buy 6-8 packs at a time just to make sure I have stock. When friends come over I ask what they would like to drink. When they say "beer" I say that I only have Bavaria. They make a face. I say "just try it". They do - and most like it

Oh - erdinger alkohol frei is my favourite for post-exercise, watching football or something. I haven’t looked into it too much, but it’s more like a beer flavoured soft drink, but it hits the spot of that refreshing first beer really, really well

Dunners wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 5:00 pm

Jackpot!!

Admin wrote: ↑Mon Nov 27, 2023 4:15 pm Picked up a 4-pack of Peroni alcohol free lagers by mistake yesterday and didn't notice until I opened one last night. Have to say I was mildly impressed - taste wise it's a little different but also perfectly acceptable gassy Peroni experience with a wedge of lime in the top.

My first experience of 0% lager was Kaliber back in the early 90's - truly hideous stuff. Does anyone else drink alcohol free beverages? As someone who is usually a designated driver, I'd be interested to receive recommendations of other products.

Wetherspoons do a great range

Adnams Ghost Ship (nice citrus flavour)

Erdinger (very tasty)
Stella
Heineken
Becks
All good and about £2.40 a bottle

Yes, I've been hearing how much zero alcohol lager has improved recently.

Lucky Saint is a very good 0% beer

Quite liked the 0% Leffe at first but even in small bottles it quickly became too sweet, even for someone with a sweet tooth. Got a load in when OH was pregnant and ended up chucking half of them.

There's some decent one over her, heaps normal is probably the best. I get pissed off with the price though. They're a very similar price to full strength stuff, but they don't pay the huge taxes.

Yes:
Guinness
Heineken
Old Mout
Thatchers Gold
Becks Blue
Erdinger
Peroni

Never again:
Doom Bar (but I can drink the regular until the cows come home)

Why are they so expensive? No duty to pay. Should be cheaper to encourage more sales

aylesburyos wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 10:49 am Why are they so expensive? No duty to pay. Should be cheaper to encourage more sales

It is the process to extract the alcohol that is expensive commonly known as ‘taking the pi55)
Seriously though, it is an expensive process and is the set up costs also. Some breweries are not getting involved producing their own and stock other brands in their pubs as not cost effective. Adams though say their alcohol free Ghost Ship is one of their best sellers and are increasing production. In Ireland, Guinness recently announced they were upping production of alc free Guinness by 27%.

The Guinness zero doesn't seem to have the body of the alcohol version somehow. I did drink the Estrella alcohol free beer Freedam during the summer and that was lovely when chilled.
It is very strange drinking 2 or 3 cans of the alcohol free drinks, then grabbing your car keys to go out. There's still something that triggers in your head saying no you can't drive.

oriboy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 28, 2023 1:48 pm The Guinness zero doesn't seem to have the body of the alcohol version somehow. I did drink the Estrella alcohol free beer Freedam during the summer and that was lovely when chilled.
It is very strange drinking 2 or 3 cans of the alcohol free drinks, then grabbing your car keys to go out. There's still something that triggers in your head saying no you can't drive.

Too sober?

There's a leyton based LoNo producer, called Nirvana Brewery. I get a 24 bottle delivery every month. Highly recommended.

https://nirvanabrewery.com/

Lots of good tips on this thread

Erdinger, Lucky Saint, M&S Czech lager, Ghost Ship are personal favourites

The Woodman by the M25 at Waltham Abbey does excellent Ghost Ship on draft

For anyone wishing that Kaliber were still available, try Cobra alcohol free

east saxon gas wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2023 6:13 am Lots of good tips on this thread

Erdinger, Lucky Saint, M&S Czech lager, Ghost Ship are personal favourites

The Woodman by the M25 at Waltham Abbey does excellent Ghost Ship on draft

For anyone wishing that Kaliber were still available, try Cobra alcohol free

You saying the Woodman does Alcohol Free Ghost Ship on draft?

I just can’t get on with any of them, I’m afraid. My beer of choice is usually a cask ale, and there’s nothing anything like that available as yet. All the AF beers are far too dizzy for me, and all have that metallic taste to me.

I’ve not tried any for about a year so maybe things have moved on, but last time I tried the recommended ones and didn’t like any of them. Punk AF was particularly vile, and I still have a couple of cans of Guinness AF in the fridge.

We usually have a dry January so maybe I’ll try some more, but in general if we’re not drinking then we just don’t go out to pubs. Going to gigs, which is something I do more or less weekly, is hard without a beer or two, I remember watching IDLES last year stone cold sober and just couldn’t get into it at all.

Daily Express bot wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2023 6:58 am

east saxon gas wrote: ↑Wed Nov 29, 2023 6:13 am Lots of good tips on this thread

Erdinger, Lucky Saint, M&S Czech lager, Ghost Ship are personal favourites

The Woodman by the M25 at Waltham Abbey does excellent Ghost Ship on draft

For anyone wishing that Kaliber were still available, try Cobra alcohol free

You saying the Woodman does Alcohol Free Ghost Ship on draft?

Well they certainly used to. And very nice it was too

It seemed a good choice for a pub that many would probably drive to

And went particularly well with a Sunday roast I thought