Non/low Alcoholic Beer/spirits

Some I've tried have been OK, some quite nice some fcking terrible.

In my old age I've become quite particular about my beer and I'd rather not drink than have an ale that's served badly. some places this means I;m forced to partake of the lager.
I've also started to suffer from some particularly nasty hangovers as well so have been investigating the non-alcoholic stuff recently. Here's my list so far.

• Guinness zero. - A little bit thinner than the real stuff. On the whole pretty decent, very drinkable.
• Lucky Saint. (non Lemon). - My current go to. Tastes the same as a boggo lager to me. Prefer this over a soft drink like Coke
• Brew dog various Hazy AF Wingman etc. - Not really a Brewdog fan tbh and whilst drinkable these haven't been my cup of tea. Bit too cirussy and hoppy for my liking.
• St Austell Properjob. - Will report back, chilling in the fridge as I type.
• Erdinger Alcohol frei - decent
• Adnams Ghostship - sub par
• Gordons 0.0 Gin - nope
• Athletic Brewing co Run Wild IPA. -Will report back, chilling in the fridge as I type.
• Cobra Zero - Horribly yeasty
• Effes 0% - pretty decent

Anyone have any suggestions for me to try?

 

I’d say the Guinness is the best AF version of the real thing, so much so we tricked a mate who was a bit pissed over Xmas into drinking it and they were none the wiser.

Would agree Lucky Saint is good in cans, for some reason though it tasted terrible when I had it on draft once.

 

I don't drink or go out much anymore. I do find most of the non alcohol stuff unpalatable, but Guinness 0.0 is not too bad. A shandy is not cool, but it is sometimes a good compromise. Going to a concert with my wife this weekend, so expect to get tanked and suffer for a week. Getting older is not always fun!

 

I have posted this before, and you could call this a blessing or a curse, but bizarrely now I’m into my 40s, my hangovers are no worse than they ever were.

Of course still get hangovers, but they aren’t in any way debilitating. I could put 10 beers away and just feel a little bit jaded the next day, but nothing that has any major impact on me.

it drives my Mrs mad as she gets wiped out the next day beyond a certain point, but I’ll be fine.

I appreciate things could still change, and probably will change into my 50s/60s though.

I say it could also be a curse, because in many ways it would be handy to have a natural cap on what I want to drink as I get older.

 

I have a decade or so on you and it is without question, for me, a situation that capacity to recover diminishes as you get older, primarily due to lack of practice.

 

Isn't Bud Light effectively non alcoholic? Not that I'd recommend it mind you

 

The Guinness one is the only one I've tried that's actually good and reasonably close to the real thing. The rest range from crap to utterly disgusting.

 

Totally agree. The Guinnesse is very good.

 

I’m not a Guinness drinker, but people who are tell me the zero version is good. In Spain recently we were drinking the Estrella Galicia 0.0, which is fine - especially the Tostada version.
I’ve tried low/no alcohol wine and gin and neither were anything like the real thing - avoid.
On hangovers, when I was around 50 I used to get quite bad ones after drinking not very much, but I seem to have got past that now (15 years on) and a moderate overindulgence is no longer a problem.

 

Haven't tried them extensively yet - no additional ones from yours to offer yet, sorry - but I agree with you and others on Guinness 0.0, although obviously a far 'thinner' product, its taste is still very good. Not generally a lager drinker but, needs must on what's available when driving, I did try the Lucky Saint and was surprised that the taste was more than OK. Only two I'd disagree with you on are the Erdinger (no, just no!) and the low alcohol Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5%. Adnams has cracked this in my view, the taste is strong and authentic and when that's available I 'd happily drink this without feeling I'm getting a watered down drink.

 

Kind of related but I moved onto CBD rather than the too strong unregulated street weed I used to get. Obviously it isnt as potent but you still get a nice mellow buzz and you know it has been grown or processed to a high set of regulations.

I highly recommend this place CBD Bud Shop – cbdbudshop to anyone interested. Just click on most popular in the different sections and you should be alright. Look out for the Morroccan hash when they have it back in stock, very nice.

Looking forward to the day weed is properly legalised so you can pick different strengths just like alcohol and I presume there will be a THC maximum limit just like a max limit of alcohol content and criminal gangs will lose out.

 

I doubt the gangs will just pack it in and head to the job centre though.

 

Financially they will miss out, it is a billion pound industry. UK Gov will profit over £1 billion in taxes too.

 

I thought this but now I'm in my 50's I find I still don't suffer. This irritates the wife no end as much like your wife, a few drinks completely knocks her out the following day

 

I like BrewDog, the AF version is pretty close to the original but does have a slight watered-down taste to it but it's pretty good.

 

They were giving out some tins of Ghost Ship at reception in the office, and it was without doubt the most disgusting thing I've ever drunk. Like watered-down water if that were possible, with a hint of ashtray. Strange how opinions differ...

 

The Guinness zero is definitely the best I’ve tried so far. Peroni 0.0 is just about passable and there’s a couple of Leffe AF in the beer fridge someone brought round but didn’t drink, so I might give them a go sometime.
Not heard of Lucky Saint before so might give that a go considering the positive reviews on here.

 

The 0% Erdinger is nice and tastes very similar to the ‘real’ product.

My partner isn’t much of a drinker but she enjoys the alcohol free Corona’s, apparently they’re really nice.

 

Every non-alcoholic beer I've tried has tasted ****

 

Some are horrible, some are close to the real thing but may not be to the drinkers taste. Brewdog for example, I just don't like their stuff for some reason, alcoholic or not.

Low or zero % beers have to be an area for growth for breweries as the youth of today just don't drink like we did when I was a kid.

I like a beer for the taste. I've never really enjoyed being drunk and tended to fall asleep before getting incapable anyway. Since my 40s the hangovers have got progressively worse. This may be age or this may be lack of practice. The non alcoholic stuff is getting better but I've yet to have anything close to a decent real ale. I've trained my self to find lager acceptable in the summer because this appears to be the best current option but if anyone has any decent low alcohol ale suggestions I'll we all for it.

 

Agree on the Ghost Ship, missed that mentioned initially. A couple of years ago a did a dry couple of months and ordered loads of AF beers to try and that was definitely the best on of the lot.

I think the key is that with IPA type drinks they have an inherent taste which isn’t the alcohol, so if you get a decent version it tastes more convincing because it’s got that distinctive taste still. A lot of the lagers tend to taste either weird or like dishwater as they don’t have a huge amount of taste to start with.

 

Update
Athletic Brewing co Run Wild IPA - thin and too citrussy for my liking. Not an IPA fan though so some may find it OK. Tescos jobbing out 5 packs cheap at the moment.

 

For a lot of people it’s because the owner/founder is an insufferable idiot and a sex pest.

Not to mention they’re about as far from ‘Punk’ now is as probably possible.

 

That's a very good point. IPAs tend to be heavily hopped which isn't my favourite, I tend to prefer the stronger, darker brews. Adnams Broadside, Youngs Special etc.

 

Kaliber is the best

 

Someone I work with reckons when they do a sesh like a day at the Rugby or something they mix a normal Guinness with a zero and then just drink 2% all day.

 

Eye of the needle stuff the next morning…

 

When the wife was pregnant a few years ago I drank a couple of different NA lagers.

Heineken was probably the nicest tasting.

Ghostship 0.5 wasn't too bad either.

Corona was ok but not great.

Budweiser was utterly horrible.

 

I treat the pub/ alcohol as one of my favourite hobbies and always felt healthy (I run 50km a week, and could easily run a half marathon after 10 pints the previous night).

But the wife and I have been trying for a baby for a while now, so I probably need to pack it in for a few months. I’ll try to give Guinness 0 a go, but it’s hard psychologically to have something worse tasting that still isn’t that healthy.

 

Me and the mrs are in a similar position, but I did couple of tests and they were both fine so I haven’t really bothered stopping drinking. Of course it would like improve things but as they were fine already it seemed unnecessary.

Of course it’s the alcohol that is by far and away the issue, and the fact an alcoholic drink can lead to more plus food, so still something to be gained by swapping out. But, I do agree if I was replacing having a drink at home I wouldn’t bother with AF really, as it’s still expensive and you may as well drink something healthy , or just drink water that only has benefits and no drawbacks. AF is deffo handy if you’re driving to a family event or if you’re not drinking at a pub though.

 

Is this you?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BTpIjN-3-eo

 

Went on the Lucky Saint at the weekend for the first time, and was drinkable, unlike some of the AF lagers you find. Before that Heineken Blue was the better of them all.

Been eyeing up the Guiness AF for a while, so will give that a go too based on the feedback here.

 

I swear our third child was conceived due to us both getting absolutely w***ered at a neighbours party. We were trying for another, obviously, but the baby was born pretty much 9 months to the day, (night), of that particular bash.

 

My first was conceived after my wife had to hold me up to pee in a campsite toilet because otherwise I'd have fallen into the urinal.