Best Tasting Non-Alcoholic Beer

June 30, 2019   7 Comments

The best tasting non-alcoholic beer does taste like alcoholic beer. I know because I drink both types.

I got interested in non-alcoholic beer when I heard that German winter Olympians were drinking it as a sports drink. It turns out that there were studies that showed that non-alcoholic beer helped with recovery after a work-out.

What?

That’s right people, non-alcoholic beer is a sports drink in Germany. They don’t drink Gatorade. I happen to hate Gatorade so I was happy with this development.

On top of the fact that is considered healthy – it is also lower in calories than regular beer. Alcohol adds calories! I have looked for the best light beer in the past and found only one good one.

But what about process of making non-alcoholic beer? Is this stuff filled with something else to take out the alcohol? It turns out that the brewers can simply stop the fermentation process before the yeast make alcohol. Easy, peasy.

So, it is all-natural and low calorie but what about tasty?

My trip to the liquor store led me to these non-alcoholic beers. I already know O’Doul’s - made by Anheuser-Busch - and I am not a fan. The flavor is unremarkable and there is a weird aftertaste – avoid!!

The ones above are what I found. Buckler is from Holland (like Heineken), Kaliber is made my the same brewers as Guinness (Ireland) and Clausthaler and Erdinger are from Germany.

Did these cost me any less than real beer? No, they cost about $6-$7 for 6. Oh well.

Kaliber (only 66 calories) had a bitter aftertaste and I didn’t think it tasted like beer. The flavor of Buckler was just boring. I wouldn’t drink it even with alcohol in it.

At any rate, these two are the clear winners.

The Clausthaler is DRY-HOPPED so it tasted hoppy! This same brewery makes a couple of different flavors of non-alcoholic beer and there isn’t a bad one in the bunch. If I poured this beer for you – you would think it is just an excellent beer. You wouldn’t know by the taste that it lacked alcohol.

The other winner is Erdinger. This is what it looks like when you pour it.

Umm, yes, it looks exactly like good wheat beer and it tastes exactly like a delicious wheat beer.

The Germans really have figured this out! I love this stuff much more than my light beers which are pretty flavorless.

The Erdinger is 82 calories and I believe 2 Freestyle SmartPts. The carbohydrates in the beer are due to the hops, yeast, and grains that made it. It even has a little bit of protein!

All of these beers have calorie amounts on them so you can assess the damage. I wish beer with alcohol included calorie amounts because there is quite a range (100-300 calories).

How can you lose? It tastes like delicious beer, it hydrates you, it is low in calorie and goes well with grilled foods. Thank you, Germany!

My analysis has led me to believe that the best non-alcoholic beers are German (but I bet that will change if other breweries see profit in this product).

What do you think is the best and tastiest non-alcoholic beers? Have you tried any?

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