0% Beer

Anonymous

It may have been done to death but if anyone needs a decent 0% beer I found one I actually like.

I tried Becks Blue which was just about drinkable with my curry.
I then tried Cobra 0% which was foul.

I then tried Bavaria 0.0% wheat beer (I think its called 0.0% because a lot of the other non alcoholic wheat beers are actually 0.5%, as are some root beers) and I genuinely like it.

It tastes like a Hoegaarden top, so if you do not like Hoegaarden then forget it.

The normal Bavaria 0.0% (i.e. not the wheat one) is pretty good too.
I have had their larger shandy (when I was drinking) and thats also nice.
Will be trying their proper premium larger when I am back on the sauce

IMO the Bavaria 0.0% wheat tastes so nice I would drink it even when I am drinking again!

Its £2 for 6x 330ml bottles or tins when on offer.
I went into Morrissons to get some more today but all the wheat ones had gone. The normal (non wheat) Bavaria 0.0% on the shelf next to it was full though and both are on offer.

briantrumpet

Mmm, might give that a try. I more or less gave up beer a few years ago (other than the odd half at The Bridge Inn at Topsham), and all the soft drinks are pretty horrible (apart from the odd good ginger beer - and even that is rather too sweet). Most low- or-non-alcooholic drinks are equally horrible, so if there is something out there that has that nice tang of a good continental beer, it's worth a try.

t4tomo

any advice on where to get a spice free curry to go with it?

ugo.santalucia

Bavaria and Becks blue are OK... try the alcohol free Maisel Weiss, it's very good

smidsy

Carbonator wrote:

if anyone needs a decent 0% beer

Why would anyone want this?

If you want a beer have one, if that is not appropriate drink soft drinks.

If you can not do the above you need help

ugo.santalucia

smidsy wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

if anyone needs a decent 0% beer

Why would anyone want this?

If you want a beer have one, if that is not appropriate drink soft drinks.

If you can not do the above you need help

Maybe because you want to have 2 or 3 at your favourite indian restaurant and then drive home, knowing that if a drunk student stomps under your car you will be in the right and won't go to jail?
Just a thought...
Of course you can get a taxi and add 40 pounds to your bill every time you go out for dinner. I see many good reasons to want a 0% beer... soft drinks simply don't go with food

crescent

ugo.santalucia wrote:

. soft drinks simply don't go with food

+1 for this. I have been on nights out where I have had to drive for one reason or another and opted for the usual soft drinks - Coke, fresh orange and lemonade, soda and lime etc and felt more bagged up and slightly hungover than if I had been drinking. I have tried Becks Blue recently and thought it was very good - pleasant tasting and easy to drink. I remember the previous incarnations of alcohol-free beers, Barbican, Kaliber etc and it is a big improvement on them. I seem to remember Swan Light was OK but that was low alcohol as opposed to no alcohol.
I'm not convinced Shloer is a suitable alternative to wine mind you, it's ok as a soft drink in it's own right but not as an accompaniment to a meal.

Anonymous

smidsy wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

if anyone needs a decent 0% beer

Why would anyone want this?

If you want a beer have one, if that is not appropriate drink soft drinks.

If you can not do the above you need help

I generally agree with you but if you are not drinking then the other options are pretty cr4p, especially when out for a meal.

A curry is my only real 'need a beer' thing and why I tried a Becks Blue and probably a curry out is the only situation I would suffer a 0% larger normally.

Now I have found one I actually like though I feel it is good for other reasons.

It stops people annoyingly asking you why you are not drinking.
It makes people feel better about being with you while you are not drinking (i.e. if I went to someones house for a meal).
It is nice to have that finished work Friday/weekend feeling.

None of which I would suffer drinking something I did not like for.

BelgianBeerGeek

Check the labels carefully. As already mentioned, there is a difference between "0% alcohol" and "alcohol free". Most alcohol free beers are allowed to have some alcohol in them, up to a very low limit.

One of the best alcohol free IMO is Bitburger Drive.

Anonymous

Read a review of alcohol free wheat beers and I think the Bavaria was the only actually alcohol free one.

I remember drinking a root beer whist not drinking alcohol last year, then looking at the label and seeing it was up to 0.5% alcohol.

The Bravia 0.0% almost makes me feel as though I have had a drink too.

kieranb

mango lassi anyone?

smidsy

ugo.santalucia wrote:

. soft drinks simply don't go with food

Utter tosh - on this we defintiely disagree.

Crescent wrote:

+1 for this. .

-1. See above.

Alcies the lot of ya

crescent

smidsy wrote:

Alcies the lot of ya

Surely an "alcie" would want an alcoholic beer and not an alcohol free one?? I don't know many alcoholics but I'm pretty sure they like their super lagers, I believe they find Special Brew quite moreish.

smidsy

Crescent wrote:

Surely an "alcie" would want an alcoholic beer and not an alcohol free one??

Indeed, which only goes to further demonstrate my point - 0% or alcohol free beer is pointless.

The only reason to drink it is that mentally you need to have beer (so alcieesque), otherwise you would drink something else.

It is up there with caffeine free coffee and sugar free coke - WTF!

I mean there will be brussel free sprouts next

Captain Slackbladder

My good lady drank the odd bottle of Becks Blue when she was pregnant.

She craved spicy food at the time and enjoyed the odd one when eating a curry etc.

bianchimoon

Smidseys argument winning IMO

Paulie W

smidsy wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

. soft drinks simply don't go with food

Utter tosh - on this we defintiely disagree.

Most soft drinks are sweet (often very sweet) and I personally dont want to drink coke or fanta or fruit juice with a curry or a pizza or thai or chinese (maybe with a burger). I'm surprised there aren't more non-alcoholic drinks out there which cater to this market - whether branded as beer, wine or otherwise.

monkimark

When my wife was pregnant she sampled a few of the alcohol free beers - they all tasted a bit crap (like beer flavoured drinks rather than beer).

I've never bothered with alcohol free beer, sparkling water with a meal, maybe a lassi with a curry if I'm not drinking.

If it's 0% then it's not beer.

smidsy

Paulie W wrote:

I'm surprised there aren't more non-alcoholic drinks out there which cater to this market

What market? The 'I must have an alcohol substitute' market.

There are loads of non-alcoholic drinks if you can look past that.

edhornby

the bavaria is nicer than becks blue I have found, there's something about lager that has a metallic tang when you remove the alcohol...

instead of a 'soft drink' I have tonic water cos it's not sticky and you tend to drink it a little slower than water or pop

Paulie W

smidsy wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

I'm surprised there aren't more non-alcoholic drinks out there which cater to this market

What market? The 'I must have an alcohol substitute' market.

There are loads of non-alcoholic drinks if you can look past that.

Ok - some example of widely available non-sweet, non-fizzy, non-alcoholic soft drinks?

Anonymous

Tonic water would be good actually. Bit of lemon and some ice clinking in the glass.........sorted

twist83

Crescent wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

. soft drinks simply don't go with food

+1 for this. I have been on nights out where I have had to drive for one reason or another and opted for the usual soft drinks - Coke, fresh orange and lemonade, soda and lime etc and felt more bagged up and slightly hungover than if I had been drinking. I have tried Becks Blue recently and thought it was very good - pleasant tasting and easy to drink. I remember the previous incarnations of alcohol-free beers, Barbican, Kaliber etc and it is a big improvement on them. I seem to remember Swan Light was OK but that was low alcohol as opposed to no alcohol.
I'm not convinced Shloer is a suitable alternative to wine mind you, it's ok as a soft drink in it's own right but not as an accompaniment to a meal.

Wow you feel worse the next day having drunk Carbonated WATER with a small touch of Lime Cordial than you do with beer. Alcho

I do not really see the point either. They ALL taste pretty disgsuting. Lets face it as well. Indian is hardly going to be ruined with a soft drink. If anything the taste of Lager with food pretty much destroys the taste. It is down to association of beer with Curry.

Beer + Curry = MASSIVE Bloat.

smidsy

Paulie W wrote:

Ok - some example of widely available non-sweet, non-fizzy, non-alcoholic soft drinks?

I am not claiming there are loads meeting those specifics - I have no problem with coke etc.

Water is always good, but tea and coffee are too. In fact curry should be taken with tea not beer.

Anonymous

:shock: Nothing is better than Larger + Curry :shock:

How do you belch after drinking tea?

capt_slog

twist83 wrote:

Beer + Curry = MASSIVE Bloat.

Some years ago there was an Indian chap in the UK that started a brewery to make a beer that he (and others of course) could enjoy with his curry. He found British lager-beers to be too fizzy and as you say, bloating, and he wasn't able to eat as much food as he wanted to before feeling to full of gas.

I don't think I've tried many non-alcoholic beers, maybe one or two but not enough to remember. The main problem with most stuff like that is that it tastes like it's been drunk already.

Anonymous

Capt Slog wrote:

The main problem with most stuff like that is that it tastes like it's been drunk already.

Great way of putting it

smidsy

Capt Slog wrote:

Some years ago there was an Indian chap in the UK that started a brewery to make a beer that he (and others of course) could enjoy with his curry. He found British lager-beers to be too fizzy and as you say, bloating, and he wasn't able to eat as much food as he wanted to before feeling to full of gas.

Mr Cobra I presume.

Which raises another good point. Beer is full of sugar and is fizzy!

BelgianBeerGeek

Capt Slog wrote:

twist83 wrote:

Beer + Curry = MASSIVE Bloat.

Some years ago there was an Indian chap in the UK that started a brewery to make a beer that he (and others of course) could enjoy with his curry. He found British lager-beers to be too fizzy and as you say, bloating, and he wasn't able to eat as much food as he wanted to before feeling to full of gas.

I don't think I've tried many non-alcoholic beers, maybe one or two but not enough to remember. The main problem with most stuff like that is that it tastes like it's been drunk already.

Cobra was the beer. Still a lager, just not as carbonated.

Anyway, the best drink with a curry is a good IPA.

Anonymous

Cobra is the worse I have tried. I had to check I had not picked up a bottle of Mr Muscle by mistake.
Not sure why I opened the second bottle, but the last two sat in the fridge a while then went down the sink....... bit like Mr Mucle

ugo.santalucia

smidsy wrote:

Paulie W wrote:

Ok - some example of widely available non-sweet, non-fizzy, non-alcoholic soft drinks?

I am not claiming there are loads meeting those specifics - I have no problem with coke etc.

Water is always good, but tea and coffee are too. In fact curry should be taken with tea not beer.

Smidsy, what's your issue with alcohol free beer? It somehow diminishes British masculinity or what? Beer is here to stay, but alcohol free beer is handy for those who don't want or can't drink alcohol but enjoy beer's taste... there might be many reasons for that, which is not up to you to question