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by vowelless 1810 days ago
This might be an unpopular opinion, but non alcoholic beer tastes like crap. Ive tried to “quit” alcohol in the past and tried drinking NA beers: Lagunitas NA IPA (disgusting taste), Odoules (meh), and Athletic Brewing (one flavor was drinkable).

Heineken 0.0 was the best tasting NA beer but still, it just felt like I was drinking sugar for no reason.

6 comments

I dont like Alkohol free beer, mostly because I don't like beer enough to justify drinking without buzz.

However nearly all breweries in Europe have Alkohol free editions (I assume mostly for their TV ads) which aren't at all bad usually. The few I sometimes drink, Siegel, Feldschlösschen, basically taste identical minus the slight Alkohol taste. It's not artisan product around here, but done from the same people that brew the same beer for 500+ years. Maybe it's worth looking into importing some.

Did you try Jever Fun? Does taste like real lager.

https://www.jever.de/biere/jever-fun/

I feel you. I’ve tried a ton. Athletic is one of the better ones, O’Doul’s is decent compared to the cheap domestics it’s replacing but that’s not my style, and wheat is my style, where I’ve found some satisfaction with Well Being and Weihenstephaner NA.

Half of drinking is the ritual of cracking open a cold can/bottle of something a little sharp, and so while I don’t need the sugar, I find that nothing has worked better to replace beer than a Reed’s Strongest ginger ale.

I recommend checking out NA beers by Surreal and Bravus, esp the darker beers. I agree that Lagunitas/Odoules NA doesn't taste good.
Been on the wagon for close to 20 yrs, so I have had it all. Surreal Brewing(SF based) is by far and away my favorite. Very low cal - 17-75 cals (Kolsch is 17 cals). Might be a good option if you are looking for something less sugary.
I dislike all the ones you mention, but I like BrewDog and Partake.