NEARLY BEER. BUT NOT QUITE
by Matt Meehan
For a variety of reasons, ranging from pregnancy to liver health to caloric intake to religion - or it is simply their night as the designated driver - people are turning to alcohol-free beer. Alkoholfrei beer is a way of “hanging with the drinking crowd” without actually consuming (much) alcohol—but the question remains: are we drinking good stuff, or is it just watered down Milwaukee’s Best (if that’s even possible), without the effects of alcohol? Let’s take a look at some of the common brands I have found in and around Basel.
First, note: most of the alcohol-free beer I have tried is basically lager. Not stout, not bitters, not Belgian trappist ales. Very straightforward, normal beer. Near beer is not the way to go if you are looking for full bodied complexity and exotic flavors. You have to pony up for the alcohol to get the best stuff.
Clausthaler: The most common brand that I find out and about is Clausthaler. Brewed in Germany, Clausthaler provides a quality beer flavor with less than 0.5% alcohol. I find it drinks pretty well, especially chilled or when on tap (often the case at restaurants in Germany). Is it the most complex, flavorful beer ever produced? 9. But for me a Clausthaler works just fine for chilling out on a warm summer evening.
Eichhof: Brewed in Luzern, Eichhof is a very commonly found Swiss alcohol free beer. It’s…fine. It has less flavor than the Clausthaler, less bite and therefore less interest. I get it mostly because it is available in my nearest Migros, which happens to be 50 meters away.
Tourtel Blonde: I had this at a local Irish pub. My question—why humiliate those of us drinking alcohol-free beer at a pub even more by serving this in 25cl mini-bottles? Not only are they a ripoff at CHF 6 each, but they are so small you need to order two at a shot to even fill a normal glass. Not that you really want to. Completely unremarkable in every way in my mind.
Appenzeller Leermond: This you can find at Paul Ullrich and other fine purveyors (Tibits near the Steinenvorstadt also serves it). I like this alcohol-free beer for two reasons—while not strong, the taste is a bit more interesting than the run-of- the-mill stuff, and it is also truly alcohol free—0.0%. I find it better when not served too chilled. I’ve only had it a couple times, but I am willing to give it another whirl.
Feldschlösschen Alkololfrei: This is one you find all over Basel—and not surprising since Feldschlösschen is Switzerland’s most popular domestic beer. Of course, Bud is America’s most popular domestic beer, so draw your own conclusions. But Feldschlösschen does have an alcohol free (equal or less than 0.5%) beer, which again is ok at best, but fills in when you need something to hold that looks like beer. I had it at a recent FCB match from the “tap” in a plastic cup…not recommended. Especially that warm backwash in the last fifth of the cup after it has been under your seat for 20 minutes.
Erdinger Alcohol Free Wheat Beer: I find one of the main features of Wheat Beer (Weissbier) is its massive alcohol kick and next day’s rocking headache. But what if I could get the wheat beer taste without the ensuing pain? I decided to try the alcohol-free version of Erdinger. And it’s not too bad. Is it the same as a high-quality full alcohol Weissbier? Nah. But for a change of pace from the standard alkoholfrei lager pack, you might reach out for an Erdinger.
There are lots of others, from the biggies–Kaliber from Guiness (see this 2001 assessment in The Guardian); Buckler from Heineken–as well as stuff from Beck’s, Stella, Kronenbourg plus lesser known locals. You name it, they have it. So if you are in the mood for a beer, but don’t want or don’t need the alcohol, you do have some alternatives that won’t make you reach for the spittoon.
Note nummer zwei: Alcohol-free beer is not (usually) concocted in some lab by dudes in white coats with thick glasses using unfiltered Rhine water and artificial flavorings like Ethyl- (E, Z) -2,4-decadienoat. They are brewed using the same process and ingredients as normal beer (water, hops, yeast and barley malt) except that once the brewing process is complete, most of the alcohol is removed through either osmosis/reverse osmosis or vacuum evaporation. I stress “most” of the alcohol–they are generally not 100% alcohol-free. These processes remove 99.95% all of the alcohol, but not all—removing all the alcohol tends to remove all of the taste. In the EU (and Switzerland), a beverage must be not more than 0.5% alcohol by volume to be described as alcohol-free.
Photo: Getty Images