Non alcoholic beer is pretty good nowadays.

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

May the force be with you
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So...... I NEVER go to the dr but finally decided to go and learned I am a living dumpster on the verge of death. I have to cut out a lot of crap or in a few years, I will end up on meds that will mess up my flying and of course I will be dead in a week.

Deciding to be a better version of myself, I went to the Whole foods to grab a sixer for Monday Night Football and saw some IPA from a company called Athletic brewing.

When my wife was pregnant, I tried some of the NA beers available back then and they all got poured down the drain. Nasty.

Well I will be damned if they haven't figured it out.

If it wasn't on the label I wouldn't know it was NA. They are a touch lighter than the normal beers I like but then I like 10%, craft, hipster stuff.

If you want to make a better choice and you see these, you might be surprised.
They have ambers, stouts, etc as well. They have done a really good job on this.


beer.jpg



I see Brooklyn brewing is starting to get in on this action as well.
I suspect this will be a growing trend now that they don't taste like ****.

Any of you tried these?



And before you say it, @eman1200 , here is my: 24885385.gif
 
give up beer altogether and make the switch to whiskey. or if you're really a badass, whisky.

beer makes me fat and burp a lot. which I'm ok doing on special occasions, like rough river and on dates. otherwise I'm a wine and whiskey guy these days. it's almost healthy for you.
 
eman1200 said:
give up beer altogether and make the switch to whiskey. or if you're really a badass, whisky.

beer makes me fat and burp a lot. which I'm ok doing on special occasions, like rough river and on dates. otherwise I'm a wine and whiskey guy these days. it's almost healthy for you.
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Can I go to your doctor?
Mine is all "No red meat this.." "And stop with the cocaine"
He's a real downer.
 
sheeit, the doctor is where I get my cocai.... uh, my weight loss medication from.
 
Um..... I don't have kids so why did YOU have to stop drinking beer when your wife was pregnant.??

And is this stuff available at Walmart.??
 
Who’s bringing the Tofu Burgers to Rough River for BrYan? He can eat them while the rest of the others scarf down the BBQ at What’s-the-name place in Where-is-it KY. And bring the hummus he can use instead of DAB.

Cheers
 
I’m not a dumpster fire like you Bryan, but I did give up alcohol earlier this year and have been asking myself if there are any good NA drinks. A few weeks ago I tried “Be Well” wine (Cabernet) and found that to be surprisingly drinkable. I also tried “Gruvi” stout and it was awful.

When it comes to beer I prefer stouts and have heard Guinness makes or is making a NA version that I might try to get. I also like whiskey/scotch and now Facebook pops up ads for a couple of NA whiskeys but the reviews on them seem to be pretty awful.
 
I can't imagine wanting to drink any alcoholic beverage without the alcohol. Maybe some of the frozen concoction type things...
 
I only care what the beer tastes like for the first half of the first one. NA beer you would have to like the taste to the last drop.

Ive read dark beers have similar good qualities to red wines, tannins I think, so if you find a dark NA that you like it would be a twofer.
 
I switched about 8 months ago and it helped my bp a lot.

My wife just got me the Upside Dawn, haven't tried it yet. Erdinger, Stella, and Bitburger all make NA beers that taste like beer. Lagunitas makes an "IPNA" that's basically hoppy soda.
 
NA beer, next you guys will be discussing sugar free chocolate.
 
Glad to see this topic. When I fly or motorcycle to a lunch, it would be nice to have a beer. I have started to ask for it hoping that they will start stocking it.
 
Athletic Brewing rocks. Like their IPAs very much…especially Free Wave. Nice to have a beer with lunch and still fly in the afternoon!
…..and available on Amazon, so the big brown truck brings it to me.
….but still a couple of Elysian Space Dust IPAs in the evening. My doc says beer is good for what ails me - she knows my disposition
 
Having the free wave now.
It's excellent
 
mryan75 said:
Heineken NA is absolutely as good, if not better, than regular Heineken.
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That's not saying much...

My wife, who no longer drinks, likes NA beers. Usually O'Douls, but now she likes the Heineken 0.0.

The problem is that alcohol is a major part of the flavor, which is why most NA beers are sweet and insipid. Supposedly there are some decent NA liquors now, but only good for mixing. As a guy who prefers single malt Scotch neat I don't think they will fly for me, but maybe a NA gin and tonic on a hot day would be OK...
 
Dana said:
That's not saying much...

My wife, who no longer drinks, likes NA beers. Usually O'Douls, but now she likes the Heineken 0.0.
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O’Douls is Budweiser without the alcohol, and honestly, the only reason to drink Budweiser to begin with is the alcohol!
 
I like beer, wine, etc. When I don’t want/can’t have the alcohol part I just drink water, tea or coke.

Having NA beer or wine is the equivalent of going to the strip club for me…what’s the point. :)

On a serious note, wish you luck with the DR/health stuff Bryan.
 
Does anyone make a good non-alcoholic Scotch?
 
Radar Contact said:
I like beer, wine, etc. When I don’t want/can’t have the alcohol part I just drink water, tea or coke.

Having NA beer or wine is the equivalent of going to the strip club for me…what’s the point. :)

On a serious note, wish you luck with the DR/health stuff Bryan.
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I know I shouldn't say this, but with your wife, why would you ever even think about going to a strip club?
edit: perhaps I shouldn't have had that last non-non alcoholic Scotch.
 
JOhnH said:
I know I shouldn't say this, but with your wife, why would you ever even think about going to a strip club?
edit: perhaps I shouldn't have had that last non-non alcoholic Scotch.
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Good point and I don’t (was just giving the first equivalent to NA beer that came to mind). I’ve been to a few since I’ve met her and she has drug me into them all. She likes them more than me…

PS. I married a unicorn. :)
 
JOhnH said:
I know I shouldn't say this, but with your wife, why would you ever even think about going to a strip club?
edit: perhaps I shouldn't have had that last non-non alcoholic Scotch.
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didja ever have your favorite scotch, and then sip on more of your favorite scotch, then finish the bottle of your favorite scotch and then look at all the other bottles of scotch on the shelves and say to yourself "maybe I'll try this other scotch".......but then you don't and you go back to your old scotch? it's kinda something like that.

btw, if you haven't brought your wife/gf to a strip club, you should definitely try it. it's a lot of fun. mostly for your wife/gf, but being there is entertaining.
 
Wait wait wait… I understood binging coffee offsets binging beer… is this not accurate?
 
An old-timer taught me this trick years ago. Since ethanol's specific gravity is 0.79, it floats on water. So if you let a regular beer sit still for a while the alcohol floats up to the top just like oil...

For 5% ABV beer pour off the top 7 or 8% just to be sure, and viola! Alcohol free beer! And it tastes just like the real thing. :)

(The excess calories in ice cream and cake can be eliminated in a similar fashion, but it takes like five times as long because they are solids.)
 
Ted said:
...and have heard Guinness makes or is making a NA version...
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Guinness makes an NA called “Kaliber” that’s decent. I haven’t tried the Athletic Brewing beers yet but I will.

I really wish I could find a good NA red wine. Some of the whites, particularly those from Ariel, are good, but the reds taste like sour Welch’s.
 
Half Fast said:
Guinness makes an NA called “Kaliber” that’s decent. I haven’t tried the Athletic Brewing beers yet but I will.

I really wish I could find a good NA red wine. Some of the whites, particularly those from Ariel, are good, but the reds taste like sour Welch’s.
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I thought the “Be Well” cab was pretty drinkable. Tasted enough like the real thing that I was satisfied with it. But certainly not as good as a proper, good quality real red.
 
Radar Contact said:
Good point and I don’t (was just giving the first equivalent to NA beer that came to mind). I’ve been to a few since I’ve met her and she has drug me into them all. She likes them more than me…

PS. I married a unicorn. :)
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unicorn? Have you tried cloning for the betterment of society?


 
Trouble is, the alcohol is probably the least bad-for-you thing in beer. Take that out and you might as well be drinking a soda. I get it if you like the flavor, but health wise you're probably way better off drinking 3 regular beers and a glass of water than you are 4 NA "beers".

Now if you have to get up and fly a xc at 6AM...
 
eman1200 said:
didja ever have your favorite scotch, and then sip on more of your favorite scotch, then finish the bottle of your favorite scotch and then look at all the other bottles of scotch on the shelves and say to yourself "maybe I'll try this other scotch".......but then you don't and you go back to your old scotch? it's kinda something like that.
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"Son, you're never gonna find the answers to your problems in the bottom of that bottle."
"I know, that's why I'm gonna buy another one." - Ron White

Nauga,
who is baffled by the Athletic supporters
 
eman1200 said:
give up beer altogether and make the switch to whiskey. or if you're really a badass, whisky.

beer makes me fat and burp a lot. which I'm ok doing on special occasions, like rough river and on dates. otherwise I'm a wine and whiskey guy these days. it's almost healthy for you.
Click to expand...

Bourbon fan myself. Tastes great, less filling!
 
Yup, been trying to rotate in some NA beers for all the reasons above. Haven’t found anyone doing it at homebrew scale with good results. There is definitely an art to handling the flavor and aroma shift once the alcohol is gone Athletic is pretty good and have really good marketing. I came across some articles here and there that were closer to advertorials than journalism, which wasn’t obvious.

I don’t recall the name but if you run across a NA red IPA, I found it quite enjoyable and probably closer to the strong and crafty ones. The one major upside of NA is no shipping/distribution restrictions. So breweries that have shipping setup can ship anywhere in the US.
 
cowman said:
I can't imagine wanting to drink any alcoholic beverage without the alcohol. Maybe some of the frozen concoction type things...
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I think that depends on the reason why you like and consume alcoholic drinks. For me, the one thing I miss about it is the flavor pairings. Red wine and chocolate is one of my favorite pairings, as well as red wine with a steak. Bourbon/whiskey and ice cream. Beer and pizza. Or sometimes just the taste sipping by the fire.

Now if you're going for the relaxing effects of alcohol (or you just like to drink to get drunk) and you don't like the flavor, which is the case for many, that's a different story. But if you are drinking good quality anything, really, there should be a good flavor to it, and those flavors or flavor pairings I find quite enjoyable.

Jim K said:
Trouble is, the alcohol is probably the least bad-for-you thing in beer. Take that out and you might as well be drinking a soda. I get it if you like the flavor, but health wise you're probably way better off drinking 3 regular beers and a glass of water than you are 4 NA "beers".

Now if you have to get up and fly a xc at 6AM...
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Agreed, and so some of it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. health wise. Depending on what Bryan's issues are that his doctor is trying to get him to work on, cutting out alcohol in and of itself may do what you're looking for.
 
When I need to back off my beer drankin', my go-to is sparkling water, such as this from HEB.

000909593
 
Sam Adams did a really good job with their “Just The Haze” NA IPA.
 
I pretty much put non alcoholic beer in the same category as decaf coffee.

I don't really like the taste of beer. But, a nice Pilsner on a hot day can be refreshing. But to be clear, I drink to get f**** *p. Same with coffee, I don't actually like coffee but I'll drink a cup a day to wake up.

I actually probably would drink beer more often if it didn't make be fat and burp a lot. I drink mainly wine and vodka or scotch. Okay that was badly worded. Wine or vodka or scotch. There.

I actually like the Truly hard seltzers. Those are hella chuggable but have probably too much sugar in them so I might finish on one.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I drink mainly wine and vodka or scotch. Okay that was badly worded. Wine or vodka or scotch.
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I saw nothing wrong with your original wording. Sounds like a typical night.
 
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