Guinness Zero - have 'they' cracked it?

Yeah, it's very good. I have a couple of cans in the fridge at the moment.

There are loads of fantastic NA beers.

Agreed - it's ace.

As posted on previous thread it has messed with with my head on a night out. After 4 pints of it I was questioning my sobriety to drive with a 'phantom' bevied up feeling. I can only put it down to it feeling and tasting so close to the real thing and being in an environment I've normally have had a few.

Marco against the pint. He'll never lose

[i]There are loads of fantastic NA beers.[/i] - Possibly but it is still the minority of na beer. Most are still pretty rank. I speak after 3 years without a real beer.

Guinness Zero is good and dependable.

It is best not to expect it to taste like Guinness but rather consider if it is a pleasant drink. Most alcohol free beers are like that. I don't like sweet drinks, which rules out about 90% of all soft drinks. The NA beers are something that isn't sweet (some are but I can avoid those) so I don't mind drinking them but don't ever expect to get something that tastes like real beer. Accept it for what it is.

Most of the NA beers I have tried have that over-malty taste to some degree. Like they're covering up for something. Even chilled mass lagers (which don't taste of much in alcoholic form) haven't cracked it IMO.

There may well be other good NA beers, but they are niche - nothing mainstream has come anywhere near as close as Guinness Zero to tasting like the real thing.

I agree, it's great. I have been lucky enough to enjoy it on draught, in a pub in Dublin, with the chief brewer of the team behind it. Cheers bud.

After the other thread I bought a mixed case from Jump Ship brewery. I've tried to be subjective as they're local to me but I reckon they're the best AF beers I've tried so far. I bought a second case the other day. And they do a stout.

It’s great

It did lead to a worrying moment.

Round 4, when i was designated driver, i ordered my fourth Guinness zero. 5 minutes later my mate comes back and says “are you sure? They say they didn’t do Guinness zero”

After 4 pints of it I was questioning my sobriety to drive with a ‘phantom’ bevied up feeling. I can only put it down to it feeling and tasting so close to the real thing and being in an environment I’ve normally have had a few.

I stopped drinking alcohol a long time back and now Guinness 0.0 is my standard drink at the local Trade Union club. On first arriving I stand watching the barman slowly and carefully pour a can of Guinness 0.0 into a glass, I then carry it over to wherever I am going to sit, place the glass on the table, sit down, and take my first mouthful.

I find that first mouthful utterly satisfying but I have absolutely no idea why, how can I be gagging for some non-alcohol? It makes no sense at all, it hasn't even got caffeine in it ffs. It's bizarre and it seems to "hit the spot" more as time goes by.

A friend very recently pointed out to me that a can of Guinness 0.0, which is more or less a pint, only has 90 calories, I had no idea, I had always assumed that it was packed with calories. I actually find one can quite filling too, more than it feels it should be.

All in all I reckon that Guinness 0.0 is the perfect drink. Unless you want something which disrupts the neurotransmitters in your brain, makes you throw up, fall over, and continues to punish you mercilessly the following day 🙂

Agreed. It's astonishing. I'm a self confessed beer snob and it is in a league of its own.

Agree, it has been superb for me to curb my drinking which was starting to concern me. Attitudes seem to be changing quickly and the NA section keeps growing in the supermarkets.

The low alcohol beer thing is a just such a huge game changer

I say my son play a gig in Sheffield and i was sleeping in a tent in the Peak. Soft drinks would have been tough. Even not that nice low alcohol beer at it was a breeze

I think it’s a great substitute.

Got given a nitro surge for Xmas so might see if can use pin trick on these cans and see if it makes it even closer to a real pint.

Yes it's almost indistinguishable from the real thing.  A pub I go into has this contraption which looks like a normal beer font that opens the can and then turns the can over slowly to pour the Guinness with a perfect head.  It also comes in pints which most cans don't which is also a bonus. I understand that they have a couple of pubs in London serving it on draught - can't wait to try that.

Only AF beer I like. All the others are either too happy or bland. It tastes nearly like Guinness.

When I was drinking I'd never have considered Guinness but now I am sober I love a Guinness Zero.  On a hot summer's day (remember those?) a cold GZ really hit the spot.  I was in Devon last week and found Proper Job 0.5% which is the best ale type beer I have tasted.  I haven't found it anywhere locally yet though.

So it's all your faults that I couldn't find any in the shops last week!

Felt like others had finally discovered my personal little secret. Reminds me to stock up...

It's good for Guinness too. Same price, (or more?) as an alcoholic pint but with no duty which would be about 50p for a 4.3% Guinness. Someone is profiteering.

I've not tried GZ, my usual af tipple is an Erdinger weisbier.

If someone did a decent AF wine, that'd be good.

Anyone recommend a pale ale af that’s any good. For me they’ve always had a weird finish on the palette

Adnams Ghostship is pretty good. 0.5% IIRC.

Was going to say the same thing @tthew - that's the only one I've found I've bought again.

I rarely drink "real" Guinness but the 0.0 one is my goto zero perecenter. I thought it was cheaper than the alcoholic stuff as well- bought a few packs of 10 before Christmas and was surprised they weren't more expensive (I'm looking at you Impossibrew)

Might try that because the Ghost Ship and (particularly) the Doom Bar Zero I tried the last couple of days were 'orrible.

First time trying it in the pub last night and I was pleasantly surprised. I'll occasionally have a real Guinness but the Zero is  above everything else I've tried, Adnams Ghostship is really good too though.

I do like the Erdinger but I don't really think of that as a substitute as it's so different from my usual IPA's.

The absolute worst is Tennents, it's bad enough with the alcohol in it the AF stuff is truly terrible, I'd much rather a glass of water.

Mind, I wouldn't touch full fat Doom Bar either.

Another Ghost Ship fan here

Anyone recommend a pale ale af that’s any good. For me they’ve always had a weird finish on the palette

Jump Ship do a pale ale and an IPA.

Yes, still taste like a poor over marketed stout.

The big drop brewery alcohol free pales aren't bad.

I do some homebrewing, I think the stouts and porters are always easier to do than the pale delicate  beers because you've got more to hide behind.

The darker alcohol free beers, I think, work well because you miss the 'mouth feel' of the alcohol less, because the darker malts give a bit of almost thickness to the drink that is harder to replicate with the pales.

The darker alcohol free beers, I think, work well because you miss the ‘mouth feel’ of the alcohol less, because the darker malts give a bit of almost thickness to the drink that is harder to replicate with the pales.

Nice analysis . Maybe that's why the Erdinger Weissbier tastes pretty good too - there's just a bit more to it.

Guiness Zero doesn't taste anything like a decent proper guiness

However as most pubs in England don't serve proper guiness but a watered down over chilled and over gassed version it stands up well.

It also tastes better than those awful pressurised cans of 'real guiness'

Stout was always traditionally a low alchohol drink anyway compared to lager and bitter and so it works well AF or like the Small Beer stout at around 2%

For me it's easily the best zero alcohol beer. Did seven months dry last year (aiming to do longer this year) and I got through quite a bit of it.

Erdinger Alkoholfrei is another good one but I think that's a 0.5-1%er from memory.

Maybe that’s why the Erdinger Weissbier tastes pretty good too – there’s just a bit more to it.

Yes - definitely, the local real ale off license near us has some other alcohol free/0.5% german weiss beers in that style that are pretty good too.

After the other thread I bought a mixed case from Jump Ship brewery. I’ve tried to be subjective as they’re local to me but I reckon they’re the best AF beers I’ve tried so far. I bought a second case the other day. And they do a stout.

Agree.

I do find the claim GZ tastes like Guinness bizarre though, it blatantly doesn't. I like them both but they are not the same!

I’m a fan too. Doesn’t quite have the mouthfeel of the real stuff (perhaps they could do a ‘Barista’ version with oil in it like they do with oat milk… ?)

And you can buy it in French supermarkets!

Guinness tastes great to me.  Alcohol messes with some of my medication - so I cannot drink it anymore.

Guinness 0 still feels a bit "thin" in the mouth for a stout once you get past that mousse iykwim.

As far as lagers go, FreeDamm isn't far off the mark having managed to dial back that lingering malty aftertaste, which most brewers just get plain wrong.

Alcohol messes with some of my medication – so I cannot drink it anymore.

Yep; came here to ask is it truly 0% alcohol, or just close to zero like many others?

According to the Ronseal index

0.0% Alcohol Free

Says "not more than 0.05% vol."

According to the Ronseal index

Ah yes, because marketing is never disingenuous, is it?

“not more than 0.05% vol.”

So not alcohol free, which is as suspected, but legally advertised as such*. Glad it's a viable choice for most folk though; sounds like a decent tipple!

*and yes, I'm aware that yogurt/ginger beer, ripe bananas, etc, quite possibly contain some alcohol...

Agree that AF stouts tend to be the best of the options.

After those, i find hazy pale ale types to be decent - Lucky Saint do one, Brewdog Hazy AF (if you can bear to give your money to those pillocks) and a few others.

Then ales like Ghost Ship which are ok if there's nothing else - though Butcombe's AF Goram IPA is good.

But I won't bother with an AF lager. Just not worth anybody's time.

I find getting an assorted crate from https://drydrinker.com/ is a good way of trying out a selection

though Butcombe’s AF Goram IPA is good

That's my AF drink of choice since I discovered it on draught in a pub when meeting some folks for lunch. While GZ is undoubtedly good it's not often that I fancy a pint of stout.