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I'm going to try this Ghost Ship and if it's rank you lot are in trouble, currently I think zero alcohol beer is like vegan meat, perverted, if it tastes authentically good you are reprieved.
^ I actually bought the 0.5% Ghost Ship by accident, thinking it was full fat. It’s definitely not ‘rank’, it’s palatable, hoppy, good aroma. I’d like to try it side by side with the 4.5%. Especially as it’s nearly half the calories IIRC and my 1 x occasional bottle of beer with evening dinner doesn’t require alcohol as 330ml or even 500ml makes zero difference alcoholic or not.
When you are designated driver drinking coke all evening is worse the next day than a hangover.
Generalist, my hangovers have gotten worse with age.
Always been a lover of my beer, rum, wine. Would have a limit of 4 pints on a school night with only a slight head. Now it’s down to either 1 pint or two glasses of wine max. Hangover can last for 2 days.
I’m going away this weekend on the beer, every other drink will be AF. Hopefully that will help with the hangovers. I’m slightly nervous about it which is weird, out Friday and Saturday night and then also Sunday dinner (I’m driving so no beer on Sunday). But it’s a 5 hour drive on Sunday normally in bad traffic.
Havent found a alchohol-free beer that I like the taste of, if I'm looking at AF I'll drink something else.
Does anyone else find that non-alcohol beer makes you really thirsty?
I like the taste of good beer (not the likes of Carling) , so I have one or two now and then.
If I found alcohol-free that actually tasted nice, I might drink that, depends on the cost and if it was better than coke/lemonade etc.
"Why not find a AF drink that is nice?"
Like a nice AF beer. They do exist.
It's an obvious fact that people have different taste buds. Maybe those who like AF beer don't even register the actual flavour of alcohol, so don't notice the lack of it? (As a food development person in a previous career, I'd be interested to know more about what sort of foods they like, etc.) I enjoy the taste of alcohol, so drinking an AF beer means that there's a major component of my drink missing. Similarly, I've never understood why anyone would drink an alcoholic drink where the alcoholic flavour is disguised, other than to get drunk.
I recently had a few cans of AF beer, so that I could drink something while watching some rugby with my father. It was perfectly pleasant but hasn't inspired me to rush out and buy more.
Has anybody tried AF whiskey?
@mick_r - it is my understanding that German breweries now have to make at least one AF offering by law. Not sure if it is true however there is some decent stuff coming from there...
it is my understanding that German breweries now have to make at least one AF offering by law
That's interesting because the ingredients of some AF beers don't have yeast listed but do have 'natural flavouring'. In Germany, beer has to only have malted grains, hops, water and yeast? I wonder if they've found themselves restricted to some extent
^ I actually bought the 0.5% Ghost Ship by accident, thinking it was full fat. It’s definitely not ‘rank
I did this too (obviously the labeling isn’t clear enough). I thought it was pretty rank. Certainly didn’t taste like any beer I’ve had before. But then, beer is an acquired taste really, so I guess non-beer is too.
Has anybody tried AF whiskey?
Whisky tastes like bin juice at the best of times, the alcohol is the only reason to drink it, if I catch anyone drinking it they will get a proper anti hipster roasting.
And those getting a hangover after half a beer are lightweights, that's what a lightweight is, someone that thinks 0.02% of alcohol in the bloodstream affects their ability to do small motor tasks or some fkn thing, it doesn't, if you were a Glaswegian you would be considered defective, you need a blood transfusion and a decent curry in you..with nan bread..and..sorry I forgot what what I was ranting about.
beer is an acquired taste really,
True. Have been drinking bitter for 40 years now. Mrs P reckons it (bitter or hoppy ale) tastes like ‘Money, you know - coins?’ before refusing to drink it ever again.
And she thinks my tastes are weird…
Quite like the taste, don't have a high tolerance for alcohol. I don't get hangovers - neither do my brother and dad - but I get drunk exceptionally quickly and don't really enjoy the experience.
Also, have you seen how many calories are in a pint of beer?
For me AF beer was a stepping stone when going teetotal after "self medicating" with alcohol for years. I'm bi-polar and the only thing that slowed a racing mind during hypomania was getting drunk. Once properly diagnosed and medicated I weened myself off beer with AF Heineken. Now been teetotal for 18 months but still find the (very) occasional AF Heineken really refreshing. Can't stand the smell of alcohol now.
If i'm out at a restaurant then I'll almost always have water to drink. Once in a while I'll have lime and soda but find the sweetness a bit too much normally.
A good AF beer gives a very similar experience to beer, just without the morning after experience if you've had a few.
Mrs P reckons it (bitter or hoppy ale) tastes like ‘Money, you know – coins?’ before refusing to drink it ever again.
You didn't ask why she knows what coins taste like?
Not seen it said yet, but you can have a combination of AF and normal beers of an evening.
I originally thought Ghost Ship was only an alcohol free beer, and thought it was a pretty good name for a beer that’s missing alcohol.
Was surprised when I came across the alcoholic one.
Just to offer another brand/option, the M&S ale 0.5% Southwold is my favourite low alcohol at the moment.
https://www.ocado.com/products/m-s-low-alcohol-southwold-pale-ale-520206011
The choice of AF/Low alcohols beers has never been better; the days of Kaliber are long gone. Dry Drinker have a wide selection, and from many well know brands. The German beers are particularly good, there are even Leffe, and Hoegaarden LA versions. M&S have done a 0.5% Czech lager, made by Staropramen which is nice.
I've just started drinking beers from a south London brewery who only brew LA beer; all 2.8% and less; they're called Small Beer, well worth a try.
Not seen it said yet, but you can have a combination of AF and normal beers of an evening.
I think that may confuse a few sticklers.
Off the back of this thread I switched tonights tipple from FourPure Citrus Session (think was formerly named ‘Easy Peeler’) to a Ghost Ship 0.5%
The Ghost Ship (on second taste) is … ok with food. It does lack something (other than alcohol). Hard to describe. It tastes not quite ‘3D’ but like an isometric projection of 3D 🧐. Still, 60p less per bottle (and nearly half the calories) is good for me. I think a small slice of lime may improve/balance it to a decent taste.
I missed the Fourpure Citrus though 😋. May mix and match next time.
Leffe, and Hoegaarden LA versions
Both are really good, but both taste like a spoon of honey has been added to the full alcohol version.
Because I’m not going to sit and drink a can of Fanta with dinner like some kind of adolescent
Quite right, but you could put it in a glass like most adults do and worry less about the image projected.
I like an AF beer although they are often lacking in flavour or watery, so would rather go for low alcohol beers. I also avoid beer over 5% now as I find them too strong and just make me feel rough.
Weirdly I don't have any issue knocking back several glasses of wine.
Last night I tried Micro Machine (awesome name) from my favourite brewery Good Chemistry. 2.8% IPA.
Recommended!
Similar thing to decaf coffee. I like coffee but I don't like the dependancy on caffeine that comes with it so I have "real" coffee when I get up and then caffeine free the rest of the day (no headaches, no feeling like I have to have a coffee etc,.). Tastes fine to me (when compared to caffeinated coffee of same brand/flavour)
I’ve not really had a drink since having COVID back in November - partly didn't fancy it due to a permanent headache for 5 months, and partly due to the drugs for said headache. AF beer means I can enjoy a relaxing ‘adult’ drink on an evening with friends etc, without the complications. Though I’m starting to be headache and drug free, I’m still drinking it. Found some I like, and it doesn’t leave me with bad night sleep, feel fresh the next day etc. I probably will go back to the odd glass of wine with dinner, but that is likely it.
I also have the same approach as kerley with coffee.
I think it's just a social thing. A way to drink without drinking so you don't seem out of the loop. I don't get it either though. NA beers don't even taste good, except for maybe a ginger beer.
I don't drink, I'm not sure I can. Anything with alcohol in it tastes to me like it's mouldy or gone off. In our youth my sister was very concerned about this and to try ad help would occasionally get me a Coke with with vodka in it on the assumption I wouldn't be able to taste it. I don't even like sherry trifle, and as a kid I used to hate Top Deck shandy when everyone else liked it.
The few things I've had that didn't taste bad - some kind of cider related alcopop, maybe a liquor chocolate, or a coffee with whiskey in it - were difficult to drink (or eat) and after a minute or two left me feeling fairly poorly and with a terrible headache at the front of my skull.
I'm tempted to try AF beer as I do often like a cold drink. Coke is out, obviously, and diet soft drinks start giving me irregular heartbeats if I drink more than a couple a week.
Which would you lot recommend for something light and easy to drink? Clearly alcohol-free cider is actually Appletise (which I really like!) but it's sugary albeit naturally - can you get alcohol-free dry cider?
EDIT you can apparently, what's it like?
EDIT2 hmm the beer is still somewhat sugary
Decaffeinated coffee, zero alcohol beer, pretend meat made out of soya, what is this nonsense? caffeine and alcohol...and meat are the key ingredient, the money shot, the reason for being, that's what it is, the effect is what it does, what you have when you take the caffeine out is a brown drink, and when you take the alcohol away you have fizzy beer like drink, if you don't like beer why on earth would you want to drink pretend beer? or pretend coffee, or pretend meat?
It's wrong on every level, unauthentic, a fake life pretending to be a coffee and beer drinker, and probably pretending to be a meat eater too, on the surface to onlookers you are normal, having a beer with your roast beef but it's a lie, you are drinking fizzy bin juice and eating bean mash, why the pretense? why want to be like those you don't want to be? have social norms gripped you so tight you cannot be free to discover new things to drink and eat? think of the children growing up in a world of things that used to be real things, never knowing a restaurant that sold food without the constituent ingredients missing, a world where the word 'ham' still works for a spam like pink substance, where was I? think I lost my way at the children....
Which would you lot recommend for something light and easy to drink? Clearly alcohol-free cider is actually Appletise
If you mean those those fizzy pseudo cider analogues such as Magners, Stowford Press, ‘white’ cider etc…then yes they are already like Appletiser.
A decent raw apple juice is already far and away superior to those drinks.
Well inspired by this thread I bought a bottle of AF Doom Bar and a pack of AF Leffe to try. Haven't had a drink other than tea, coffee or water for months so thought I'd see how they go with dinner later.
I found Doonbar foul which was a surprise. Punk Nanny State is okay for the first can and Infinite Session is just non-descript
In principal I love the idea of AF or LA beers.
I *really* like the current crop of hoppy pale ales & IPAs, especially NEIPAs and if I could have the delicious taste that comes with a double or even triple IPA with less of the alcohol I would probably drink a lot more.
Don't get me wrong, I love the relaxed warmth that comes with a couple of nice beers but it would be a path I don't want to take to have that on a very regular basis. More AF beer that tastes good means I get to enjoy more beer full stop. Win/Win.
Sadly they are not quite there yet, but the progress in the past couple of years has been remarkable so I live in hope.
For me it's the fact I have gone totally alcohol free. Even a few drinks sends me deeper and deeper into the drinking rabbit hole and I don't want that in my life.
I like not having a blurry head every day. I like having a good sleep and I like feeling 10x more alive every day than I did when I drank. But I do like the taste of beer on occasion.
I'm not getting the symptoms, on my second full fat beer and clear as a bell, clearer actually, it improves me, refreshes me, does what beer should do, I think these side effects are some sort of new disorder, a defect, a couple of beers shouldn't effect you detrimentally.
I worked in Germany some years ago, very efficient and ordered, they showed me round when I arrived, where I was to work, where everything was, toilets, office, and the fridge where the beer is..no beer before tea break...at 10am, liquid bread they called it, no idea who filled the fridge but it was emptied at a fair rate during working hours, usually with black bread and cheese, never saw a drunk German yet.