THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Any good?

Haven’t really tried many, but my sense is they have come along way over recent years.

Just tried Guinness 0.0 - it really isn’t bad at all, a little too sweet compared tothe real stuff, but not bad at all.

They are getting significantly better but still a long way to go. Brewdog released their A.F series if you want something a little crafty, not the best but more than drinkable. Avoid Doombar and Old Speckled Hen zero alcohol, just thin fizzy sugar water. Absolute trash. Some of the lager brands (other than Becks) are solid, Heineken probably the best of the bunch.

If you can drink alcohol but just want to drink less lots of craft breweries are making 'table beers', usually 2-3.5% but packed with flavour. Will pay a premium but very enjoyable. Or look out for Schoffhofer, a 2.5% grapefruit wheat beer radler, phenomenal.

Never been a fan of alcohol free beers, until I was given a bottle of Brewdog Nanny State at a barbecue earlier this summer, it was pretty impressive and actually tasted like a real beer

I'm just about to start my second Sober October, so I can offer some expertise in this area.

Good: the Brewdogs, Punk AF and Nanny State (the most drinkable around IMO), Heineken 0.0 (better than real Heineken IMO, although that isn't saying much), Ghost Ship 0.5% (sounds like it'll be shit but I like it!)

Average: Becks Blue (doesn't really taste of much and it makes me piss like a racehorse), Erdinger (like drinking liquidised Shredded Wheat, if you like that sort of thing)

Bad: Peroni (nasty), Moretti (nastier), Bitburger Drive (I would literally drink my own piss than drink that again)

Not had Guinness 0.0 so will give that a try.

From my experience in Spain, the breweries there have invested lots of money into creating decent non-alcoholic beers in recent years, ever since the Spanish had a proper crackdown on drink driving. San Miguel 0.0 is particularly good IMO, although I don't think you can get it over here.

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"While I'm worth, the room on this earth..."

I'd also give a thumbs up to Ghost Ship, surprisingly drinkable.

Just to add, there is a brilliant law in New Zealand that requires all premises to sell an alcoholic product (above 0.5%) that is under 3.5%. This meant some cool craft breweries really push to produce beers in the 2% world. Similarly in Sweden they have some crazy law that only the government run liquor shops, Systembolaget, can sell alcohol above 3.5%, as a result a lot of Scandanavian craft breweries as well as Carlsberg started producing plenty of lower alcohol beers. The likes of Mikkeller, Admundsen, ToOl and Omnipollo regularly make 2.5-3.5% pale ales and berliner weisses so independent bottle shops and convenient stores can sell their beers.

Wow I'm boring.

Brewers in Iceland weren't allowed to make beer stronger than 2.25% until 1989. That's why so many of their beers are relatively weak, even now.

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"While I'm worth, the room on this earth..."

I didn't know the supermarket had their own brand beer.

If you like beer, drink beer (proper beer, not AF).

If you don't want alcohol, drink something else. There are literally millions of non-alcoholic drinks.

/EndThread.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

I previously had this outlook but less so there days. Whilst I absolutely understand there are plenty of non-alcoholic drinks out there, including some fancy premium drinks that are much lower in sugar and in more interesting flavours than your generic soft drinks, there is definitely a place for NA beer/cider/wine. AF Beers provide an option for those who cannot drink alcohol such as people with drinking problems or after surgery, yet want the taste of beer and/or to feel included in social events. A good friend of mine who had been struggling with a drinking problem for a couple of years is 3 months sober now, he is an outrageously sociable person and having options such as BrewDog Punk AF has been massive for him, it has allowed him to keep up his social life and not feel like an outcast at events.

Back to the OP, I completely forgot about Big Drop Brewery, a 0.5% brewery out of Ipswich and possibly the best in the UK at what they do. They may be more expensive than the big brand lager 0% beers, but they brew a variety of styles including stouts, IPAs and brown ales. MK Biergarten regularly stock them so worth checking them out.