What’s the Best Non-Alcoholic Alternative to an Ice Cold Beer at the End of the Day?
The flavor of beer is rich and complex and I can’t think of anything to replace the experience of beer.
If it helps, I actually like fruity beer, something sweet but with still some bitterness and that complex flavor I can’t describe that most good beers have.
Why not a softdrink or a root beer? It’s just not the same, it’s like a different branch from beer.
A fat fucken glass of cold water.
Chilled water is definitely the way
Ice cold non-alcoholic beer, perhaps?
NA beers can be great. Lagunitas sells a Hop Water that’s pretty good too - very light though. And most high-quality ginger beers pack a lot of flavor.
For a long time I was in the “Non alcoholic beer can never replace real beer” camp. But in the last few years they’ve come a long way … and now you can buy low or no alcohol craft beers that are actually quite good.
Athletic makes some great NA beers too. Everything from a light lager like you’d expect from something like a bud light all the way up to NA stouts.
Ginger Beer with lime is fantastic.
Hop Water is insanely good. Like a citrusy, slightly bitter seltzer and usually cheaper than any NA beer that’s worth drinking. It’s quite a bit more money than any store brand seltzer though (which I would’ve recommended otherwise in either grapefruit or mango flavors for basically the same reason).
I agree. Really hits the spot sometimes!
Yup. There should be a couple where you normally buy alcohol. Check out middle eastern grocery stores too. Mine has a wide range of NA beers.
Non alcoholic beats have gotten so good with the proliferation of reverse osmosis distilling! The previous methods ruined it.
I’d like to try getting a small reverse osmosis pump such as for survival desalination, and try doing small batch dealcoholising for more variety of wine. I’m sober now and I’m grateful for my options, but I was really into exploring before.
At least here in Europa NA beers have improved wo much in the last few years. I literally don’t know when I last drank one with alcohol when I just felt like drinking a beer (as opposed to when I wanted to drink alcohol).
And since OP likes it fruity, (NA) Radler/Shandy is just great. It’s 50:50 (NA) beer and lemon soda mixed. This was one of the original ways to get a fruity beer with a lower alcohol content (since the soda doesn’t have any) when NA beers weren’t good yet, great for a hot summer day.
Try a good quality kombucha. Ice cold and carbonated they have a very similar bite/finish to a lot of beers. Most have sweet notes but are low sugar.
Doesn’t kombucha have a bit of alcohol as well?
Technically yes but it’s around .5% or less which is the same as most non alcoholic beers
I’ve never made it myself but home made kombucha is beautiful! Not as sweet as the store bought stuff, bit of a process though
My first thought. Has to be the most complex least alcoholic drink.
when i quit drinking, i had a hard time finding something that scratched that itch. the thing i found, that a few other recovering alcoholics ive met like, is Topo Chico. they have a hard seltzer or something, but the mineral water is fantastic. when its nice and cold, it has the same bite as a fresh beer. the beauty is, you can drink as much as you want, its just water.
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A nice joint, or two.
I have my own fun little twist on this: three joints.
can we get four, anyone? anyone?
gillette be like… “the heck with that, we’re doing five joints!”
Five joints, a moisturising strip on the rizla, and a rotating sphere to match the roach to the contours of your face
One or two bowls on a dry herb vape.
Iced tea.
both me and my wife has quit drinking and just have tea all day.
so much better.
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Alcohol does have an effect, as everyone will attest, but there is also an effect to arriving home, cracking open a cold drink, and relaxing for a while. It may not work for all, of course.
I have a NA beer that tastes almost identical to its alcoholic brother, and there are definitely similar results from a single beer…
The good thing with the NA version is that I sleep better and can snap myself out of the relaxed state if needed. It also makes it possible to mix & match at social events, so that I don’t over-do it.
Yep. I reserve specific sodas for those occasions, for exactly this reason. I’ve trained my lizard brain i relax as soon as that exact cola opening sound hits my ears. It’s silly, but it works.
300-500ml of beer will rehydrate you faster than 300-500ml of water.
Water
I still miss the waterniggas sub from “that site”
Sparkling Water with Limo Slice and some Ice Cubes Slaps wuth Glas Straw
Theres a whole world of NA beer and mocktails.
Sparkling water is the base ingredient. Throw in a little bit of juice, tea, and/or kombucha. And if you aren’t completely avoiding alcohol, a dash of bitters or amaro will give the drink that final complexity.
Hop tea and hop water are now a thing too.
Arnold Palmer
Agreed. For anyone unfamiliar - that’s a mix of lemonade and iced tea.
I switched from from beer to flavored carbonated water. This was 18 years ago though and the options were pretty limited back then. Mostly it was just artificially sweetened garbage. I’d rather just have a club soda and add my own fruit or juice to taste. But these days it’s just easier to buy Polar or whatever.
Highly recommend a soda stream, or soda stream alternative. My go to is 4 or 5 drops of lime juice in a glass, then the carbonated water. Tastes identical to the canned stuff, but way cheaper (and maybe less preservatives? Idk if the canned water has anything besides fruit juice and water)
I also occasionally like root beer if I’m eating something junky like a pizza slice or burger. I bought a bag in a box of syrup from the small root beer brand I enjoy, and can make my own for a few cents instead of a few bucks per bottle. Plus, I can control the concentration depending on how sweet my sweet tooth is feeling that day
Same for me. Lots of great options for sparkling water these days. I prefer it to soda.
A Sodastream with a bulk tank and adapter is righteous. I love my set-up and it’s about as basic as It gets. Then flavoring and sweetness are totally customizable according to the user. Full disclosure: I’m diabetic so the sweetener/lack of is key for me.
Do you have a hard time charging your tanks? Mine only get about half full - little better if i put them in the freezer for awhile.
I have a bulk tank that holds 15# of CO2 and a hose from it to the fitting where the small tank attaches. It’s just so much more economical. I get it refilled at a fire extinguisher shop.
You have no problem filling the little ones? Mine only fill about half way and i can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong. I get my big tank filled at the keg store.
The adapter connects my bulk tank directly to the Sodastream. No small tanks at all.
Ohhhh. Got it.
I have a soda stream but not a bulk adapter. I don’t want to clutter up the counter space since we use it to entertain (it’s open to the living space). I really wish there were more options for flavors though.
It’s aggravating because soda water costs more than cola but has less ingredients and all comes from the same bottling plant.
Honestly ginger beer is amazing for this.
Kombucha, flavored sparkling water
It’s not really flavored water. Google “tea mushroom”. Sugars fermented by shrooms, that’s how it’s made.
But indeed it’s a healthy alternative.
I meant them as two separate suggestions, sorry if unclear!
I came here to post something similar, but yours is probably a better suggestion. I’m now fond of beet flavoured water kefir.
Kombucha contains alcohol…
It’s such a minimal amount there are no restrictions on it
It’s usually around 0.5%. I mean, OP asked for non-alcoholic beverages… I believe we should be honest about that.
Most commercial kombuchas are specifically filtered to remove as much as possible of it, but good point
To add to any any all of these answers.
High quality Grape and apple juices - but like pressed/cider/fresh. There is so much incredible depth to the flavor profile and tons of variants and profiles to work through.
A favorite runner up would be a crisp cold can of la croix
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Ice cold lemon water and some pot ingestion
