147
What's the Best Non-Alcoholic Alternative to an Ice Cold Beer at the End of the Day?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
A fat fucken glass of cold water.
this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
147 points (95.1% liked)
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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.
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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.
As someone who used to have a pretty bad drinking problem, NA beers have gotten so good in the past few years. Heineken zeros are almost indistinguishable from normal ones and craft NAs have also gotten pretty good. Even though I'm not "fully sober" I mix in some non alcoholic beers if it's going to be a long night to help pace myself.
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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
They sell both kinds.
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It might be worth a try to get into tea!
(Loose leaf tea, not tea bags, the quality is usually better and you get a greater selection and much more diversity.)
There are so many different flavours and types, find out which ones you like.
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.
Talk to the tea seller, they should be able to help you find something. It might also be a good idea to start with a small quantity of different tea types, just to see which suits you best (but keep in mind that there might still be a lot of variety for each type): black/white/green/fruit/herbal/...
Personally on a hot day, I like cold brewed black tea with some fruity additions (orange/peach/bergamot/roses or whatever mix I find that I haven't tried yet). I don't add sugar (sometimes a bit of honey, but that only works when hot brewing) because that way I smell the light bitterness of the black tea better, which I like. It sounds like that could also be your thing. Another combination I frequently do is Rooibos + Hibiscus (mixing it myself, about 1/3 or less, by weight, of Hibiscus).
Experiment with cold brewing, or just regular brewing then icing. And in winter you might drink it hot.
Keep in mind, the taste is not at all like beer, but as written above it can have the same properties.
Don't stop when you don't like your first one, try another one, or try to prepare it differently.
Your comment made me crave for a cuppa. I'll make something green.
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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.
I like to mix some fruit juice into seltzer. It’s nice to have something bubbly and it’s more refreshing than just drinking straight juice. Juice is too strong! I can’t do full strength!
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Iced tea.
both me and my wife has quit drinking and just have tea all day.
so much better.
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.
Ice cold lemon water and some pot ingestion
Arnold Palmer
Agreed. For anyone unfamiliar - that's a mix of lemonade and iced tea.
My family made homemade lemonade today while I was outside working all morning and it was delicious. It's not a common occurrence, but it just hit the spot today.
A massive joint
For me it is seltzer. When it’s really cold and you’re thirsty, taking a gulp is like the same as drinking a really cold beer for the first few seconds.
Water
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.
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Ginger beer, the spicier the better. Blenheim is the best I've found so far
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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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Honestly ginger beer is amazing for this.
I had some really good nonalcoholic beers.
I went to a BBQ where the host had a new liver, so they stocked some solid nonalcoholic beers like Clausthaler and Athletic Brewing Run.
I now alternate between nonalcoholic and regular beer depending on how I feel.
I had a really cold can of hop water and it was so so good! Lagunitas makes some, but there are other brands that probably taste similar. It was so good and so refreshing!
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I like a cold glass of homemade pineapple kombucha - family love it too.
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Cold soda water with a dash of angostura bitters. And lime if you're fancy.
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