As we get older and inevitably experience health scares, it is not unusual to be told to cut back on alcohol. For me, it was high iron levels that led to me exploring the world of low and no alcohol beer. This is however a booming market, reflected by the average growth of 28.8% each year between 2018 and 2023.
Fortunately, the quality of no and low alcohol beers has improved over this time. Judging this category at beer competitions such as the World Beer Awards (WBA) or International Beer Challenge (IBC) used to incur a sense of dread but those days are long gone. In both 2020 and 2021, low alcohol beers won IBC’s Supreme Champion Award (Athletic Brewing Co’s Free Way IPA and Harvey’s low alcohol Old Ale respectively) and the WBA continue to see an increase in entries and in medals. Deciding to concentrate on low alcohol beers for six months therefore gave me some regret but no trepidations!
To be called a low alcohol beer in the UK, the beer has to have an ABV (alcohol by volume) of 0.5% or less. I’m sure that it is no surprise that making a good low alcohol beer is not easy; think about the skills needed to make a decent, tasty mild and then quadruple them. There are two simple ways to produce a low alcohol beer; either you make a concentrated beer and then dilute it to get to the right alcohol level or you stop or limit its fermentation to prevent the alcohol rising above 0.5% ABV. A lot of work has gone into the latter with yeast producers such as Lallemand developing a strain especially for this purpose. The choice of malt can also help towards a tastier beer and Crisp Malt has some suggestions that can help the brewer.
Producing a no alcohol beer can be as simple as having no fermentation in the first place but replacing the flavour is a real art. The other way is remove all or some of the alcohol once a beer has been brewed. There are a number of ways to do this:
Steam distillation: alcohol has a lower boiling point than water so, if you heat it, you remove the alcohol but this not only removes the alcohol but, sometimes, some of the flavours as well. It can also impact on the other flavours by creating ‘cooked’ notes. There are ways around this such as vacuum distillation. This means the alcohol boils off at a lower temperature and by using something called the Spinning Cone System, the flavours that have boiled off can be collected and added back once the alcohol has been removed
Water vapour and gas stripping: this again involves heating the beer under vacuum but here water vapour is passed through the beer and it is the vapour that removes the alcohol. Once again, this risks removing the flavours as well. To reduce the impact, the flavours can be separated from the alcohol extracted and then put back.
Reverse osmosis: this is where the beer is put through a membrane. This allows water and alcohol to pass through while capturing larger molecules, such as flavour molecules. Water is then mixed with the resulting concentrated beer.
So, you can see that creating a low alcohol beer is often more complex than creating a ‘normal’ beer and the equipment can be more expensive. This could explain why a number of low alcohol specialists use third parties to produce their beers. There is also the problem that, without the alcohol, low alcohol beers can be more susceptible to spoilage due to microorganisms. To help prevent this, some brewers use potassium sorbate. The beer is also prone to ‘off’ flavours in the same way as ordinary beer due to oxidation. The latter can be controlled by reducing the oxygen content in packaging but it won’t stop the beer ageing. Although many low alcohol beers are often great on keg, I have tasted a number where, quite simply, the pub hasn’t been serving enough of it. The solution is either to ask for a taste or stick to cans or bottles.
The best draught low alcohol beer I have tasted was Left Handed Giant’s Run Free, which was developed for a running club. The canned equivalent is equally drinkable but lacks the ‘ah’ factor. We are fortunate in London in having a number of brewers selling a low alcohol beer on draught in their tap rooms. Try the award winning Zed from Hammerton’s or Great Beyond’s Fresh. Ollie, one of the founders, swears by it for getting him through many a long session working in the tap room. One of the reasons for Zed’s fruity flavour profile is that it has added hop extract and it is not unusual to see ‘natural flavours’ listed as an ingredient. Guinness 0.0, Brewdog’s Elvis and Leffe Blond 0% are just three that do this. Interestingly, Guinness introduced a draught version of 0.0 into Irish pubs last year and in August it arrived in the UK, having gone on sale first at the Devonshire in Soho. Rumours are that the difference in taste echoes the difference in the Left Handed Giant’s beer in that the draught is tastier.
One of the issues with low alcohol beers is the light mouthfeel. Some brewers have tried to address the lack of body by adding oats and lactose; sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. Big Drop have been in the business of making low alcohol beer for a number of years, taking many medals in the World Beer Awards, and their Galactic Milk Stout and Pine Trail Pale Ale are good examples of how lactose can be used effectively. While the use of these two ingredients does help mouthfeel, it can also take away the ‘freshness’ of a pale or golden ale, so they are not the complete answer. Different grains, particularly those that do not ferment, can also help the mouthfeel and add to the flavour profile. Wheat beers such as Erdinger are very drinkable and have a layer of complexity, so long as you remember to put the sediment in! For Ghost Ship, both the alcohol and low alcohol packaged versions, Adnams use rye, which adds spicy notes. Similarly, the use of flavoursome darker malts, as used in Brookland’s Hoppy Lager, gives some depth to the flavour.
A beer style that does lend itself to low alcohol versions is sours, where the alcoholic versions tend to be light in mouthfeel. Nirvana’s Lemon Gose is a good example of this. But, as always, with any beer, what I prefer maybe not your choice. What is certain is that you need to put aside your perception that a low alcohol beer will be the same as one with alcohol. Tests to compare the respective tastes of a number of beers and their low alcohol equivalents have shown that, even with the best of them, alcohol does add depth. That said, drinking low alcohol beers is a great way to reduce alcohol consumption and still feel sociable; there is only so much mineral water and tonic water that can be drunk at one sitting! Most tap rooms and pubs have one or two, with Wetherspoon’s increasing their range of late. Over the last six months, I have tasted over 50 low alcohol beers. If you would like to see all my notes, go to the articles section on my website.
In the meantime, here are some of my top packaged beers (in alphabetical order):
- Adnams Ghost Ship – one of the few beers that is not a lager or a golden ale;
- Big Drop Pine Trail IPA – lemony with noticeable piney hops;
- Birra Moretti Zero – an easy drinking lager;
- BrewDog Hazy AF – based on their Hazy Jane, this is one of a number of low alcohol beers that BrewDog produce; citrusy and refreshing;
- Brooklyn Hoppy Lager – amber beer with Marzen characteristics;
- Cloudwater’s A Dream That’s As Real As It Can Be – creamy biscuit pale gold beer dominated by American hops;
- Guinness Zero – roasty character is balanced by fruit, more than the usual Guinness;
- Maisel Weisse – plenty of the wheat beer flavours you would expect in a German wheat beer (available in the Queen’s Head, Acton Street WC1). Erdinger is a reasonable alternative;
- Nirvana Lemon Gose – lemony tart beer with biscuit and spicy notes;
- Thornbridge Zero – gold beer with zesty tropical notes.
Christine Cryne
Editor’s note: a final thought. Some charities will shortly be opening their annual campaigns to encourage people to give up alcohol for October. As much as CAMRA promotes responsible drinking and recognises the harmful effects of excessive levels of alcohol consumption, we are also mindful of the damage that these initiatives can do to the trade essential to our already hard pressed pubs and clubs. There is no need to stop visiting the pub; you can ‘go low’ instead without missing out on the social benefit.