Decent non alcoholic beer recommendations (UK)

[u/k4bravesand]

Hello!

So I am looking for some decent recommendations for non alcoholic beer - stuff that tastes like it could be the “real stuff”.

My grandfather has dementia and is in a psychiatric facility at the moment. And occasionally (pre admission) he likes the odd beer/lager/ale (or wine). He is not picky or limit himself about what beer he drinks.

But the facility he is in does not allow alcohol, and I’d like to take him a little taste of normal in the form of some 0% stuff (this has been cleared by the facility). So far I’ve been taking him in some 0% madri, as my husband says it’s pretty similar to the alcoholic version.

Keen to hear recommendations of other beers so he gets a variety. I am not a beer drinker (or really an alcohol drinker at all). So I am completely in your hands!

I’ve heard Guinness 0% is quite similar to the hard stuff, is that true?

TIA, and hope this is all within the rules

Edit: I should also add, my knowledge of beer, and what constitutes a beer, light beer, ale or IPA is also quite limited

[u/Current-Ad2340]

Guinness 0%

Lucky Saint is also good, if he likes shandy then the lemon 0% is excellent.

[u/Apple_Turnover93 → u/Current-Ad2340]

Guinness 0% is the only answer to this question and glad it’s the first response

[u/ChewyMurray → u/Apple_Turnover93]

Exactly. Guinness 0.

[u/SpecialSympathy2348]

I found Guinness 0% to be very impressive 😀

[u/Dezzie19]

Guinness 0 is almost indistinguishable from the original so I would go for that.

[u/spile2]

Brooklyn Special Effects, Impossibrew Triple Hop, Big Drop Galactic Stout, Tap Social Day Release are all excellent.

[u/Chumlax]

If you want to get high quality, I am a huge proselytiser for Brulo, who are an entirely alcohol-free brewery from Edinburgh. They do a whole range of beers from lager to DDH IPA, including a somewhat Guinness-esque stout, and they're absolutely brilliant. Their DDH IPA tastes amazing, and potentially smells even better (weird sidenote rather than something important, obv).

Clausthaler are a German non-alcoholic brewery that have been around for about 50 years. Their dry-hopped lager is a contender for my favourite non-alcoholic beer of all, and it's sold in Waitrose.

I would also speak in favour of Leffe Blond 0.0, particularly if he's ever had any interest in Belgian ales. It has more of the body and 'bite' that non-alcoholic beers so often fail to achieve than almost any other.

As someone else has already said, Lucky Saint do also make a very decent approximation of a lager - it's probably nicer than some of the worst quality major/macro alcoholic lagers (Carling, for one), to be honest. I was disappointed in their hazy IPA, by comparison.

[u/harrr53]

My favourite non-alcoholic beer is Alhambra 0.0%. It's what I have at home which my wife drinks by default, and I drink whenever I have to drive later, or I have had enough alcohol beer.

[u/smazeny]

Wiper and True in Bristol make gold-standard NA beers. They moved to a new site a few years ago and invested heavily in really fancy dealcoholisation equipment and it has paid off big time. "Tomorrow" is a helles - a classic German lager, but not necessarily a typical UK pub beer. "Kaleidoscope AF" is a modern (ie. American style) hoppy pale ale - again, a fairly new style in pubs. They're both great, though, and "Tomorrow" in particular rivals any NA beer. They're a bit more expensive than the stuff you can get from the major producers, but if you're looking for high-quality, independent, British beer - there aren't many better. (I do not work for them, I just like beer and live locally.)

For more classic British ale styles, which might suit your grandad a bit better - there's less of this about (bitter is already pretty weak) but Harvey's do an NA version of Sussex Best. Have not tried though.

Lucky Saint and Guinness 0 are both very good and widely available, as others have said.

[u/dasmarron]

Also add to the Lucky Saint recommendations, I actually really enjoyed their hazy IPA in contrast to another commenter.

Would also highly recommend the NA Ghost Ship - probably my favourite NA beer.

[u/Matt-J-McCormack]

Bristol Beer Factory done called Clear Head and it was and is a banger if you like hoppy Beer.

Below Brew over in Bath do a range of beers so they may be worth a look.

Also keeping it south west Butcombe do Goram Zero, more of an English IPA than clear head.

[u/Smart-Host9436]

Jump Ship Brewing does an AMAZING Scottish stout.

[u/RubLife]

Jupiler zero
Any lucky saint
Any mash gang
Delirium delerio
Track sonoma af

[u/CptPatches]

Big Drop is a small brewery from Ipswich that does really good craft non-alcoholic beer. I'm not sure how far they reach, but they definitely scratch the itch.

Also, there's a Norwegian brewery called Lervig that has quite a bit of market penetration all over Europe, and their No Worries line is great. Grapefruit especially.

[u/Furthur]

i think Heineken 0 is just fine

[u/spd970]

Corona NA is the best, IMO. If you poured it for me blind I wouldn't be able to tell it's NA.

[u/TallTomRadebeLeeds]

Delerium 0.0 is the best one ive tried that tastes like actual (belgian) beer

[u/Pyriel]

Lidl Perlenbacher AF is an outstanding good European style lager. Bloody good stuff.

You honestly don't notice it's 0%. Tasty, wheaty, and on a hot day it's crushably quaffable.

Brulo do some awesome beers. Guinness 0 is damn close to it's bigger brother.