Alcohol-free beer used to taste awful. These days, the lager at least is pretty good (Heineken is my favourite) so that may well be one factor.
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2026
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I've had a few AF IPAs that still haven't got the mouthfeel right, but they're getting close with the hoppiness
Guinness 0.0 is genuinely good enough to pass as a mid-level Guinness from a train station pub
I think they now just brew the same drink then remove most of the alcohol as it keeps the taste closer to being the same.
If you're not gonna get drunk, what's the point of imitating alcoholic drinks? Just drink a soda at that point, it's tastier.
Some people, myself included, like the taste and ritual of drinking beer, but don't want to get drunk.
It's like vegan meat substitutes.
Sure there are awesome vegan dishes and the substitutes taste worse than the real deal but it's not wrong to want to interact with the culture you live in in a normalish manner.
I'll have a af beer with my vegan hotdog and enjoy myself even though they are just substitutes.
It's not tastier.
Because different people have different tastes?
Because tastes differ. You can get tired of always having sugary drinks and af beers often have a more complex and interesting taste than sodas.
I feel the same with "meat" that imitates meat. Just come up with something new, why do they have to imitate the thing that they are supposed to be disgusted by? How about protein rich imitation veggies and fruits?
Don't like soda. Do like beer. Don't always want to get drunk
I like drinking beer, not just to get drunk but often as a simple past time. I regularly drink alcohol free beer when I don't want to consume any alcohol for any number of reasons and these days there a lot of them that are really good and I would prefer to drink that over a soda. I don't really have much love for alcohol free spirits however if you like the taste and process of making cocktails then it's probably also a good thing to be able to do that without getting drunk.
Maybe it has to do with the placebo effect. Just spitballing, but it may put the mind in a place where "ok I'm out in a bar and I'm drinking 'beer', so I can relax and socialize"
Kinda like how kids can fully believe and act drunk off of juice if you present it as wine but to another level
Bread flavored soda. I don't get it either but zero beer is one of my best sellers.
What floored me was Zero Gin....they were offering tastings at the restaurant supply store and I was like: 'no, please, paint thinner at 10am isn't my thing'
I've tried a couple of non-alcoholic gins. The best was "not terrible". I can understand a non-alcoholic beer or cider, but gin does not work.
I will add, however, we have a friend who drinks a lot of beer and he discovered that when he adds a few in between his regular beers he can be just fine (like, out of 12 bottles he has 3 or 4 zeros).
Whatever helps cut it down we're all for it.
Aye, I agree with the spirits thing. Most of the point of the spirits is the taste/burn of the ethanol.
I like the odd margarita and espresso martini (basic, yes I know) and if they didn't have the strong taste of the spirits it would be pointless.
Micheladas can work with non alcoholic beers though.