Is Beer Still Beer without the alcohol?

I've been having a discussion with friends and colleagues about societal attitudes towards people who drink alcohol and those that don't, and the pressure that people sometimes feel if they are not drinking alcohol for whatever reason. At this time of year, unless you have a very accommodating other half or friend(s), you may at some time be required to be the nominated driver.

I'm not particularly fond of low or no alcohol beers but this is not down to whether they contain alcohol or not, they tend not to taste that great, in my opinion.

Would you still drink non-alcoholic versions of beer/cider/wine if it was possible to make it taste as good as the alcoholic version or does the alcohol contribute to the overall flavour or enjoyment of the drink which means it would be very difficult or impossible to replicate an alcohol free version of your favourite drink?

I thought I'd ask the question and I'm interested to know your thoughts.

Seasonal greetings

Steve

I think I would drink the non alcoholic versions if they were exactly the same flavour if I had to and could not have the alcoholic version. Even then I think I would only have one or two over the evening as you can't drink non-alcoholic drinks the same way you can booze and have a big session.

Part of having a drink is the often unconcious psychological effects that lead to you becoming more open, relaxed and talking more b*****ks. To take away this I think would make drinking a very different thing and change your relationship with alcohol no matter how much you try to kid yourself otherwise. As I enjoy the taste of a lot of drinks I would still imbibe just in a totally different way.

Alcohol does obviously impact on the flavour aroma and mouthfeel of a beer, but also the fermentation impacts, so if you want a big hefty beer but without the alcohol I think you would still need to brew a hefty beer before taking the alcohol out, so as you still had those elements of the flavour profile.

How do you take the alcohol out? well commercially the boil of the alcohol under vacuum or use reverse osmosis so as not to lose the volatile aroma and flavour compounds.

If they tasted good and I was driving I would probably drink them

As the alcohol has been removed does this therefore remove the energy and thereby the calories from the beer... Surely leaving you with a healthy mix of malt, hops and brewers yeast :hmm:

The problem is not many people seem to be doing it - mind you I have heard fans of Becks say the 0% Blue version is pretty nice

Would be nice to see a 0% ale. All I've seen is lagers and 1 wheat

NickW said:

Would be nice to see a 0% ale. All I've seen is lagers and 1 wheat

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Oh no you don't

Robinsons used to do Wheelwright back in the 80's :sick: :sick:

As the alcohol has been removed does this therefore remove the energy and thereby the calories from the beer... Surely leaving you with a healthy mix of malt, hops and brewers yeast

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Removing the alcohol from beer will have little impact on the calorific value I'm afraid, here's an exert

The chemical name for alcohol is ethanol (CH3CH2OH). The body processes and eliminates ethanol in separate steps. Chemicals called enzymes help to break apart the ethanol molecule into other compounds (or metabolites), which can be processed more easily by the body. Some of these intermediate metabolites can have harmful effects on the body.

Most of the ethanol in the body is broken down in the liver by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which transforms ethanol into a toxic compound called acetaldehyde (CH3CHO), a known carcinogen. However, acetaldehyde is generally short-lived; it is quickly broken down to a less toxic compound called acetate (CH3COO-) by another enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Acetate then is broken down to carbon dioxide and water, mainly in tissues other than the liver.

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Vossy1 said:

As the alcohol has been removed does this therefore remove the energy and thereby the calories from the beer... Surely leaving you with a healthy mix of malt, hops and brewers yeast

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Removing the alcohol from beer will have little impact on the calorific value I'm afraid, here's an exert
[quote:11d8gqnr]The chemical name for alcohol is ethanol (CH3CH2OH). The body processes and eliminates ethanol in separate steps. Chemicals called enzymes help to break apart the ethanol molecule into other compounds (or metabolites), which can be processed more easily by the body. Some of these intermediate metabolites can have harmful effects on the body.

Most of the ethanol in the body is broken down in the liver by an enzyme called alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), which transforms ethanol into a toxic compound called acetaldehyde (CH3CHO), a known carcinogen. However, acetaldehyde is generally short-lived; it is quickly broken down to a less toxic compound called acetate (CH3COO-) by another enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Acetate then is broken down to carbon dioxide and water, mainly in tissues other than the liver.

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[/quote:11d8gqnr]

Careful. It WILL have a calorific impact on the finished beer. The breakdown of ethanol does follow that pathway but what that quote fails to address is the fact that the energy is carried off locked up in Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) molecules and used just just the same as ATP from glucose respiration.

What we DON'T know is where the processes are truncated because unlike glucose respiration which is pretty much always complete, those intermediate species are excreted to some degree. i.e. the process doesn't normally complete. No studies have been done to try to quantify even the base averages of how much of each intermediate species is expelled and thereby how much energy ISN'T captured by the cell.

Careful. It WILL have a calorific impact on the finished beer

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:lol: , you will note I said little...not none

[/quote][/quote]

Careful. It WILL have a calorific impact on the finished beer. The breakdown of ethanol does follow that pathway but what that quote fails to address is the fact that the energy is carried off locked up in Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) molecules and used just just the same as ATP from glucose respiration.

[/quote]


The Old ATP "Krebs Cycle" brings back memories of the old Biology classes :)

I used to drive alot when I was younger and used to drink Kaliber which had a "distinctive" metallic taste, I find the Becks Blue and Cobra zero are much better tasting no alcohol beers.

:

I really wish there was a highly hopped alcohol free (or sub 0.5%) beer around. With normal beer, I'm slightly underwhelmed by the uber-hop fashion that is prevailing, but I'd happily take it as a simple way to make alcohol free beers better.

[Dry hopped Kaliber. Mmmm :sick: :lol: ]

morethanworts said:

I'm slightly underwhelmed by the uber-hop fashion that is prevailing, but I'd happily take it as a simple way to make alcohol free beers better.

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I completely agree. I had the same discussion with John (Barnsley Brewer) and the trend toward throwing more hop varieties at beer. Occasionally it works but I've tried numerous IPAs this year with progressively more complex hop mixtures and it doesn't work for my palate unfortunately but I'd take the flavour, if it were possible, in the absence of the alcohol content.

Vossy1 said:

Careful. It WILL have a calorific impact on the finished beer

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:lol: , you will note I said little...not none

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Damn

To my way of thinking, the whole point of drinking beers, ciders, wines etc. is they are a vehicle for carrying alcohol, and as such are pointless without!
What really gets my goat is that as drinking and driving is both illegal and now socially unacceptable, how the price of alcohol free drinks are on a par if not more expensive than alcoholic drinks!
The situation is somewhat lacking in incentive.