Non-alc beers for people who actually like beer

There’s really no other way to say it – non-alcoholic beer never used to be amazing. It felt like an afterthought or a chore for breweries, previously made with little regard for flavour, aroma or texture – all the things that make us actually enjoy a beer. But those times are long gone and modern non-alc beer is often seriously delicious.

There are a few reasons why non-alcoholic beer is all grown up. Technology has improved (both in terms of dealcoholisation and the way beer is flavoured), tastes have changed, thanks to the craft-beer boom (we all expect flavoursome beer now) and creative brewers have dipped their toe in, rather than leaving it just to the big boys. It all adds up to a good time for anyone hoping to drink great beer but stay away from alcohol.

With that in mind, we thought we’d run through the basics of non-alcoholic beer, as well as our favourite examples.

The term 'non-alcoholic beer’ can be a bit of a misnomer. Non-alcoholic beer isn’t always 0% alcohol, and beer in Australia can contain up to 0.5% ABV before being considered an ‘alcoholic’ beverage under the law. It’s a bit confusing but, hey, we don’t make the rules.

The legal definition of what counts as beer in Australia is a bit tricky and, strictly speaking, wouldn’t include non-alcoholic beer (because it’s not alcoholic enough). That being said, non-alc beer is usually made with the same processes as alcoholic beer – fermenting grains with yeast and flavouring with hops. It’s just that, one way or another, it ends up with less than 0.5% alcohol. Let’s figure that part out.

Non-alcoholic beer is made with science, of course. Making regular, alcoholic beer is pretty straightforward: you turn water and grains like barley into a sugary liquid, add yeast to ferment it, and flavour it with hops. Everything else is just detail. With non-alcoholic beer, though, the process is way more complicated, but clever brewers have come up with plenty of ways to get rid of that pesky alcohol. 

When it comes to dealcoholisation, it sounds easy enough – make regular beer, take out the alcohol. In reality, though, it’s tricky to remove the alcohol from beer without ruining it. Brewers have a few methods they can use, and each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

Distillation: The idea is simple enough – if alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water (and it does – 78°C vs 100°C), all you need to do is heat beer somewhere between those temperatures and you’ll have non-alcoholic beer. The problem is that distillation removes flavours, too, so there’s not a lot of goodness left.

Reverse osmosis: This one’s tricky but effective. Without getting too technical, beer is filtered with a membrane that takes away water and alcohol, but leaves the larger flavour molecules behind. Water is added back at the end.

Vacuum distillation: Winemakers and perfumers love this one, too. It’s the same idea as regular distillation but done inside a vacuum. Alcohol evaporates at a much lower temperature in a vacuum, which helps keep more flavour compared to normal distillation (for science reasons).

Dilution is another way that some brewers tackle these beers. This isn’t just about adding a bunch of water until beer becomes a homeopathic ghost of its former self. Instead, some brewers will intentionally produce a highly concentrated beer (with regular alcohol content) that can then be diluted down to resemble a full-strength beer in flavour, but not alcohol.

Brewers might also use a few tricks in the fermentation process, which is the key to making beer, but it’s also how alcohol is made. With a few tweaks – like special strains of yeast – brewers can limit, or entirely prevent, alcohol being produced during fermentation.

*contains not more than 0.5% ALC/VOL