Best Nonalcoholic Beers

Samuel Adams Just the Haze was the undisputed winner in the two separate blind tastings, with nearly everyone ranking it as one of their favorites. It’s refreshing, hoppy, fruity, floral, and sweet. “I like this one because it has a distinctive, fruitier flavor. It feels like a beer that was given some thought,” said Lisa Fogarty, a CR writer.

It’s also pretty believable as beer. “This is most like the beers I usually order at a brewery,” said CR writer Jodhaira Rodriguez. “The flavor comes across in every sip.”

In fact, the taste of it is so refreshing that it could perhaps even sway people who are not typically beer drinkers. “I think it would make for a good intro to beer for people who don’t typically like the taste,” said Tanya Christian, a CR home writer.

“It’s a complex flavor bomb with tons of hops, citrus, and herbal notes. I would definitely buy it!” said Paul Hope, a CR home writer.

The drink is made in the style of a nonalcoholic hazy IPA and has 98 calories. Its ABV is less than 0.5%.

Fizziness is one of Beck’s Non-Alcoholic’s defining features. “The flavor is bright and it smells like sparkling wine,” said Gui Weinmann, a CR senior software engineer.

“It’s nice and refreshing,” said CR assistant test project leader Kyaw Naing. “And for me, the drink’s crispness provided a nice, wake-me-up jolt when I first tasted it.”

Many evaluators thought that Beck’s Non-Alcoholic could pass as beer, though when compared with Beck’s Pilsner, it was fruitier and less bitter.

The Heineken 0.0 is dry, crisp, and smooth. It’s alcohol-free and contains 69 calories in an 11.2-oz. serving. If you’re looking for something light and simple, this might be your beverage. As Deb Silber, a deputy home content editor at CR, pointed out, “It’s not very complex but it has a pleasant taste.”

It’s light enough to consume with a snack and not so rich that it’s overpowering, Christian said.  

But compared with the Heineken Original, the 0.0 is smoother but flatter in taste. Most evaluators didn’t find that it could convincingly pass for regular beer.

The color of Guinness 0.0 jumps out immediately. It’s dark, rich, and has a creamy white head. Flavorwise, it tastes smooth, bitter, earthy, and like caramel. It’s in the style of a stout but one that’s alcohol-free and has about 75 calories in a 14.9-oz. can. 

“It was a bit heavy but really good. I didn’t expect to like it, but it was milder than expected,” said Aileen McCluskey, a content production coordinator at CR.

“It’s very smooth, but there’s a bit of bitterness toward the end that is quite pleasant,” Rodriguez said.

In my own evaluation, the caramel flavor was what stood out to me the most upon taking a first sip of the Guinness 0.0. When I tried the drink again after a few minutes, its bitterness was more apparent and tasted herbal to me.

When we compared the Guinness 0.0 with the Guinness Draught, some evaluators liked the Draught more. “The Draught is drier and has a better head,” Weinmann said. But there were others who enjoyed the 0.0. Rodriguez said she would easily drink the Guinness 0.0 again, which she found to be smoother and less bitter than the Draught.

It’s refreshing and light. It’s also not super-fancy. “This beer reminds me of the classic (read: cheap) beers of my college days—no frills, just your basic party beer,” Silber said.

“It totally passes, and reminds me of a sports stadium draft,” Hope said. “Light, simple, but good!”

When comparing the Liberté with the Stella Artois Lager, several evaluators noted that the two were very close in taste. “I don’t prefer one over the other, which makes me think they did a great job creating their nonalcoholic brew,” Fogarty said. The drink has 59 calories per serving and 0% alcohol.

Prior to the blind tasting, I fully expected the Athletic Brewing Company to come out on top. After all, it was named by not one but two of my coworkers who drank nonalcoholic beer as a brand they particularly enjoyed.

Its Free Wave Hazy IPA, however, turned out to be the most polarizing drink we tasted. Those who disliked it were turned off by its bitterness. “I found this one bitter but tasteless at the same time,” Silber said. “This is awful. I could barely take one sip of this one because I hated the taste so much. Why is it so bitter?” Rodriguez said.

Those who enjoyed its bitterness ranked the drink high. Jonathan Tuczynski, a senior technician at CR who prefers his beers hoppy and not too sweet, said the Free Wave Hazy IPA was “very dry and pleasantly bitter.”

Hope agreed with Tuczynski. He called the drink a “really impressive imposter IPA” and described it as hoppy, complex, and crisp.

For all its divisive tendencies, the Athletic Brewing Company Free Wave Hazy IPA does share one similarity with the crowd-pleasing Samuel Adams Just the Haze. Both are fairly convincing as alcoholic drinks, though whether or not you would like the Free Wave Hazy IPA might depend on how bitter you like your drinks. It’s not for everyone. It has 70 calories per serving and an ABV of less than 0.5%. 

The Clausthaler IPA has less than 0.5% ABV and about 92 calories in a 12-oz. bottle. Sourness was one of the prevailing impressions the drink left on our evaluators. “It has intense carbonation, but it’s very sour and a bit one-dimensional in its flavor,” Weinmann said. 

Bitterness was the other dominant flavor. Many of our evaluators found it to be too bitter for their liking. But if you enjoy that in beers, this one might be better suited to your palate. 

And if you’re looking for a drink that can successfully masquerade as beer, the Clausthaler IPA also fits the profile. Almost all our evaluators said it could pass.

It’s dry and light, with a bitter aftertaste in the end. Hope pointed out that it’s easy to drink but has minimal complexity. It has an ABV of less than 0.5% and 60 calories per serving.

When compared with the Corona Extra, it pales in flavor. The Extra fills your mouth up more than the nonalcoholic version. If the fullness of flavors could be described in musical terms, the Extra brings to mind a whole orchestra, while the Corona nonalcoholic is just a couple of guys playing instruments, Fogarty said.

There’s a fruitiness in the Extra that’s missing in the nonalcoholic drink, Rodriguez said. The Extra is also less bitter.

The Coors Edge managed to be light while also boasting rich flavors. Its fruitiness and sweetness were especially noted. Its ABV is less than 0.5% and has 41 calories per serving.

But it didn’t really pass for regular beer for a majority of evaluators. And when compared with the Coors Light, most preferred Light over Edge. The Light is hoppy, fizzy, and has character, according to Rodriguez. And even those who enjoyed the nonalcoholic Edge said the Light had more of a “kick” or “bite” to it.

Visually, the O’Doul’s Amber stood out for its richer, deeper color. Flavorwise, it’s earthy and smooth with caramel notes. Its ABV is less than 0.5% and it contains 91 calories per serving.

Similar to the Free Wave Hazy IPA from the Athletic Brewing Company, this one also split the group. Those who enjoyed the O’Doul’s Amber praised it for being balanced and not overpowering. “It doesn’t have any one particular flavor profile standing out and seems nice, balanced, and refreshing. There’s no aftertaste either, which I appreciate,” Fogarty said.

Not everyone was a fan of its flavor, though. “It’s just too nondescript for me. I prefer a more robust flavor,” Christian said. For Tuczynski, the Amber tasted like malty soda. It felt thin, like parts of a familiar flavor profile were missing.

Many evaluators found it obvious that the O’Doul’s Amber was nonalcoholic. “It’s an attempt at a darker beer, but it doesn’t taste alcoholic,” Hope said. “I really like the flavor of this one, but I know that I would be able to tell that this has no alcohol. I’d drink this as a juice—not as a replacement for beer,” Rodriguez said.

It’s dry, herbal, hoppy, and bitter. And it has an interesting taste profile, though not necessarily one that’s to everyone’s liking. If you prefer a smoother, sweeter taste in your beer, the Untitled Art Non-Alcoholic Italian Style Pils is likely not for you. “It’s way too bitter for my liking,” Rodriguez said.

For Tuczynski, it tasted more like herbal tea than beer. Still, he said he enjoyed it because it was “interesting and grassy in a good way.”  It has an ABV of less than 0.5% and 40 calories per serving.

Athletic Brewing Company has many different flavors, and so we tried both the Free Wave Hazy IPA as well as the Athletic Lite, a flavor recommended by our readers when they wrote in to suggest nonalcoholic drinks we could evaluate. 

The Athletic Lite has less than 0.5% ABV and 25 calories in a serving. It was described by our evaluators as refreshing, light, sour, and smooth. 

Perhaps it’s too light. I pointed out that the drink is good if you want something subtle, but most of the evaluators said it tasted watered-down. “[It’s] too watery. I’d rather have a club soda or a Spindrift,” Weinnman said.

“[It] tasted like the cheap, bad beer we drank in college, but somehow managed to be worse than that,” McCluskey said. For her, there was no overwhelming taste from the drink; it just tasted liked a sour glass of water.

Rodriguez agreed about the sourness. “I like that it is refreshing, but I hate how sour and fizzy it feels,” she said.

Sometimes you take a big swing in flavor and it can be a hit or a miss. (That certainly seems to be the case for the Athletic Brewing Company Free Wave Hazy IPA, which many considered too bitter, and the Untitled Art Non-Alcoholic Italian Style Pils, which has flavors people thought were intriguing but not to everyone’s taste.)

The Budweiser Zero, which has a 0% ABV and 50 calories per serving, doesn’t suffer from the same issue. Its taste is dry and light. Similar to the Athletic Lite, “watery” was the word that was often brought up. “I feel like I’m drinking watered-down beer,” Fogarty said. “I found it to be nasty, honestly.”

It’s the drink you want to go for if subpar seltzer is your thing. “It just tastes like spoiled seltzer, no alcohol, no complexity,” Hope said.

When compared side by side with a Budweiser Beer, the taste difference was quite wide. Almost everyone preferred the Budweiser Beer to the Budweiser Zero. The former felt more full-bodied, while the latter was considered flatter and—yup you guessed it—watery.

Unlike the Athletic Brewing Company Free Wave Hazy IPA, the Budweiser Zero didn’t have a strong enough flavor profile to inspire passionate levels of love or hate. Instead, it was just one big “meh” for almost everyone.