Non-alcoholic beer can be a good option if you like beer but want to cut down on alcohol for one reason or another. During this motorhome trip, we've been drinking almost exclusively non-alcoholic drinks - both beer and wine - and here's our test of non-alcoholic beer.
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Non-alcoholic beer - why?
There can be several different reasons for wanting to cut down on, or exclude, alcohol. For us, it's mainly because we need to reduce our calorie intake, and alcohol, as we all know, is a calorie killer.
The best and healthiest mealtime drink is of course water, but in the long run it gets a bit boring just drinking water. We love both beer and wine, and since the non-alcoholic alternatives are much lower in calories, we thought we'd give them a try.
Test of non-alcoholic beer
During this motorhome trip, we've made it a point to try non-alcoholic beer and wine, and we've tried new varieties almost every night. We've been browsing the System and the grocery stores, tasting and rating them. Really fun!
In general, we have to say that we think non-alcoholic beer tastes really good. It's been a little harder to find good wine without alcohol, but we'll come back to that!
Here are our ratings for the beers we tested. Please note that these are our highly personal opinions and that we are not are some experts in the field. Prices are from Systembolaget (unless otherwise stated), and may be different in the supermarket.
A Ship Full of IPA
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: India Pale Ale (IPA)
- Price: 12:95 kr (Coop)
- Calories20 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A yellow-brown beer from Brutal Brewing. Tastes like an IPA should taste.
- Rating: 4 of 5
Brooklyn Special Effects
- Country: International trade mark
- Type of beer: Modern Lager / India Pale Lager
- Price: 15:90 kr
- Calories: 29 kcal/100 ml
- Description: Hoppy Lager with a nice dark colour. Full-bodied and very tasty, with a slightly "malty" flavour. As good as a beer with alcohol.
- Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Carlsberg Alcohol Free
- Country: International trade mark
- Type of beer: Light layer
- Price: 11:90 kr
- Calories: 20 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A good non-alcoholic beer from Carlsberg. Good and above all very affordable. Also organic!
- Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Easy Rider Bulldog
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: India Pale Ale (IPA)
- Price: 15:90 kr
- Calories: 20 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A nice IPA from Gotland's brewery. Bright and a bit cloudy in appearance. Lots of flavour and clear bitterness.
- Rating: 4 of 5
Eriksberg Hovmästarlager
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: Warehouse
- Price: 11:90 kr
- Calories: 20 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A dark brownish yellow beer with a 'malty' flavour.
- Rating: 4 of 5
Grolsch
- Country: The Netherlands
- Type of beer: Warehouse
- Price: 12:20 kr
- Calories: 23 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A yellow and easy drinking beer. A bit thin in flavour and not as good as "real" Grolsch.
- Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Mariestads
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: Light layer
- Price: 11:90 kr
- Calories: 20 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A yellow beer with a "malty" flavour. Not as good as "real" Mariestad.
- Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Mikkeller Drink'in The Sun
- Country: International trade mark
- Type of beer: American Pale Ale (APA)
- Price: 19:90 kr
- Calories: 16 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A pale and slightly cloudy beer. A non-alcoholic beer with a lot of flavour and clear bitterness.
- Rating: 4 of 5
N.A.P.A.
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: American Pale Ale (APA)
- Price: 15:90 kr
- Calories: 21 kcal/100 ml
- DescriptionA nice Pale Ale from Sigtuna. Relatively flavourful, with clear bitterness, but a little thinner than desired.
- Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Nils Oscar God Lager
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: Light layer
- Price: 13:10 kr
- Calories: 21 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A yellowish beer with a lot of flavour. Also organic!
- Rating: 4 of 5
Strong lager
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: Light layer
- Price: Cannot find price information
- Calories: Cannot find data
- Description: Very light and a little 'colourless'. Relatively thin in flavour. Organic!
- Rating: 2 of 5
Staropramen
- Country: Czech Republic
- Type of beer: Lager, pilsner
- Price: 12:90
- Calories: 16 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A light golden yellow beer. Like a regular Staropramen, but slightly thinner in flavour.
- Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Sturgeon cup 1402
- Country: Germany
- Type of beer: Warehouse
- Price: 8:90 kr
- Calories: 20 kcal/100 ml
- Description: A yellow and easy drinking beer. A little thin in flavour. Organic!
- Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Wisby Lager
- Country: Sweden
- Type of beer: Modern Lager / India Pale Lager
- Price: 15:50 kr
- Calories: 30 kcal/100 ml
- Description: Nice dark colour. Good and tasty, with a "malty" flavour.
- Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Non-alcoholic beer test - winner of the "tastiest" category
Our absolute winner, in terms of taste alone, is Brooklyn Special Effects. This is incredibly flavourful, and if we were to do a blind test, we wouldn't be able to tell if it contains alcohol or not. We will definitely keep buying this one!
The only downside to this beer is that it is slightly higher in calories than many other non-alcoholic options. It contains 29 kcal/100 ml. This is less than a strong beer (around 45 kcal/100 ml), but more than an average non-alcoholic beer (around 20 kcal/100 ml).
Non-alcoholic beer test - winner of the "affordable" category
Non-alcoholic beer is sometimes quite expensive, and if you want to drink non-alcoholic beer on a daily basis, the price can come into play. At least it does for us! We think Carlsberg's non-alcoholic beer is good, and it wins the value-for-money award. At Systembolaget it costs 11:90 SEK, but we have often found it much cheaper in supermarkets. On one occasion we bought it for 8:90 SEK.
Do you like beer and non-alcoholic beer?
Do you like beer, and if so, what do you think of non-alcoholic beer? Do you have any favourites that you can recommend?
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Nils-Åke+Hansson says:
BROOKLYN SPECIAL EFFECTS is absolutely a favourite. We buy a lot of non-alcoholic beer. But think they are expensive 10 - 20 SEK each.
Sometimes on some varieties you can feel a certain aftertaste.
Have a nice weekend
04 September 2021 - 7:34
Helena says:
Agree, non-alcoholic beer can be quite expensive unfortunately. Wishing a continued nice weekend!
05 September 2021 - 6:35
TravelAnna says:
So good with tips on non-alcoholic!
I add a gluten-free non-alcoholic beer to the list: Norwegian Freeze. Available at Ica!
04 September 2021 - 8:40
Helena says:
Thanks for another tip! Great to have a gluten-free option! 👍
05 September 2021 - 6:35
Ewa says:
You have missed Erdinger.
The breweries can stop producing light beer. Totally unnecessary product when the non-alcoholic varieties are so much tastier.
04 September 2021 - 9:35
Helena says:
Yes we have, great tips! We'll have to try it! 😀 And I agree, it feels like light beer has fallen behind 😜.
05 September 2021 - 6:37
bmlarstravellingblog says:
We also buy a lot of non-alcoholic beer, sometimes you want a cold beer but nothing with alcohol (and lots of calories). We generally think that the non-alcoholic ones are really good and "A ship full of IPA" is one of our favourites.
04 September 2021 - 10:33
Helena says:
Yes, it's a great alternative sometimes, we think. And we agree, it's good! 👍
05 September 2021 - 6:38
Birgitta says:
Nowadays I only drink non-alcoholic drinks. Like Staropramen a lot but was happy to get new tips 👍.
04 September 2021 - 11:27
Helena says:
It would be great if we could contribute with some new tips! 😀👍
05 September 2021 - 6:38
Elisabeth says:
A low-cost variant, which I think is perfectly fine, is Lidl's.
04 September 2021 - 11:30
Helena says:
Thanks for the tip, we haven't looked there 👍.
05 September 2021 - 6:39
BP says:
I love beer, but have never had non-alcoholic beer. To be honest, I'm not going to start doing that either. If I don't want or can't drink alcoholic beer/wine, I might as well drink lemon water or juice.
IPA Brooklyn and Corona (during summer) are my favourites, and they contain alcohol;-)
04 September 2021 - 20:27
Helena says:
You can also reason like that, abdolutely! 👍 We have probably also thought so for a long time, but when we started drinking water more often, it became so boring 😝!
05 September 2021 - 6:40
JoY says:
We are not big beer drinkers and don't know much about beer. But sometimes it tastes good. Agree that Brooklyn special effects, is a really good pilsner that we have been drinking this summer.
04 September 2021 - 20:49
Helena says:
Perfect if you find someone you like! 😀👍
05 September 2021 - 6:41
Hasse says:
When I'm out riding my bike, it's usually Easy Rider, Gotland's brewery. By far the best on the market. The name as well. Otherwise, I think they are a little too thin in taste, generally. But they are non-alcoholic, so ...
05 September 2021 - 8:32
Anonymous says:
It's a shame they don't have a deposit on the bottles!
05 September 2021 - 17:44
Mr Pierre Erixon says:
Hi, nice to see these tests. Just doing my own evaluation of non-alcoholic beers. There are a few more details to consider.
It is good to look at the date of manufacture, as non-alcoholic beer is much more sensitive than alcoholic beer. The fresher the better.
Making non-alcoholic beer is an expensive process so (unfortunately) the larger breweries tend to have better equipment and therefore usually get the best results. Hopefully the smaller ones will catch up.
To summarise, consider the production date and size of the brewery.
26 August 2022 - 9:20
Sverk says:
Carlsberg Hoppy lager. Not as bitter as an ipa but more bite than regular Carlsberg.
10 February 2024 - 9:23