Alcohol-free pils and wheat beer in the test

Product test: non-alcoholic pils and wheat beer
20 types of alcohol-free beer in the test

Anyone who wanted to be laughed at by their buddies ten or 15 years ago ordered a non-alcoholic beer. The stuff was mostly undrinkable and justifiably outlawed. But those times are over. 20 current non-alcoholic in the test.

Klaus Herder

12/22/2011

Here comes a Gunther Jauch quiz question for the very highest euro ranks: Where was the non-alcoholic beer invented? Answer option A: USA, B: GDR, C: Czechoslovakia, D: Netherlands. Do you know? Not correct! The Ossis are to blame, and not only Wikipedia confirms that in 1972 it was the state-owned Engelhardt Brewery in Berlin-Stralau that, with AUBI, was the first to put a beer on the market with less than 0.3 percent by volume ) Alcohol could be regarded as practically alcohol-free. AUBI stood for “motorist beer” and was not really appreciated by the people who had to wait over ten years for their cars. In short, this stuff was a flop.

The brothers and sisters in the East then did what people liked to do with flops (no, Biermann and Merkel are expressly NOT meant): They were exported to the West. The patents ended up in the FRG. Clausthaler was then one of the first providers to ensure that the wondrous brew landed in the heads of beer lovers, but not necessarily permanently in the throats of beer fans, with a lavish media presence. Alcohol-free beer simply tasted like nothing in its early stages. In the best case.

Even back then, it was brewed exclusively from the ingredients prescribed by the legendary German Purity Law: hops, malt, yeast and water. In contrast to conventional beer, the brewers interrupted the fermentation process at a point in time when the alcohol content was a maximum of 0.5 percent by volume. The alcohol formation was stopped – and with it, unfortunately, part of the taste formation, which explains the bland character of some alcohol-free first-timers.

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But for a few years now there has been a second option for producing non-alcoholic beer. The beer goes through a complete brewing process including alcohol formation. The alcohol is only then removed again by filtering or distilling. Flavorings are also lost in the process, but a combination of both brewing processes can ensure that a surprisingly large amount of taste is retained. The legislator prescribes an upper limit of 0.5 percent alcohol by volume so that a beer can be marketed as alcohol-free. Almost all breweries also allow a certain amount of alcohol in it. This serves to round off the taste and is also harmless for people who are not allowed to or do not like to drink alcohol. Comparable values can also be found in products such as fruit juice or kefir.

How much alcohol was in it, however, interested MOTORRAD, and so the good contacts with the Swabian cleaning equipment manufacturer Karcher were used. Its laboratory manager Frank Ritscher, himself a motorcyclist, first determined the respective pH value. Not an end in itself, because whoever knows that lemon juice has a pH value of 2.4 and mineral water of 6.0 can classify the values in between for non-alcoholic beers accordingly. The same applies to the mineral content. These include sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium, among others. These are all substances that the human engine needs to run smoothly and that can be found in non-alcoholic beers to a considerable extent.

For example, if a person sweats a lot while doing sports – and motorcycling is definitely one of them – he loses the substances mentioned along with the liquid. Alcohol-free beer is then an effective means of replenishing the depots. Which of course the suppliers have also recognized and like to advertise their beers with the catchphrase “isotonic”. Isotonic drinks are liquids that have the same concentration of minerals as the body fluids. To put it very roughly: the higher the mineral content mentioned in the crates, the more suitable the beer is as a mineral supplier. However, a qualitative statement cannot be made with this. Basically, however, the following applies: Alcohol-free beer is a very good sports drink.

With all health aspects, however, color, smell and taste remain the factors that ultimately decide whether you want to voluntarily drink a beer a second time. So it is only the tasting results that led to the MOTORRAD test result. Of course, these are quite subjective criteria, but it was noticeable how fundamentally the test crew agreed on their assessment. And that, although the tasters formed a colorful mix of different types of beer and regional backgrounds (North Germans, Rhinelander, Palatinate and even Swabians). That there were quite different assessments in detail.

The bottom line is that a lot has changed since the first AUBI. Anyone who has to organize the drinks for the next motorcycle meeting is faced with a very attractive task when it comes to non-alcoholic beer.

MPS photo studio

Alpirsbacher: Klosterbr. non-alcoholic.

Providers:
Alpirsbacher Klosterbrau Glauner GmbH & Co. KG, 72275 Alpirsbach, www.alpirsbacher.de
Price per liter *:
1.83 euros
Nutritional information:
no manufacturer information
Readings:
Alcohol content 0.32% by volume; pH 4.23; Mineral content 1704 mg / liter Color: light yellow, rather thin
Odor:
slightly malty, not very intense, typically alcohol-free beer
First drink:
somewhat chemically metallic, not very pearly, rather unspectacular
Overall taste:
Initially a bit tart, slightly bland, taste quite volatile, carbonic acid content mediocre
Departure:
not very sustainable, not particularly impressive, but also not disruptive
Conclusion:
Inconspicuous, unspectacular, not really unpleasant – a typical quick-for-a-thirst beer. Doesn’t bother you, but doesn’t cause euphoria either.

MOTORRAD verdict:
satisfying