What if you wanted to drink a beer, but without getting drunk? Say, you don’t drink alcohol, or for one reason or another, you are off alcohol. Or perhaps it’s a working day, and you would like to have a cold one in the middle of the day but without all negative effects. Well, you could. Welcome to the world of Alcohol-free beer.
Over the last few days, I’ve been enjoying some Heineken 0.0 rather than the typical beers. Now, Heineken 0.0 is a beer, in the malt lager style as the standard Heineken, the only difference being that all the alcohol has been removed - it contains less than 0.03% alcohol, which counts as safe enough even for those who are pregnant or affected by alcohol, according to Heineken.
It smells very close to a Heineken, tastes close to a Heineken, and you even keep taking a piss like you would when drinking a Heineken - but you never get drunk.
How do they remove all the alcohol? From my research, they brew a standard Heineken beer as normal, then use some form of vacuum to make the alcohol evaporate without having to heat the beer. Remember alcohol has a lower evaporation point than water.
The process does result in some change of flavour, but they correct this change by extracting flavours from the evaporated alcohol and adding them back to the alcohol free beer.
This is however not the official version of events from Heineken, and thus the beer making process for alcohol free lager may be vastly different from the above. Heineken of course may be keeping the process secret for competitive purposes.
From my review, Heineken 0.0 is the best alcohol free beer in Nairobi.
It’s the perfect accompaniment for those social engagements or club runs where you simply don’t want alcohol, but would still love the character of a beer. Unlike juice or coffee, you can keep chugging Heineken 0.0 one after the other the entire night, and still walk home with a swagger rather than a stagger. Heineken however does state the product is targeted to adults above the legal drinking age.
The only challenge is that as at the beginning of 2021, it is available from few retailers. I am yet to find a supermarket stocking it, and I bought my stock from Oaks N Corks who retail it at KES 220 per bottle compared to KSh. 210 for the original Heineken. The 500 ml original Heineken can is cheaper retailing at KSh. 210. Heineken 0.0 appears to be only available in a 330 ml bottle, or 330 ml can in some countries.
Should your weight be watching you with the threat of ballooning should it sense your enjoying life, Heineken 0.0 carries half the calories of the ordinary Heineken, but also almost twice the carbohydrates due to its brewing process.
The other common alternative in Kenya is Bavaria 0.0, which comes in a variety of flavours from Apple to Mango Passion, and also the “unflavoured” original. However, this is a malt drink meaning that it is made from malt and other flavouring ingredients without necessarily undergoing fermentation. It’s flavour is therefore more that of a malted drink rather than a beer.
Carlsberg equally makes the Carlsberg 0.0, an alcohol free beer. It’s method of brewing differs from that of Heineken 0.0 in that they use a special yeast that produces no alcohol when fermenting the beer. Carlsberg 0.0 carries among the lowest calories and carbohydrates for alcohol free beers, but again slightly more carbs than a standard Carlsberg beer. The brand is however unavailable in Kenya or hard to come across.
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