Alcohol-free beer is as healthy as its traditional counterpart, as rich in vitamins and minerals, fat free and yes, the perfect substitute for beer when you need to drive. But is that alcohol-free beer real beer or something else tasting similar?
They state alcohol-free beer is alcohol free. This sentence sounds as strange as the following: alcohol-free beer is not really alcohol free. To call beer with a highly reduced percentage of alcohol "alcohol-free" is pretty misleading. Let's make it clear: alcohol-free beer has an alcohol concentration of 0.05%. This is certainly not enough to make us drunk (juices contain the same amount of alcohol) and makes the so-called alcohol-free beer safe for pregnant women and drivers.
If you are a beer enthusiast you'll wonder, "why bother?" But when you need to take medicine that interacts with alcohol, you'll find "fake" beer not so bad. Besides, people actually like the taste of beer and not necessarily the alcohol in it. Beer goes great with steaks and sausages, French fries and other dishes. And finally: Muslims can also have a taste of beer. For these reasons and the ones mentioned below, alcohol-free beer is a great discovery.
So far it is clear: alcohol-free beer is not alcohol-free, but is a safe drink. Now let's take a look at the other benefits.
We should first state that alcohol-free beer is real beer, although many occasional consumers and beer enthusiasts will argue that. While some alcohol-free beers are made without fermentation and get their taste from natural flavorings, non-alcoholic beer is usually produced in the same way as traditional beer: mixing water, barley malt, hops and yeast. The alcohol is taken out only after the beer is fully brewed. The process, called vacuum evaporation, influences partially the taste of the beer, making it slightly bland. If it's something you miss when you drink non-alcoholic beer, that's the alcohol itself. Alcohol-free beer contains the same ingredients as traditional beer, minus 99.95% of the alcohol. And that's the good part about this drink: it keeps the nutritional values of a normal beer (fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and plenty of B vitamins) and consuming it, even excessively, doesn't influence our health negatively.
On the contrary: recent studies show that alcohol-free beer may ward off cancer, contributes to the decrease of thrombin and has the same cardiovascular benefits as traditional beer. Drinking non-alcoholic beer helps decrease the components which form blood clots at about the same rate as the moderate consumption of regular beer.
Non-alcoholic beer, as you already found out, contains the same amount of alcohol found naturally in fruit juices and has half the proteins regular beer does. So you don't need to be afraid about that "beer belly" any longer, just cut out the snacks and you're done.
And let's end this "pro alcohol-free beer" debate with the most important benefits: you can drink and drive. You can go in a bar, have nearly the taste of the real stuff, look as if you're really drinking plain beer and be sociable without getting the effects of alcohol on your brain.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Beer
