I was inspired by the blog from @zekepickleman from last week. He wrote that he joined "Dry January".
Good luck mate! Your already on 1/3 of the month (assuming you are still dry).
For those who don't know this fenomenon, Dry January is a month-long challenge where people voluntarily withold themselves from drinking alcohol. It promotes health, mindfulness about drinking habits, and a fresh start to the year.

Alcohol increases the risk of cancer

Alcoholic beverages are often promoted as being healthy as long as you don't drink too much, but recently I've read a news item where a prominent health advisor from the United States stated that wine, beer, and other alcoholic beverages should carry a health warning stating that they increase the risk of cancer.
It is important to note that the individual risk of cancer from alcohol use depends on various factors, such as the amount and frequency of consumption, genetics and other lifestyle factors.
These messages always tend to scare me a bit. On the other hand I do get a bit numbed since nowadays everything seems to increase your chances on cancer.
My alcohol consumption isn't of an alarming level. I'm not a heavy drinker and besides that I exercise a lot.
I'm not joining Dry January, but I do think it's a good think to have some attention for mindfulness about drinking habits.

Non Alcoholic beers

So according to health advisers we should be careful with our alcohol consumption. So we just have to drink some other beverages. I drink, water, coffee and tea as well. I skip all the sweetened soda's since I don't like them. Sometimes in the summer I take an ice tea green when I'm really thirsty. I just don't sweet drinks that much. I drink my coffee and tea also black.

In the past year we've seen a rise of the non-alcoholic beverages. And besides that I've seen a change in the public opinion about them. I remember that 35 years ago there were some breweries were trying to promote alcohol free beers. There was a Dutch comedian who was responsible for destroying the image of one of the first non-alcoholic beers called Buckler. He mocked Buckler calling it a beer for "sissy types". After that New-Years show not a lot of people wanted to be seen with this beer anymore. It really took a lot of years for the image of non-alcoholic beers to change.

One of the things that helped was the introduction of Radler beers. This beer with lemon soda mix, that was low in alcohol (and later also non alcoholic) quickly became very popular.

I think this was a bit of a catalyst. Also campaigs to prevent drinking and driving also helped change the public opinion. Nowadays you're not frowned upon anymore when you have a non alcoholic beer. And the large breweries are responding to this trend. You can find such a large amount of non alcoholic beers in the supermarket nowadays. Just check out the following picture I took in a Dutch supermarket. All beers are low or non-alcoholic.

My personal opinion about non-alcoholic beers

I'm a fan of craft beer. I've been drinking beer for many years. I used to drink al lot of lager when I was young (quantity), but over the years started appreciating quality over quantity and drink more crafs beers now.

When I tried out the first 0.0 beers I compared them to their alcoholic equivalent. And you just can't compare the two. For instance the taste of a Heineken (already not my favorite pilsener) and a 0.0 Heineken is totally different. It's just a total other beverage.

The same goes for the Hertog Jan pilsener and the 0.0% HJ. Although I do like the taste of the 0.0 HJ beer. I think it's a great alternative for people like me that don't drink cola or other sweetened soda drinks or juices. I like my drinks a bit bitter and when you can't or don't want to drink alcohol, this is a perfect alternative.

I've been trying out more and more 0.0 beers lately and I must say that some of them are really getting close to the taste of 'real' beers. Especially the IPA's, which often have a pronounced hoppy taste, come really close to 'the real thing'.

Some examples

One of my favorite crafs beers is Leffe Blond, so I had to try the 0.0 variant too. Just like the original, the 0.0 is a bit on the sweet side, but the taste is good. It isn't quite the same as the alcoholic version, but it gets close.



I ordered this VanDeStreek IPA in a restaurant recently when I had to drive. I was pleaseantly surprised by its taste. I haven't had the alcoholic version before, so I couldn't compare them. Maybe this was even better. I later found them also in a local supermarket, so I brought some home.
Really a nice and refreshing IPA with a bitter/citrusy smell and taste.



La Trappe is one of my favorite brewers. This trappist brewer has a whole range of beers and has now added a couple of 0.0 beers too; Nillis and Epos
Nillis is a Belgian style craft beer. It has a nice amber color which I haven't seen in any other 0.0 beers before. The taste is spicy, which is characteristic of La Trappe beers.
I haven't opened the Epos yet, but they say it's more a quadrupel. I do like the La Trappe quadrupel, but the alcohol is quite prominent in the quadrupel, so I really wonder how that will taste. I don't think it can come close to the quadrupel, but I'll find it out.

What about you?

What do you think about the 0.0 beers? Do you drink them? And which do you prefer if you do?
I'm curious what your experiences are.
Please let me know in the comments!

About FriendlyMoose

I'm an amateur photographer with a love for indoor gardening, craft beer, and cycling. As the owner of the Cycling Community and the creator of the Topcomment initiative, I focus on fostering engagement and bringing like-minded people together.
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