...To ask for your alcohol-free drinks recommendations?

[lidoshuffle]

Can anyone recommend brands of wine, fizz, lager that isn't sweet and thin please? I'm hoping things have improved since the last time I tried alcohol-free "booze"; hideous Kaliber lager that tasted like sucking a penny.

I’ve found the alcohol free beer to be much better than the wine. I heard people raving about Eisberg wine, the red tastes like Ribena and the white is too sweet. Becks Blue and Erdinger are good.

I know you asked for lager but if you also want something ale-y, St Peter's Without is the best I found. People endlessly recommended Brewdog's Nanny State to me but I thought it was quite horrible and chemical-tasting.

I quite like something called The Bees Knees - non alcoholic sparkling white stuff.

I’m on my third month of being alcohol free due to medication and have given up trying to find any wine substitute as they are all horribly sweet.

Beers have got much better though - the best lager I have tried so far is Heineken 0.0% and the IPA from a brand called Big Drop is really lovely, but will keep an eye on this thread for more recommendations.

Cobra zero I've found to be good.
There's a shop www.alcoholfree.co.uk that has a massive range of things. Their beer range was good, different ranges not in the supermarket.

Second the vote for the Bees Knees. For about half a sip you can pretend it's prosecco! - which is half a sip more than Schloer. It's flavoured with green tea among other things which means it isn't as sweet as grape juice only drinks.

Depending on how strict you want to be r.e. alcohol free, I find Erdinger 0.5% wheat beer is very good. I'm pregnant and have a bottle every now and then (after reading that some fruit juices naturally have up to that much alcohol in them, and I'm glugging orange juice happily!).

Sedlip botanical and tonic - takes like gin but no alchol and not sweet. Alchol free erdinger is very nice and kept me sane in pregnancy. So is koppenburg pear alchol free cider.
I also like making mixed drinks eg cranberry Clementine and soda etc. Less sweet and very tasty

Tonic water on its own is quite nice. Have it out of a wine glass to feel a bit more grown up.

Becks blue is horrid.
The Heineken alcohol free is much nicer and the Budweiser prohibition brew is good.

I haven’t found a decent wine.

I used to make alcohol free mojitos when pregnant.

Have barely drunk anything the last few years (pregnant, cosleeping, pregnant and now just out of the habit.)

Erdinger weißbier is really lovely. Nicer than the stuff with alcohol in. The v low or no alcohol ciders are nice. I quite like just straight tonic water with a bit of lemon in as well.

I don’t think any of the wines are nice. Lots of the substitute stuff is too sugary. Beer or something isnt pretending to be something it’s not seems to be the way to go

Nanny State lager is my dp's choice for alcohol free. I haven't found an alcohol free wine that is half decent. There's an alcohol free gin on the market that is apparently very nice.

Another vote for Seedlip (I like the spiced one). Fever Tree tonics are lovely with it or on their own. The Erdinger AF beer is perfectly OK too. Agree that AF wine is not great; usually too sweet or like ‘off’ grape juice

Heineken zero is amazing! Tastes exactly the same as the alcoholic version

Rawsons Retreat sparkling white wine is the most dry AF wine I have found; their regular AF white is good too.

I don't believe a drinkable AF red exists unfortunately (unless you like Ribena), and I have tried them all. Torres Natureo best of a bad bunch.

There are loads of good AF beers- Warsteiner is my favourite.

If you like Aperol/bitter drinks then check out the likes of Crodino and Sanbitter.

Seedlips are good but pricey.

I think Lidl and Aldi might have some AF Glühweins in at the moment. I'm living in Germany and there are tonnes of festive AF options at the Christmas Markets (kinderpunsch, apfelpunsch etc) most of which would probably be easy to recreate at home if you fancied a warm Christmassy AF drink.

I like the 0% San Miguel.

Scavi and ray sparking wine alcohol free I loved! Really was like prosecco expensive though

Kombucha is the only thing that I really enjoyed when pregnant. Comes in various flavours, not too sweet, mildly sparkling and is good for you. Sounds a bit hippy but try some, poured in a naice glass over ice.

Alcohol free Erdinger is probably the best of the beers. Not found any alcohol free wine or fizz I liked - the fizz is mainly variants on Shloer. Usually way too sweet. Depends on your tastebuds though.

Watching with interest. This will be my first AF Xmas and dreading it tbh. Need a good arsenal of AF drinks that aren't sweet.

The rawson ‘s retreat red wine is the best I’ve had. Tesco sell it.

I also like crodino and sanbitter which is like aperol. Buy it from amazon.

Also good is pear cider can’t remember the brand but it’s quite widely available.

Some of the prosecco alternatives are not bad.

I like seedlip. Not as much as I like gin but it’s not bad.

Beer wise I like Heineken 0.0, warstiener free and ghostship. Hated the no alcohol cobra.

I’ve given up on alcohol free wine. It’s all gopping.

I’ve heard great things about the aldi AF selection so hoping to go there this week.

And I like interesting soft drinks (Virgin Mary’s, the san pelligrino drinks, spicy ginger beer, etc).

Another vote for Heineken 0%, I had it the other night and was genuinely amazed.

When I was pregnant 15 years ago I craved beer and the best I found then was a lager called Clausthaler but it was difficult to get then. Don't know if it's still around.

Seedlip gin and Nanny State BrewDog

For wine I like Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference alcohol free sparkling wine. It is the only alcohol free wine I’ve had that doesn’t taste like fizzy grape juice.

The only alcohol free beer I can drink is Nanny State. I find most of the lagers have an aftertaste that lingers and seems to get stronger as you drink it. Often the first sip is fine but by the end of a bottle it’s unbearable.

I also liked Brewdog’s Raspberry Blitz fruit beer, but it was a limited edition and I’m not sure if it’s still available.

Seed lip spice is lovely.
Beck’s Blue is ok, but only really on a hot day to me.
I quite like the Fentimans pink grapefruit tonic water on its own.

I have not found any half decent alcohol free wine! 😰😰

M+S alcohol free mulled wine is nice this time of year.