It’s a hot summer afternoon. I’m sitting down on a hot afternoon, with a burger, and a cold beer.
What I’m looking for is something to replace that cold beer with. I want it to be crisp and fresh, but also not sweet. I love tart and bitter flavours. Unfortunately, my options are either cold and sweet, cold and alcoholic or hot and non sweet.
So threadiverse, what alternatives am I missing?
Tereré is great, but it’s a bit of a pain to source in Australia. What else is there?
how about NA beer? Everything you want and nothing you don’t.
Beef broth, mmmm savory!
Non alcoholic beer
This right here. Some are very bad, but there are some really good ones around these days. Guinness for example tastes almost identical to real Guinness.
Seconded, non alcoholic Guinness is excellent.
I also like the NA forms of:
- Corona
- Peroni
- Warsteiner
- Erdinger
Had a few other good ones but can’t recall which they were.
I actually think Guinness zero tastes different but in fact way better than the original. There’s been times when i was drinking, but would occasionally opt for a zero if it was an option.
Leffe blonde LA (0.5%, i think) is awesome, miles better than most. I find the Guinness LA a bit bland, lacking in the aftertaste and a bit watery.
On the days when I’m really just hanging out for, and worked a really sweaty, dirty day on the chainsaws, I drink N/A beer. The cheapest I can find. It either hits the spot or it tastes like garbage and turns me off beer again. Either way it averts the craving and lets me stay sober. Most alcos in recovery will frown on N/A beer, but I don’t care, whatever helps me not drink alcohol is fair game.
Everyone is recommending just stuff that’s not sweet, but you asked for savory.
Beef Fizz Search YouTube for videos of it.
Cold fruit teas sound like they could be good for ya
Kombucha
Would also highly recommend kombucha.
Cold, fizzy, relatively healthy as it’s mostly tea by default with probiotics, and you can change up the flavor. The default is kinda tart and vinegary, but then you add (or buy) fruit or herb flavors and you can really find what you personally love.
This. There’s a passion fruit and hop kombucha that is great for me. I don’t drink during the week and that’s my go to ‘treat’.
I mainlt drink carbonized water with a bit of citron juice.
Unsweet iced tea
Michellada
There isn’t really anything that tastes like beer other than beer. As others have said, the non-alcoholic versions have gotten pretty good over the last few years.
I’m also quite partial to unsweetened iced tea. Just make a very strong tea and pour it over ice and chill, optionally add lemon juice to taste.
Cold brew coffee is also quite nice, but personally, I prefer that one as a sweet drink mixed with sweetened condensed milk.
Unsweetened ice tea is great. If you want to drink a lot of it you can brew a pot and leave it in the fridge overnight for the next day with two containers you can just swap them out whenever one gets empty.
You also don’t need to brew hot tea. I prefer cold brewing, using about 8 tea bags per gallon. Just refrigerate for about 12 hours, or longer to taste if you like it stronger. I’ve done this with black teas (I love Red Rose for iced tea), sencha green tea, and oolong (my favorite).
Oh this process reminds me there is also sun tea!
For some additional context, hot brewing is really only needed for sweet iced l tea. More sugar dissolves into hot liquid than cold, so you put more sugar in it when it’s hot so it’s extra sweet.
My go-to fave is Peroni 0.0%
Not sure it’s available in Australia, but it’s really good NA beer imo. Someone else mentioned hop water. It’s more like soda, at least to me, but similarly bright and v fizzy
Sparkling water with pickle juice. Add bitters if you want different flavors.
Try Nimbu Pani! It’s an Indian drink that hits the tart and slightly savory points. May be annoying to get black salt though.
Sugar free ginger ale
Hop water
Gaspacho? At least it is cool and savory…
