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Buyer's Guide for Beer Lovers

Lagers

Not Your Grandfather’s Lager

Non Alcoholic Lager

These are the recently popular brews in a figure-conscious society. Essentially, these are pale lager styled beers with fewer calories or an alcohol content under 0.5 percent. Like all other “diet products,” the objective is to maintain flavor while minimizing calories. This achieved quite successfully by some brands, despite the implausibility of the proposition.

Interpreting the 100-point Scale

Consumers can translate the point score to the following quality bands:

Point Range Quality Band
96-100 points Platinum
90-95 points Gold
85-90 points Silver
80-84 points Bronze
Less than 80 Not Recommended
Legend
  • = Brewpub
  • ABV = Alcohol by volume
  • Date denotes the date on which the beer was tasted

86 Karmi Poema Di Cafe, Okocim Brewery (Poland). .05% ABV (10/08)
Dark chestnut/ruby color. Slightly tan head. Nice retention on glass. Rich dark coffee/espresso notes with hints of malted milk balls. Soft entry, silky mouthfeel. Malted milk balls, slightly burnt coffee, toffee and dark/milk chocolate flavors. Good chocolate to coffee ratio. Gentle finish, not too cloying.

86 Karmi Classic, Okocim Brewery (Poland). .05% ABV (10/08)
Deep ruby chestnut color. Very little head retention, thin “micro” bubbles leaving a thin veil of lace. Dark toast and rich dark/milk chocolate aromas, with hints of malted milk balls. Soft sweet entry. Caramel and sea salt, Hershey’s syrup, milk chocolate flavors that are well pronounced but gently fade. Clean uncloying finish. Good one for the lads, although a bit too sweet.

85 Golden Pheasant Non Alcoholic Lager, Heineken Slovensko (Slovakia). .05% ABV (10/08)
Pale golden color, thin veil of lacy carbonation. Fresh dough, creamy roasted corn, and a slight lemon spritz on the nose. Spritzy entry with lightly toasted buttered bread, grape nuts, and sweet cream with hints of of roasted corn make up the flavor profile. Slightly bitter finish, but not offensive. Reminds one of industrial pale lager from the eastern block.

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