An alcohol-free weekend

A review of different brands

I've been moving away from alcohol-based beverages to alcohol-free variants for a while now. The main reason wasn't based on health. I just had it with the after-effects from drinking. 🤣

You can enjoy drinking at a party without alcohol. This epiphany took me a while to realise. The cultural environment and peer pressure I lived in forces almost any young adult into a sip of beer, wine or stronger shi🤬. Of course, you can refuse and be abstinent, but that’s difficult when you are sixteen years old (the legal drinking age in Switzerland) and want to join the fray.

Sadly I started drinking at a much younger age, as it is often so in Wallis (a province known in Switzerland for its accent and drinking). I was around six years old and mistook a bottle of red wine with syrup. You can’t qualify this as a career starter, though. I had my first hangover when I was around thirteen and enjoyed my youth with plenty of binge drinking.

Discovering alternatives

That being said, I started to move away from alcoholic beverages to alcohol-free variants at around thirty. Back then, the market was still tiny, and there were only a handful of alcohol-free beers or wine available. The most famous of them was “Bilz”, which I loved to drink even when I was younger.

Today there are more alternatives available than ever before, and the market is growing fast. Supermarkets are picking up the pace and extend the choices even further, which is nice!

Luckily, I’m not alone with the notion of finding alternatives. This summer, I sat down with a friend and ordered almost every alcohol-free beer from Coop, a supermarket chain in Switzerland. The idea was to test and compare them during a beer tasting weekend 🍺.

It was pretty fun! Below you find a list of all beers we tried with the brand name, price and a small review:

The review

Brand	Description
	Appenzeller Leermond  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 3.79/100cl – 0.0% – Brack Fruity and smooth taste. A great replacements for a typical lager beer.
	Appenzeller Sonnwendlig  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐ 3.79/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Has a watery with slight fruity taste. Typical lager without any special surprises.
	Appenzeller Wheat  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐ 3.90/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Very nice and authentic wheat taste. Recommended as wheat beer alternative.
	Bilz Panaché  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐ 4.20/100cl – 0.0% – Coop It has to be here cause of childhood memories. In general, very sweet.
	Brewdog Punk AF  Scotland   ⭐⭐⭐ 9.70/100cl – 0.5% – Coop Fruity and malty taste with a slight bitterness. Gets close to a typical IPA feel.
	Chopfab Bleifrei  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.91/100cl – 0.5% – Coop Slight fruity and mild taste. A very balanced lager and recommendable.
	Easy Rider Bulldog  Sweden   ⭐⭐ 10.91/100cl – 0.4% – Coop Has a velvety, watery and bitter taste. A mild taste for an IPA.
	Feldschlösschen  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐ 3.48/100cl – 0.5% – Coop Watery and neutral taste, good to drink very cold. Decent lager beer.
	Gran Alpin Senza  Switzerland   ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.03/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Fruity and sweet taste with a hint of citrus. Has a slight bitter aftertaste.
	Grimbergen  France   ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 7.67/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Very sweet taste with variants of spices, and no bitter aftertaste.
	Heineken 0.0  Netherlands   ⭐ 4.49/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Watery taste, misses any sign of flavour like the original.
	Lola  Germany   ⭐⭐ 11.52/100cl – 0.5% – Coop A very dry but slightly fruity IPA. A mild taste for an IPA.
	Lola Wit  Germany   ⭐⭐⭐ 11.52/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Very wheaty and soft beer. A good alternative for a good wheat beer.
	Lowlander IPA  Netherlands   ⭐⭐⭐ 9.60/100cl – 0.0% – UrbnDrnk Has a refreshing, spicy note. Very sparkly with a taste of cinnamon and orange.
	Lowlander Wit  Netherlands   ⭐⭐ 9.60/100cl – 0.0% – UrbnDrnk Very sweet and fruity taste with a hint of citrus.
	Riegele IPA Liberis  Germany   ⭐⭐ 10.30/100cl – 0.4% – Coop Very strong bitter and malty taste, stronger than a usual IPA.
	Schützengarten IPA  Switzerland   ⭐⭐ 5.05/100cl – 0.0% – Coop Very bitter taste with a whole lot of acidity, a bit stronger than usual IPAs.

All prices in CHF, based on a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating.

Thanks for a fantastic beer testing weekend V 😊.

‘Till next time!