Drinks To Try This Sober October

Are you looking at giving Sober October a try this year?  Worried you will miss out on the taste of your favourite beer?  Well did you know there are now loads of quality Alcohol free Options available that you could have instead.  There are now a vast amount of styles available in alcohol free.  Below I list just a few of them and links so you can buy them and try them yourself.  

*- Affiliate links have been used in this article which earn me a small percentage of any sale made.  All the beers below are available from all good Alcohol free stockists.

Let me know what you think of this list, what you thought of any of the beers you try, or others you'd like to see on this list either leave a comment here or drop me a message over on my twitter @afbeerexplorer

To find out more about what Alcohol free drinks are available and where these can be purchased Download the Betterwithout App from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.  

Gunineess 0.0

Suitable for Vegans

We start off with what has probably been the most talked about Alcohol free beer of the past year.  Launched last year but then shortly recalled due to production issues Guinness 0.0 finally launched again In August.  This is the exact same Guinness that everyone knows and loves but with the alcohol fully removed.  The resulting drink is a very close likeness to it's alcoholic version with a slightly thinner mouth feel and sweeter in taste.   However this is still arguably  the best alcohol free stout on the market and if you enjoyed the original this is a must try.  This can be picked up in local supermarkets or online from wise Bartender *.  It will also hopefully soon be available in pubs in the UK using Guinness new Micro Draught System.

Drop Bear Bonfire Stout

Suitable for Vegans        Gluten Free

Next up we have another Stout.  This time from South Wales and the Drop Bear brewery.  Drop bear have been around now since 2019 and now have 4 beers in their range.  They are currently in the process of building their own brewery and will be only the 2nd dedicated Alcohol free Brewery in the UK.  Drop bears beers have been previously available in bottles but they have recently moved over to using cans as their main distribution method.

The Bonfire Stout is a lot less smooth a beer than the Guinness draught and has a great smoky flavour too it with hints of coffee and chocolate.  A great beer to have on a cold evening to warm you up.    But don't worry if your not a stout fan they also have 3 other great beers a Yuzu pale ale, New World Lager & Tropical IPA.  All of which can be bought direct from drop bear on the drop bear online shop or from Wise Bartender *

Vanderstreek Playground

Next up we have an IPA from Netherlands based brewery Vanderstreek.  Vanderstreek brew both full strength and non alcoholic beers.  Playground was their first try at a non alcoholic Beer it is an IPA brewed with Columbus, Mosaic, Citra & Cascade hops.  It has a lovely tropical taste with a good bitter finish.  This is one of the first Non Alcoholic beers that I tried that gave me the wow moment with how much like a full strength IPA it tasted.

Other non alcoholic beers from vanderstreek are a Grapefruit IPA, Fruit Machine which is a Raspberry and Blueberry Sour and their fantastic NEIPA - funhouse.  All these beers are available through Wise Bartender *.

Low Tide - Brunce DMC

Vegan Friendly

The next Beer up is from bath based Alcohol free specialist LowTide. The 1st thing you will notice about any Lowtide Can is the stunning artwork on the labels each one has been specially designed by John Miles who is an artist known to the brewers. The Brune DMC even has a QR code you can scan to get a specially made Spotify playlist to go along with the beer. Brune-DMC is a Brune beer which is a belgian brown ale. It' has a great malty character to it and reminds me of a traditional british ale in a pub.

If this style doesn't sound to your tastes then check out their full range of beers on the LowTide store

These can also be ordered from the Wise Bartender Website *

Mikkeler - drink'in the sun

Vegan friendly

Drink'in the sun is from one of Denmark's finest micro breweries.  Mikkeler brew both full strength and alcohol free beers and have really embraced the alcohol free market now with a big selection of different style beers available.  Drink'in the sun is a great little American style wheat beer.  It is a lovely nice refreshing light tasting beer with a great tropical hit and a good bitter finish.

This beer is sometimes available in supermarkets but can also be picked up from Wise Bartender * along with others from the mikkeler range 

Jumpship Yardarm

Vegan Friendly        Gluten Free

Yardarm is the 1st beer that was released by Scottish based alcohol free brewery jumpship. It is a craft lager that comes with a nice malty base with strong citrus flavours backing it up. It was recently awarded the best alcohol free lager by the World beer Awards.If you are lucky enough this can even be found on draught in certain pubs in Scotland.

Jumpship have since released another 2 great beers to their range Flying colours pale ale and their newest beer Goosewing IPA. Which are both great examples of their styles.

Yardarm can be purchased online from Wise Bartender

Big Drop Brewing - Paradiso Citra IPA

Gluten Free

Big Drop are one of the biggest Alcohol free breweries in the UK and have recently expanded to other markets including the USA and Australlia.

They have a huge range of Alcohol free beers covering a variety of styles and are on sale in a variety of shops including Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsburys as well as online at a variety of Retailers.

Paradiso is a Citra IPA with Chinook, Cascade, Simcoe, Citra and Columbus hops. It is quite a smooth easy drinking beer with lots of citrus flavours coming through from the Citra hops.

If you get a chance pop along to your local Brewhouse & Kitchen bar and try this on Tap you won't regret it. Check Out Paradiso and the rest of the Big Drop range on Wise Bartender.

Coast Beer - Sabro Galaxy DDH IPA

Vegan 0%

If anyone knows how to make Juicy Alcohol free IPA's its coast. Coast seem to have got this down to an art and I could have picked any of their beers for this list. They are all lovely fruity IPA's from thier standard IPA up to their latest creation the 7 Grain 7 hop DDH IPA.

The Sabro Galaxy DDH IPA as you can probably already guess from the name is brewed with Sabro and galaxy Hops and is a Double Dry Hopped (DDH) beer. This means they have used double the normal amount of hops in the dry hopping phase which increases the intensity of the flavours. This results in a beer with an intensely juicy flavour with Pineapple and coconut flavours noticeable.

Take a look at our previous guide to the mixed pack of Coast beers and get over to the Coast beer Website to order some of your own this link gives you £15 off your first order.  Some of the range is also available at Wise Bartender *

Brooklyn Brewery - Special Effects

Brooklyn Special effects is a hoppy lager brewed by Brooklyn Brewery. This is their only alcohol free beer available in Europe however they do have a Hoppy Amber available over in the states.

This was one of the first Alcohol free beers I tried and is still great to this day. It is quite different from what I usually think of for a lager with quite a malty base to it then you get a nice hit of the hops and a bitter finish.

If you are lucky enough you can find this on draught in a handful of locations including the Yada collective in Derby.

Special effects can be purchased from their online store. It is also available from Wise Bartender (Although out of stock at time of writing)

Adnams - Ghost Ship

The final beer in my list is from Adnams brewery.  This beer is a <0.5% ABV version of their Ghost ship beer.  The beer contains much of the character and flavour of the original.  Its very much a traditional ale flavour, your old man beer if you like but with a little twist of citrus flavour.  

This beer can be picked up in most supermarkets and also available in your local Weatherspoon's Pub. 

It can also be purchased from the Dry drinker website*

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and even more that you enjoy any of the beers you decide to try.  Please let me know what you think.