Non-alcoholic beer review – Heineken, Carlton and more

Australians have a well-documented love affair with the liquid amber better known as beer, from traditional mainstream brands such as Victoria Bitter to the more recent explosion in craft beers.

But whether it’s because you’ve signed up to Dry July, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or just want to cut down on the amount of alcohol you consume, you may have considered swapping your usual tipple for a non-alcoholic (also called no-alcohol or alcohol-free) beer. 

These drinks look, smell, and taste like beer but they contain less than 0.5% alcohol. 

And with more and more big-name breweries coming out with no-alcohol options – some of which can be found in Coles and Woolworths – it’s easier than ever to find no-alcohol beer. 

But which tastes best? We put six no-alcohol beers to the test. 

Best tasting non-alcoholic beer

Carlton Zero 

• Score: 52%
• RRP: $0.49/100ml ($7.40 per 4-pack)
• Alc/Vol: 0.0%
• Weight: 375ml can

Other beers tasted

Coopers Ultra Light Birell

• Score: 45%
• RRP: $0.36/100ml ($8.30 per 6-pack)
• Alc/Vol: Less than 0.5%
• Weight: 375ml bottle

Heineken 0.0

• Score: 45%
• RRP: $0.66/100ml ($12.99 per 6-pack)
• Alc/Vol: 0.04%
• Weight: 330ml bottle

Erdinger Weissbrau Alkoholfrei  

• Score: 37%
• RRP: $0.81/100ML ($15.99 per 6-pack)
• Alc/Vol: 0.4% 
• Weight: 330ml bottle

Hollandia Non Alcoholic 0.0% Beer

• Score: 32%
• RRP: $0.76/100ml ($9.99 per 4-pack)
• Alc/Vol: 0.0%
• Weight: 330ml can

Holsten 0.0%

• Score: 30%
• RRP: $0.61/100ml ($11.99 per 6-pack)
• Alc/Vol: 0.0%
• Weight: 330ml bottle

How we tested

Products 

In 2019, we taste tested six no-alcohol beers available from Coles, Woolworths and Dan Murphy’s. The price shown is what we paid in June 2019. 

Tasting 

We set up a blind tasting for 30 CHOICE staffers. Each product was assigned a code and its brand concealed. Our tasters sampled them in a random order. For each sample tasted, people decided if they disliked, liked or loved it. A total of 180 samples were tasted and voted on across the six no-alcohol beer products. A minimum of 30 taste tests were completed per product. 

Scores

The taste score is calculated as an average of all responses, where ‘dislike’ is scaled at 25, ‘like’ at 70 and ‘love’ at 100. 

Tasting notes

Tasters described the most popular no-booze beer, Carlton Zero, as ‘mild’, ‘light’, ‘fruity’ and ‘drinkable’. 

“Refreshing, I would drink this [again],” said one of our testers. “A smooth taste, most similar to alcoholic beer”, said another. “Has a sweet aroma and pleasant taste… very light and easy to drink,” said another tester. 

But not everyone’s a fan, with some commenting that it’s “bland and generic”, “watery” and even “tastes somewhat like cardboard”.

Overall, CHOICE staff thought the taste of all alcohol-free beer left much to be desired, with 69% of samples receiving a ‘dislike’.

Some comments included: “Has a weird banana-y smell… are they actually selling this as beer?”, “tastes like spag bol”, “[it’s] beer-adjacent”, “whatever dog was soaking in this one needs to get to a vet!”, “tastes like old socks”, “smells a bit like rotting fruit and tastes of dish water”,  “coffee notes, like Peroni, but not good, unlike Peroni”. Ouch.

A growing market

The no-alcohol beer segment has existed for some years but has remained extremely small until recently, when a slew of new drinks appeared on the market. The most mainstream of those is Carlton Zero, launched by Carlton United Brewery (CUB) in late 2018. 

CUB believes non-alcoholic beers can be worth up to two percent of the Australian beer market, with that market already growing “12-fold” since Carlton Zero was released, spokesperson Chris Maxwell says.

Maxwell says the drinks are for adults who want to drink less alcohol: “It’s also unlocking occasions when people might not have even thought about drinking an alcoholic beer but because they love the taste of beer, they can, like at lunchtime or at work.”

Clinton Schultz founded non-alcoholic craft beer company Sobah four years ago and says it has experienced a 20% annual growth, thanks to two distinctive age groups – baby boomers and millennials.

“We found that baby boomers have got to an age where they’ve had enough of alcohol a lot of the time, but they do enjoy the flavour profiles that come with beer and wine,” he says. 

“And a lot of young people are just choosing not to drink.”

Overseas, the market is far more advanced, especially in countries such as Canada, the UK and Belgium, where established brands such as Peroni, Kronenbourg 1664, Heineken, Budweiser and San Miguel all have their own non-alcoholic versions.

In the UK, the market has doubled in size since 2015, and in 2018 alone it grew by 37%.

Is there any alcohol in non-alcoholic beer?

Like decaf coffee, which does in fact contain a small amount of caffeine, non-alcohol beers can include some alcohol, up to 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV), according to Food Standards Australia. 

In comparison, a full-strength beer will contain 4.8% ABV, mid-strength beer has 3.5% ABV, low-strength beer has 2.7% ABV, and low-alcohol beverages must contain less than 1.15% ABV. 

Under Food Standards Australia, labelling for alcoholic beverages must strictly match the (ABV) each drink contains. 

Can I get drunk on it?

Patricia Hepworth, director of policy and research at the Foundation for Alcohol Research & Education (FARE), says such small amounts of alcohol are processed almost as soon as it’s consumed, so people can’t get drunk.

It also means that it’s considered safe to drive after drinking, but fair warning – your breath may still smell like booze.

Are non-alcoholic beers healthy?

It’s not easy to compare no-alcohol beers to alcoholic versions in Australia, because alcoholic beverages with an ABV over 1.15% are exempt from labelling kilojoule content, or any other nutrients for that matter. 

Some varieties may still have high levels of kilojoules from sugar, which can contribute to weight gain and problems with tooth decay. 

But Schultz says if non-alcoholic beer is made naturally, it can be quite healthy. 

“It has far less sugar than soft drinks,” he says.

CUB promotes the fact that Carlton Zero has 10 times less sugar than a regular soft drink. But that comparison has drawn criticism.

“Non-alcoholic beer, when it’s a substitute for alcoholic beer, is undoubtedly a good thing; it’s much healthier for someone who would have otherwise drunk beer,” says Hepworth.

“But from a health perspective, what’s particularly worrying is non-alcoholic beer positioning itself as a family-friendly healthy alternative and we’re particularly concerned with the fact that what is being advertised looks and tastes just like beer.”

She recommends current and recovering alcoholics avoid non-alcoholic beer as it could ‘trigger’ them.

“Alcohol-free beer, which often taste the same as standard alcoholic beer, can provide sensory cues that make the drinker want the real thing.”

Can under-18s buy or drink it?

It’s not illegal for under-18s to buy or drink no-alcohol beer, but some supermarkets and liquor stores may have their own policies when it comes to selling it to under-18s.

And even if they can buy it, doesn’t mean they should.

“It’s very easy for minors to purchase,” says Hepworth, adding that children and teenagers should “absolutely not” consume non-alcoholic beer. 

“It could condition people from a young age to crave the taste of beer [and] we can only see it further leading to more excess alcohol consumption in the future.”

Maxwell says Carlton Zero was “strictly designed and marketed” and that it abided by the same advertising standards for alcoholic drinks.

“It is absolutely not recommended for under-18s. It’s been over six months since we launched and we haven’t had issues with under-18s drinking it.”

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Marianna

Marianna worked at CHOICE from 2017–2022, writing and editing content on a range of different consumer issues as both a content editor and commissioning editor. She's conducted in-house taste tests for non-alcoholic wines, uncovered which is the best reusable water bottle, looked at the amount of sweet ingredients in infant foods, and analysed the contents of chocolate variety boxes to find out which are best for caramel lovers, fruit-goo fans and more. She previously worked for a range of publications in both Australia and the UK including the BBC's Radio Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Sunday Telegraph and Cosmopolitan. You can find her on LinkedIn.

Marianna worked at CHOICE from 2017–2022, writing and editing content on a range of different consumer issues as both a content editor and commissioning editor. She's conducted in-house taste tests for non-alcoholic wines, uncovered which is the best reusable water bottle, looked at the amount of sweet ingredients in infant foods, and analysed the contents of chocolate variety boxes to find out which are best for caramel lovers, fruit-goo fans and more. She previously worked for a range of publications in both Australia and the UK including the BBC's Radio Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Sunday Telegraph and Cosmopolitan. You can find her on LinkedIn.

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Alana

I'm a Melbourne-based journalist, editor and academic. I worked at The Age as a news reporter for five years, covering social justice, health and crime, and as a sports columnist and TV reviewer. As a freelance journalist I have contributed to a range of publications including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, The Conversation, Huffington Post, Good Weekend, MamaMia, Essential Kids and Time Out, on a range of subjects from social justice and politics to culture and travel I teach journalism, writing and media at The University of Melbourne. I have mentored young and emerging writers, appeared at writers festivals and delivered talks and workshops at schools and for corporate clients. In 2017 I received a Dart Centre Asia Pacific Fellowship which focused on climate change and trauma reporting. I co-founded Women in Media and was previously a trustee of the Media Safety and Solidarity Trust, which provides financial support to journalists and their families in high-risk countries such as Pakistan and the Philippines. In my spare time I study medieval and renaissance English history and watch Star Wars – a lot. Follow Alana on Twitter LinkedIn

I'm a Melbourne-based journalist, editor and academic. I worked at The Age as a news reporter for five years, covering social justice, health and crime, and as a sports columnist and TV reviewer. As a freelance journalist I have contributed to a range of publications including The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Saturday Paper, Crikey, The Conversation, Huffington Post, Good Weekend, MamaMia, Essential Kids and Time Out, on a range of subjects from social justice and politics to culture and travel I teach journalism, writing and media at The University of Melbourne. I have mentored young and emerging writers, appeared at writers festivals and delivered talks and workshops at schools and for corporate clients. In 2017 I received a Dart Centre Asia Pacific Fellowship which focused on climate change and trauma reporting. I co-founded Women in Media and was previously a trustee of the Media Safety and Solidarity Trust, which provides financial support to journalists and their families in high-risk countries such as Pakistan and the Philippines. In my spare time I study medieval and renaissance English history and watch Star Wars – a lot. Follow Alana on Twitter LinkedIn

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