Low-alcohol beer is beer with low alcohol content or no alcohol, which
aims to reproduce the taste of beer without the inebriating effects of
standard alcoholic brews. Most low-alcohol beers are lagers, but there
are some low-alcohol ales. In the United States, beverages
containing less than 0.5% alcohol by volume were legally called
non-alcoholic, according to the now-defunct Volstead Act. Because of its
very low alcohol content, non-alcoholic beer may be legally sold to minors in
many American states. In the United Kingdom, the following
definitions apply by law: No alcohol or alcohol-free: not more
than 0.05% ABV Dealcoholised: over 0.05% but less than
0.5% ABV Low-alcohol: not more than 1.2% ABV
In some parts of the European Union, beer must contain no more than 0.5% ABV
if it is labelled "alcohol-free". In Australia, the term "light beer"
refers to any beer with less than 3% alcohol.
Spain is the main consumer and producer of low-alcohol beer in the European
Union. History
Low-alcoholic brews such as small beer date back to at least Medieval Europe,
where they served as a less risky alternative to water and were less
expensive than the full strength brews used at festivities.
In the more modern forms, the temperance movements and general regard of certain
tasks like driving being unsuitable when intoxicated led to the development of
beers which could be drunk without intoxicating effects.
In the United States, the conceptualization of non-alcohol brews
took place during Prohibition, according to John Naleszkiewicz. President Wilson
had proposed limiting the alcohol content in malt beverages to 2.75% in
1917 in an effort to appease avid prohibitionists. In 1919, Congress
approved the Volstead Act, which limited the alcohol content of any beverage to
0.5%. These beverages became known as tonics, and many breweries began brewing
these extremely low alcohol content beverages in order to keep from going
out of business during Prohibition. Since removing the alcohol from the beer
requires the addition of one simple step, many breweries saw this as an easy
transition. In 1933, when Prohibition was repealed, removing this single step
again was easily done by many breweries. At the dawn of the 21st century,
alcohol-free beer has seen a rise in popularity in the Middle East. Part of
the reason why it has grown in popularity is that Islamic scholars
issued fatwas which permitted the consumption of beer so long as large
quantities could be consumed without getting drunk.
Pros and cons There are both up sides and down falls
to converting traditional brews to non-alcoholic brews. Positive aspects of
converting standard brews to non-alcoholic brews include the ability
to drive after consuming several drinks, the reduction of kidney/liver damage,
and less intense hangover symptoms. Some common complaints of non-alcoholic
brews include a loss of flavor, addition of one step in the brewing process,
sugary taste, and a shorter shelf life. Along with aesthetic shortcomings of
non-alcoholic brews, they also raise serious legal implications. Local
governments in some states like Pennsylvania prohibit the sale of these
non-alcoholic brews to persons under the age of 21. A study conducted by the
department of psychology at Indiana University claimed “Because
non-alcoholic beer provides sensory cues that simulate alcoholic beer, this
beverage may be more effective than other placebos in contributing to a
credible manipulation of expectancies to receive alcohol”, making people feel
"drunk" when they physically are not. Categories
= Light beer = Light beer is beer that is reduced in
alcohol content or in calories compared to regular beer. The spelling "lite
beer" is also commonly used. Light beers may be chosen by beer
drinkers who wish to manage their alcohol consumption or their calorie
intake. However, these beers are sometimes criticized for being less
flavorful than full-strength beers, being "watered down", and thus
advertising campaigns for light beers generally advertise their retention of
flavor. In Australia, regular beers have
approximately 5% ABV; reduced-alcohol beers have 2.2%–3.2%.
In Canada, a reduced-alcohol beer contains 2.6%–4.0% ABV, and an
“extra-light” beer contains less than 2.5% ABV.
In the United States, most reduced-alcohol beers, including Bud
Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite have 4.2% ABV. This is a 16% reduction in
alcohol compared to beer that has 5% ABV.
In Sweden, low alcohol beer is either 2.8% or 3.5% and can be purchased in a
regular supermarket whereas regular strength beers of above 3.5% must be
purchased at the Systembolaget = Low-point beer =
Low-point beer, which is often known in America as "three-two beer" or "3 point
2 brew", is beer that contains 3.2% alcohol by weight.
The term "low-point beer" is unique to the United States, where some states
limit the sale of beer, but beers of this type are also available in
countries that tax or otherwise regulate beer according to its alcohol content.
In Sweden, beer containing up to 3.5% ABV may be legally sold in any
convenience store to people over 18 years of age, whereas stronger beer may
only be sold in state-run liquor stores to people older than 20. In addition,
businesses selling food for on-premises consumption do not need an alcohol
license to serve 3.5% beer. Virtually all major Swedish brewers, and several
international ones, in addition to their full-strength beer, make 3.5% folköl
versions as well. In the United States, 3.2 beer was the
highest alcohol content beer allowed to be produced legally for nine months in
1933. As part of his New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a 3.2 beer
law that repealed the Volstead Act on March 22, 1933. In December 1933, the
Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, negating
the federal government's power to regulate the sale of alcoholic
beverages, though states retained the power to regulate.
After the repeal of Prohibition, a number of state laws prohibiting the
sale of intoxicating liquors remained in effect. As these were repealed, they
were first replaced by laws limiting the maximum alcohol content allowed for sale
as 3.2 ABW. To this day, the states of Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma,
and Utah permit general establishments such as supermarket chains and
convenience stores to sell only low-point beer. In these states, all
alcoholic beverages containing more than 3.2% alcohol by weight must be sold from
state-licensed liquor stores. Oklahoma additionally requires that any beverage
containing more than 3.2% ABW must be sold at normal room temperature.
Missouri also has a legal classification for low-point beer, which it calls
"nonintoxicating beer". Unlike Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Utah,
however, Missouri does not limit supermarket chains and convenience
stores to selling only low-point beer. Instead, Missouri's alcohol laws permit
grocery stores, drug stores, gas stations, and even "general merchandise
stores" to sell any alcoholic beverage; consequently, 3.2% beer is rarely sold
in Missouri. = Near beer =
Originally, "near beer" was a term for malt beverages containing little or no
alcohol, which were mass-marketed during Prohibition in the United States. Near
beer could not legally be labeled as "beer" and was officially classified as
a "cereal beverage". The public, however, almost universally called it
"near beer". The most popular "near beer" was Bevo,
brewed by the Anheuser-Busch company. The Pabst company brewed "Pablo", Miller
brewed "Vivo", and Schlitz brewed "Famo". Many local and regional
breweries stayed in business by marketing their own near-beers. By 1921
production of near beer had reached over 300 million US gallons a year.
A popular illegal practice was to add alcohol to near beer. The resulting
beverage was known as spiked beer or needle beer, so called because a needle
was used to inject alcohol through the cork of the bottle or keg.
Food critic and writer Waverley Root described the common American near beer
as "such a wishy-washy, thin, ill-tasting, discouraging sort of slop
that it might have been dreamed up by a Puritan Machiavelli with the intent of
disgusting drinkers with genuine beer forever."
Today, the term "near beer" has been revived to refer to modern non-alcoholic
beer. A drink similar to "near beer",
"bjórlíki" was quite popular in Iceland before alcoholic beer was made legal in
1989. The Icelandic variant normally consisted of a shot of vodka added to a
half-a-litre glass of light beer. = Small beer =
Small beer is a beer/ale that contains very little alcohol. Sometimes
unfiltered and porridge-like, it was a favoured drink in Medieval Europe and
colonial North America as opposed to the often polluted water and the expensive
beer used for festivities. Small beer was also produced in households for
consumption by children and servants at those occasions.
However, small beer/small ale can also refer to a beer made of the "second
runnings" from a very strong beer mash. These beers can be as strong as a mild
ale, depending on the strength of the original mash. This was done as an
economy measure in household brewing in England up to the 18th century and is
still done by some homebrewers. One commercial brewery, San Francisco's
Anchor Brewing Company, also produces their Anchor Small Beer using the second
runnings from their Old Foghorn Barleywine. The term is also used
derisively for commercially produced beers which are thought to taste too
weak. = Non-alcoholic beer =
The Middle East accounts for almost a third of worldwide sales of nonalcoholic
and alcohol-free beer. Arab world
Notable Islamic clerics in Saudi Arabia and Egypt have issued fatwas permitting
the consumption of "alcohol-free" beers that can be proven to contain zero
traces of alcohol. Alcohol-free beers such as Holsten, Barbican and Moussy are
often available in stores and restaurants throughout the Arab world.
Malaysia The market for nonalcoholic beer in
Malaysia has been slow in comparison to other Muslim-majority countries, and as
of 2015, the Malaysian government has not approved any nonalcoholic beers as
halal. Iran
In 2008, the sale of non-alcoholic beers in Iran continued its high performance
with double-digit growth rates in both value and volume and is expected to more
than double its total volume sales between 2008 and 2013.
Legal drinking age in the US Beers that are labeled "non-alcoholic"
still contain a very small amount of alcohol. Thus, some US states require
the purchaser to be of a legal drinking age. Exceptions include:
According to Michigan law, a person must be 18 or older to purchase non-alcoholic
beer. In Texas, the law does not prohibit
minors from consuming or buying non-alcoholic beer, but the law does
specify that a beverage containing more than one half of one percent alcohol by
volume is an alcoholic beverage and thus will follow the same restrictions as
regular beer. In Minnesota, non alcoholic beer does
not fit in the category that the state defines as an alcoholic beverage and can
be purchased by those under the legal drinking age.
In Wisconsin, the law does not regulate non-alcoholic beer, and it can be
purchased without any age restriction. In New Jersey, the law governs only
beverages of at least 0.5% ABV. In Illinois, beverages with under 0.5%
ABV are not governed by the Illinois Liquor Control Act and can be purchased
and consumed by minors. In Sweden, beer below or equaling 2.25%
ABV is not legally subject to age restrictions; however, some stores
voluntarily opt out from selling it to minors anyway.
Brewing process According to the Birmingham Beverage
Company, the brewing process of traditional brews consists of eight
basic steps, nine for brewing non-alcoholic brews.
Malting - Barley is prepared by soaking it in water and allowing the grain to
germinate or "sprout". This allows the tough starch molecules to be softened
and begin conversion to sugars. Next, the sprouts are dried in a kiln; the
temperature at which the sprouts are dried will affect the flavor of the
finished brew. Milling - Next the malted grain is
ground to a corn meal like consistency, which allows the sugars and remaining
starches to be more easily released when mixed with water.
Mashing - The finely ground malted grain is mixed with water and pulverized. By
pulverizing the slurry most of the remaining starches are converted to
sugars due to enzymes present in the malt and the sugars then dissolve into
the water. The mix is gradually heated to 75℃(162℉) in what is called a mash
tun. The slurry is then filtered to remove the majority of particulates.
This filtered sugary liquid is called Wort.
Brewing- The wort is brought to a boil for roughly 1–2 hours. During this time,
other grains that will contribute flavor, color, and aroma to the brew are
added. Boiling allows for several chemical reactions to occur and reduces
the water content in the wort, condensing it.
Cooling- The wort is filtered to remove the majority of the grains and hops and
then immediately cooled to allow the yeast to survive and grow in the next
step. Fermenting- The cooled wort is saturated
with air and yeast is added within the fermentation tank. Different strains of
yeast will create different styles of beer. This step takes around ten days.
Maturation — The freshly fermented un-carbonated beer is placed into a
conditioning tank and, in a similar process to wine making, is allowed to
age. If this step is rushed the beer will have an off flavor that beer
experts sometimes refer to as "green beer" because of its resemblance to
green apples. During this process of aging, the majority of the residual
particulates will settle to the bottom of the tank.
Between the seventh and eighth step, the brew can be converted to non-alcoholic
beer. Finishing — Finally, the brewer is ready
to finish the beer. The beer is filtered one last time; it is then carbonated and
moved into a storage tank for either bottling or kegging.
= How low-alcohol beer is made = Low-alcohol beer starts out as regular
alcoholic beer, which is then cooked in order to evaporate the alcohol. This is
possible because alcohol is more volatile than water, so it is easier to
boil off. The alcohol is allowed to escape and the remaining liquid is used,
essentially the opposite of distillation. Most modern breweries also
utilize vacuum evaporation to preserve flavor. In essence, the beer is placed
under a light vacuum to facilitate the alcohol molecules going into the gaseous
phase. If a sufficient vacuum is applied, it may not even be necessary to
"cook" the beer, but heat must nevertheless be supplied.
An alternative process called reverse osmosis does not require heating. The
beer is passed through a filter with pores small enough that only alcohol and
water can pass through. The alcohol is distilled out of the alcohol-water mix
using conventional distillation methods. After adding the water and remaining
acids back into the syrupy mixture of sugars and flavor compounds left on the
other side of the filter, the process is then complete.
Sometimes beer is simply diluted with water to give the desired alcohol level.
= How non-alcoholic beer is made = The conversion from a traditional
alcoholic beer to a non-alcoholic beer takes place after the seventh step and
preceding the finishing step. The un-carbonated beer is heated up to its
boiling point. Another method of removing the alcohol is to decrease the
pressure so the alcohol boils at room temperature. This is the preferred
method because raising the temperature this late in the brewing process can
greatly affect the flavor of the brew. If brewers decide to convert their brew
to a non-alcoholic brew they must consider the volume of liquid they have
lost during the removal of the alcohol. Typically the volume is reduced by
roughly 4%, and to compensate water is added. Another tip would be avoiding
using sugar from maize; this simply increases the alcohol content without
adding to the flavor or body of the beer. Once the alcohol is removed, one
proceeds with the normal finishing process in which the beer is carbonated
and bottled. See also
Alcohol by volume Beer
Kvass Malzbier
Small beer References