Alcohol-free wine
Discussion
I like wine, but am taking a break from alcohol.
I went past Waitrose today so thought I'd see what they had. To my surprise, a good selection of a/f gins, but only one a/f red wine. So I bought it. It's absolutely disgusting, and for those who wish to avoid it, it'a called 'FRE'. It will be going down my sink later.
So, is it possible to buy an a/f wine that tastes decent? I'm not a wine snob; if it tatstes like a £6.99 Shiraz or Merlot I'll be happy.
I went past Waitrose today so thought I'd see what they had. To my surprise, a good selection of a/f gins, but only one a/f red wine. So I bought it. It's absolutely disgusting, and for those who wish to avoid it, it'a called 'FRE'. It will be going down my sink later.
So, is it possible to buy an a/f wine that tastes decent? I'm not a wine snob; if it tatstes like a £6.99 Shiraz or Merlot I'll be happy.
Beer is the only alcohol free thing I’ve found remotely passable.
All the wines are awful. How someone tastes it and thinks they can charge money for it is beyond. Wife got given a bottle of “nosecco” when she was pregnant and it was basically vinegar.
Whoever cracks the method of making booze that tastes exactly the same as their alcoholic counterparts will be a rich person indeed.
All the wines are awful. How someone tastes it and thinks they can charge money for it is beyond. Wife got given a bottle of “nosecco” when she was pregnant and it was basically vinegar.
Whoever cracks the method of making booze that tastes exactly the same as their alcoholic counterparts will be a rich person indeed.
devnull said:
Beer is the only alcohol free thing I’ve found remotely passable.
All the wines are awful. How someone tastes it and thinks they can charge money for it is beyond. Wife got given a bottle of “nosecco” when she was pregnant and it was basically vinegar.
Whoever cracks the method of making booze that tastes exactly the same as their alcoholic counterparts will be a rich person indeed.
I agree with everything you have said, particularly the last bit. There is a fortune to be made for the first person to produce a non alchy wine which tastes like real wine. I don't think it is enough to simply remove the alcohol, I think they would have to add some complex flavourings, maybe chilli to replicate the heat of alcohol?All the wines are awful. How someone tastes it and thinks they can charge money for it is beyond. Wife got given a bottle of “nosecco” when she was pregnant and it was basically vinegar.
Whoever cracks the method of making booze that tastes exactly the same as their alcoholic counterparts will be a rich person indeed.
andyA700 said:
I agree with everything you have said, particularly the last bit. There is a fortune to be made for the first person to produce a non alchy wine which tastes like real wine. I don't think it is enough to simply remove the alcohol, I think they would have to add some complex flavourings, maybe chilli to replicate the heat of alcohol?
Agree, alcohol gives the wine a crispness to the palette. Remove it and you get a very (read too) smooth sensation. All the a/f wines I've tried all appear to have half a bag of sugar in them. Tried a couple of whites which i've found slightly better if you can chill it to nearly freezing.I agree with the sentiment the only passable a/f drinks are in the beer section, even then IMHO only a couple have truly nailed it.
uke:I found Nozecco OK. Alternatives are basic AF wines with a mixer (sparkling water or lemonade).
Beers: Becks Blue for me. Few others do it. Ales are too bitter and most other lagers smell "off" to me.
Other than that: normal soft drinks! Much lower cost. Squash + sparkling water; sparkling + real fruit slices; just plain water. So much money saved!
Beers: Becks Blue for me. Few others do it. Ales are too bitter and most other lagers smell "off" to me.
Other than that: normal soft drinks! Much lower cost. Squash + sparkling water; sparkling + real fruit slices; just plain water. So much money saved!
t.condor said:
Try Ribena or Elderflower cordial with either still or sparkling water in a wine glass.
It is alcohol free
I found that Bottle Green Raspberry Cordial, if drunk from a large wine glass, is surprisingly acceptable. The wine glass seems to help the illusion!It is alcohol free
I suppose beers are less affected because they contain less alcohol to start with. I had a Becks Blue yesterday and it smelled like cannabis to me. For me 'beer' = bitter!
Previous 0% beers years ago were to me horrid
Now Heineken 0% and Becks Blue 0% I’ll be totally honest as a bit of a booze hound, I found them extremely good. To the point you could happily drop alcohol - they need to drop the price though as there isn’t duty on it and it’s similar price to the real deal.
0% cider - hmm not found a good one yet.
0% gin - don’t really drink much but people I know who do have raved about it.
Wine —— nope it’s horrible / it’s a bit like 0% beer was a decade or so ago. I’d not be buying any 0% wines until someone I know has tried & recommends one. Water is a million times better than 0% wine.
Now Heineken 0% and Becks Blue 0% I’ll be totally honest as a bit of a booze hound, I found them extremely good. To the point you could happily drop alcohol - they need to drop the price though as there isn’t duty on it and it’s similar price to the real deal.
0% cider - hmm not found a good one yet.
0% gin - don’t really drink much but people I know who do have raved about it.
Wine —— nope it’s horrible / it’s a bit like 0% beer was a decade or so ago. I’d not be buying any 0% wines until someone I know has tried & recommends one. Water is a million times better than 0% wine.
Welshbeef said:
Previous 0% beers years ago were to me horrid
Now Heineken 0% and Becks Blue 0% I’ll be totally honest as a bit of a booze hound, I found them extremely good. To the point you could happily drop alcohol - they need to drop the price though as there isn’t duty on it and it’s similar price to the real deal.
0% cider - hmm not found a good one yet.
0% gin - don’t really drink much but people I know who do have raved about it.
Wine —— nope it’s horrible / it’s a bit like 0% beer was a decade or so ago. I’d not be buying any 0% wines until someone I know has tried & recommends one. Water is a million times better than 0% wine.
Not AF but only 0.5% I like this Now Heineken 0% and Becks Blue 0% I’ll be totally honest as a bit of a booze hound, I found them extremely good. To the point you could happily drop alcohol - they need to drop the price though as there isn’t duty on it and it’s similar price to the real deal.
0% cider - hmm not found a good one yet.
0% gin - don’t really drink much but people I know who do have raved about it.
Wine —— nope it’s horrible / it’s a bit like 0% beer was a decade or so ago. I’d not be buying any 0% wines until someone I know has tried & recommends one. Water is a million times better than 0% wine.
https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/306...
Erdinger or Lucky Saint are the only AF beers even worth touching. Erdinger is about as good as you will ever find. Nice proper head on it, and it actually tastes really good, the problem is its Isotonic.
I gave the booze a miss for a couple of months in the summer, and I'm doing the same at the moment. This time I've decided (so far) to swerve the AF stuff and just stick to soft drinks. I'm amazed how much better I feel. I still got that fuzzy head every morning on the AF stuff, god knows what crap they must put in it, but I feel night and day different this time for avoiding it. Not only that, I'm falling asleep within minutes of getting into bed now, and literally sleeping straight through, whereas drinking AF I had noticeable difficulties getting to, and staying asleep.
I gave the booze a miss for a couple of months in the summer, and I'm doing the same at the moment. This time I've decided (so far) to swerve the AF stuff and just stick to soft drinks. I'm amazed how much better I feel. I still got that fuzzy head every morning on the AF stuff, god knows what crap they must put in it, but I feel night and day different this time for avoiding it. Not only that, I'm falling asleep within minutes of getting into bed now, and literally sleeping straight through, whereas drinking AF I had noticeable difficulties getting to, and staying asleep.
Since I stopped drinking, I've tried just about every AF spirit, wine, beer, liqueur and cocktail under the sun.
I've concluded a nice cup of tea beats them all.
Apart from the vast VAST majority tasting utterly gross, they're all too expensive. They can't even hide behind tax/duty as an excuse. They're just an absolute rip-off. One of the joys of not drinking (for me) is not pissing money up the wall. So why continue to do that on AF drinks?
Without denying myself anything (as in, I'm not being cheap), I've really ended up drinking not much more than soda water, coffee/tea and occasionally soda + lime or a diet coke. It sounds dull, but there's not much else I'd rather have. I think we try too hard to find something "special" to drink for reasons that don't really exist when you're not trying to get alcohol into your body under the pretence of sophistication.
Just stick the kettle on.
Edit to agree with feeling crap after AF beers. They still give me a hangover too.
I've concluded a nice cup of tea beats them all.
Apart from the vast VAST majority tasting utterly gross, they're all too expensive. They can't even hide behind tax/duty as an excuse. They're just an absolute rip-off. One of the joys of not drinking (for me) is not pissing money up the wall. So why continue to do that on AF drinks?
Without denying myself anything (as in, I'm not being cheap), I've really ended up drinking not much more than soda water, coffee/tea and occasionally soda + lime or a diet coke. It sounds dull, but there's not much else I'd rather have. I think we try too hard to find something "special" to drink for reasons that don't really exist when you're not trying to get alcohol into your body under the pretence of sophistication.
Just stick the kettle on.
Edit to agree with feeling crap after AF beers. They still give me a hangover too.
Edited by Mark Asread on Friday 5th November 10:03
Evoluzione said:
If you want alcohol free wine & cider then drink apple and grape juice.
You may be being flippant but this is actually a good point. Going a bit further - I like a bottle of actual sparkling grape juice drink such as Schloer with Sunday dinner when it's too early to start drinking. Bottle Green do similar things, Appetiser can serve a similar function. Another shout for Ghost Ship (Adnams, I think). Probably the best af beer I've tried.
I don't mind going tee total for a bit as long as there's something nice to drink. Obviously that changes from person to person, but a nice juice, mocktail, or even a Coke from a glass bottle can serve the same function as sitting down with a nice alcoholic drink.
In topic, all af wines I've had are awful so I don't bother anymore.
Claptonian said:
Evoluzione said:
If you want alcohol free wine & cider then drink apple and grape juice.
You may be being flippant but this is actually a good point. Going a bit further - I like a bottle of actual sparkling grape juice drink such as Schloer with Sunday dinner when it's too early to start drinking. Bottle Green do similar things, Appetiser can serve a similar function. Another shout for Ghost Ship (Adnams, I think). Probably the best af beer I've tried.
I don't mind going tee total for a bit as long as there's something nice to drink. Obviously that changes from person to person, but a nice juice, mocktail, or even a Coke from a glass bottle can serve the same function as sitting down with a nice alcoholic drink.
In topic, all af wines I've had are awful so I don't bother anymore.
It all boils down to the same thing, being healthy is boring and there isn't much you can do about that.
I think that Without Suffolk Brewery is slightly better than Ghost Ship.
With regards to AF wine there is nothing worthy of the name. This time in 2019 the Ozzy wine guy in our local Booths was singing the praises of 3-wines, 1 Spanish, 2-Australian saying that AF was really big down there.
Stupidly we believed him, they were vile, all very sweet. The following week we challenged him and he admitted to not having drunk them, it was just what the rep told him.
We have gone down a completely alternative route. Belvoir Ginger Cordial with fizzy water. It is very dry and is good with most food. https://www.belvoirfarm.co.uk/product/organic-ging...
With regards to AF wine there is nothing worthy of the name. This time in 2019 the Ozzy wine guy in our local Booths was singing the praises of 3-wines, 1 Spanish, 2-Australian saying that AF was really big down there.
Stupidly we believed him, they were vile, all very sweet. The following week we challenged him and he admitted to not having drunk them, it was just what the rep told him.
We have gone down a completely alternative route. Belvoir Ginger Cordial with fizzy water. It is very dry and is good with most food. https://www.belvoirfarm.co.uk/product/organic-ging...
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