NON ALCOHOLIC BEER.

Uncharted

Quick question....

Is it legal to purchase non alcoholic beer before 10.30 in a supermarket?

(Obviously,it's slop and shouldn't be sold anytime,but that's irrelevant right now)

Having a debate with the wife,she says no.
I say yes.


Help me sort it out.

henryforde80

It's the same as buying a can of Coke

/Thread

But will the shop open the beer section for you. Very much doubt it

floatwinner

They will sell it. Only if you shout at them though.

The Davestator

Uncharted wrote: »

Quick question....

Is it legal to purchase non alcoholic beer before 10.30 in a supermarket?

(Obviously,it's slop and shouldn't be sold anytime,but that's irrelevant right now)

Having a debate with the wife,she says no.
I say yes.


Help me sort it out.

You have to have it authorised at the self service checkouts the same as normal beer. Drives me nuts the odd time I buy it

sbsquarepants

As the age old adage goes.....

Drinking non alcoholic beer is like going down on your sister - it tastes much the same, but it's just plain wrong:D

henryforde80

sbsquarepants wrote: »

As the age old adage goes.....

Drinking non alcoholic beer is like going down on your sister - it tastes much the same, but it's just plain wrong:D

It doesn't feel wrong to me!

CruelCoin

Uncharted wrote: »

Quick question....

Is it legal to purchase non alcoholic beer before 10.30 in a supermarket?

Not legal.

Most non-alcoholic beers are full-fat beers that are boiled at a certain temperature to boil off the alcohol.

That process is never 100% accurate, so the "beer" always has something like 0.1% alcohol.

That's enough to lump it in with the rest of the booze when it comes to sales regulations.

JohnnyFlash

Guinness have a new non alcoholic lager out called Pure Brew. It’s a lovely drop if you can’t have the real stuff.

nim1bdeh38l2cw

Non-alcoholic beers surprisingly do contain alcohol (about 0.5%) so to answer your question, it's illegal to sell them before 10:30am, which is why you also need to have it authorised at the self-service checkouts.

Uncharted

CruelCoin wrote: »

Not legal.

Most non-alcoholic beers are full-fat beers that are boiled at a certain temperature to boil off the alcohol.

That process is never 100% accurate, so the "beer" always has something like 0.1% alcohol.

That's enough to lump it in with the rest of the booze when it comes to sales regulations.

Kinda makes sense,although you'd more than likely drown before you were drunk at that abv.

kylith

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Guinness have a new non alcoholic lager out called Pure Brew. It’s a lovely drop if you can’t have the real stuff.

That’s not a bad drop, but Nanny State is by far the best I’ve come across

evillive

Something which I only twigged recently sitting down enjoying my few bottles of Heineken zero as I was driving. So it's costing in/around a fiver for the drink, no problem with this, nice pub, overheads, staff etc all have to be paid for. . . . . . . . . But there must be no excuse duty payable (anything up to 1.2% is exempt) so where's the money going? I guess the Publican is hitting the non-alcoholic beer drinking customer so even more than the real beer drinkers? Or am I wrong?

Bob Harris

sbsquarepants wrote: »

As the age old adage goes.....

Drinking non alcoholic beer is like going down on your sister - it tastes much the same, but it's just plain wrong:D

I don't know what your sister tastes like but it is not nearly the same.

B0jangles

:eek:

evillive wrote: »

Something which I only twigged recently sitting down enjoying my few bottles of Heineken zero as I was driving. So it's costing in/around a fiver for the drink, no problem with this, nice pub, overheads, staff etc all have to be paid for. . . . . . . . . But there must be no excuse duty payable (anything up to 1.2% is exempt) so where's the money going? I guess the Publican is hitting the non-alcoholic beer drinking customer so even more than the real beer drinkers? Or am I wrong?

I noticed the same thing in the supermarket, so it's not just the publicans doing it - the per-bottle profit on non-alcoholic beers must be enormous!

Yeah, the market is much smaller, but even so, it's extremely cheeky to charge the same when there's no duty on it. I saw a 700ml bottle of non-alcoholic gin* up in Tesco that they wanted 30 quid for.

30 quid!!!











*

it's herby water

stevek93

I was in Holland recently and the non alcoholic beer there was very tasty! Also a few people mentioned that non alcoholic beer has somewhat of alcohol will this now be included in the minimal pricing of alcohol?

scotchy

henryforde80 wrote: »

It doesn't feel wrong to me!

Going down on your Sister?

.

Guy:Incognito

The Davestator wrote: »

You have to have it authorised at the self service checkouts the same as normal beer. Drives me nuts the odd time I buy it

You deserve the ball ache and much more for buying it in the first place

The Davestator

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

You deserve the ball ache and much more for buying it in the first place

True! Although, in my defense, I only buy it when I am in the last few weeks before a marathon etc and trying desperately 'to be good' (or at least better)

ablelocks

Erdinger and Paulaner non-alcoholic weizen beer are quite nice.

And for the sporty among you, non-alcoholic wheat beer has been proven* as a very effective drink during training and competition - very isotonicy apparrently. The German winter olympics team brought 5000 bottles of it to Korea - they won 31 medals in total, 14 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze, ranking second in the medal table after Norway at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

When you think about it, if the gubberment were serious about trying to slow or stop alcohol intake in Ireland, they would remove all excise, VAT and whatever other taxes are on non-alcoholic beer (the decent stuff, not the likes of Becks or Kalibre or whatever other muck is out there taht should be banned and all traces of those responsible for it should be removed from the face of this earth)

*by a few Universities, but funded in part or in total by manufacturers of weizen bier. but i believe them.

misstearheus

Is a Publican required to carry Non-Alcoholic stock or is it up to themselves? When out with a friend recently, they were driving home so weren't drinking Alcohol, and I think one place actually just didn't stock them none at all, in more Pubs they only had one variety, so friend ended up buying Coke or Lucozade a few times throughout the night, others did have a couple of varieties in stock. It'd be nice if every place stocked Non-Alcoholic Beers and had a good range to choose from.

SEPT 23 1989

Never saw the point of it

Have a drink or don't

sligojoek

Alcohol free beer is as useful as voltage free electricity

skooterblue2

Might as well save a few Euro and buy spring water in fancy bottles for all the good it does.

BrokenArrows

1. Most "Non alcoholic" beer isn't actually non alcoholic, it just has a low amount. So it depends on the interpretation of the law and whether a 0.05% alcohol content is considered alcoholic.

2. They will almost always be on the same shelves as the regular beer so will usually be closed off and not accessible.

3. It may not be up to the staff directly. The computer systems may be configured to prevent the sale of the product even if its 0.00% and there will be nothing then can do about it.

Harika

No you can't buy non alcoholic beer before 10:30. As Saturday morning shopper who is finishing his tour usually at 10:00 I had to find that out. You have to wait until 10:30 to buy it as the checkout won't let it through. Had long chats with the managers there that never call back. Even as those beers have the same alcohol content as orange juice or any other fruit juice. Tiramisu is also more alcoholic than those beers. Decide if they are low or non alcoholic and label them properly. Cause non alcoholic drinks that are really alcoholic makes no sense.
I anyway think this is just a labelling issue that non alcoholic beer is not listed as soft drink but beer instead.

AllForIt

henryforde80 wrote: »

It doesn't feel wrong to me!

I got a bit of shock there cause I didn't read the post you quoted.

ben.schlomo

kylith wrote: »

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Guinness have a new non alcoholic lager out called Pure Brew. It’s a lovely drop if you can’t have the real stuff.

That’s not a bad drop, but Nanny State is by far the best I’ve come across

Try Mikeller's Drinking in the Sun, very good. There's a UK website called drydrinker that has a good selection too, including stouts.

Daisybelly

henryforde80 wrote: »

It doesn't feel wrong to me!

Ooookayyy.......awkward.

Gwynplaine

Why bother?

Danjamin1

Don’t get the dislike from some posters for non-alcoholic beer - some people like the taste of beer but don’t want the effects of higher ABV. Why is that seen as weird? Fair enough if you genuinely just don’t like the taste of it but to dismiss it out of hand with a comment like “either have a proper drink or don’t” seems childish to me!

Ursus Horribilis

I prefer beer that has alcohol in it. But, if I'm out socialising and will be driving afterwards, no alcohol beer is a godsend. What do the "what's the point of no alcohol beer" brigade suggest people drink instead?

Daisybelly

Danjamin1 wrote: »

Don’t get the dislike from some posters for non-alcoholic beer - some people like the taste of beer but don’t want the effects of higher ABV. Why is that seen as weird? Fair enough if you genuinely just don’t like the taste of it but to dismiss it out of hand with a comment like “either have a proper drink or don’t” seems childish to me!

It tastes exactly the same to me. I'd happily drink it for the night. Only difference really would be that I couldn't blame it for dancing on tables/making an eejit out of myself

mikhail

Danjamin1 wrote: »

Don’t get the dislike from some posters for non-alcoholic beer - some people like the taste of beer but don’t want the effects of higher ABV. Why is that seen as weird? Fair enough if you genuinely just don’t like the taste of it but to dismiss it out of hand with a comment like “either have a proper drink or don’t” seems childish to me!

Insecurity.

sligojoek

It's not for me but it has its place. A good friend of mine had to stop drinking a few years ago, basically, because it nearly killed him. He stopped going out because he hated soft drinks and didn't want to drink coffee at night. A while back he discovered Erdinger and another one which he loves. Nowadays he's out having the crack (better than ever before) with the lads a few times a week. And he's not going to the fridge for stella next morning.

CruelCoin

Uncharted wrote: »

Kinda makes sense,although you'd more than likely drown before you were drunk at that abv.

Exactly!

Classic case of a well-intentioned law not being nuanced enough.

CruelCoin

Danjamin1 wrote: »

Don’t get the dislike from some posters for non-alcoholic beer - some people like the taste of beer but don’t want the effects of higher ABV. Why is that seen as weird? Fair enough if you genuinely just don’t like the taste of it but to dismiss it out of hand with a comment like “either have a proper drink or don’t” seems childish to me!

The issue is that boiling it at 76(ish)celcius wreaks havoc on the flavour profile.

Get the same beer side by side with its non-alco cousin and the difference is really very stark.

If i'm not drinking, i go for softs, rather than non-alco beers.
Edit: on the really alarmingly rare occasion when i'm not drinking......

The Davestator

CruelCoin wrote: »

The issue is that boiling it at 76(ish)celcius wreaks havoc on the flavour profile.

Get the same beer side by side with its non-alco cousin and the difference is really very stark.

If i'm not drinking, i go for softs, rather than non-alco beers.
Edit: on the really alarmingly rare occasion when i'm not drinking......

I agree that the taste is not the same, but I feel more normal having a non alco watching a match than a soft drink the odd time I am not drinking. In fact, the placebo effect makes me feel like i am having a drink!

Danjamin1

CruelCoin wrote: »

The issue is that boiling it at 76(ish)celcius wreaks havoc on the flavour profile.

Get the same beer side by side with its non-alco cousin and the difference is really very stark.

If i'm not drinking, i go for softs, rather than non-alco beers.
Edit: on the really alarmingly rare occasion when i'm not drinking......

That’s not the case for all non-alcoholics, though I agree it makes the beer taste ****e where it’s used. Some are produced so that no alcohol is produced during fermentation so you don’t get that burnt taste. They’re quite nice.

Also like I said it’s fine if someone doesn’t like the taste, but it’s stupid to ask someone who is drinking a non-alcoholic beer “what’s the point?”

loyatemu

Fentiman's Ginger Beer (other brands are available) is mildly alcoholic because of how it's made and it can be sold at anytime, so I'm not sure where the threshold lies. Some of the newer NA beers are genuinely 0% so they wouldn't be affected by the time restrictions but as previously mentioned you might have issues if they're in the alcohol section and it's closed.

The drink laws are an ass in this respect - I can go and do my grocery shopping at 9am but I can't buy a bottle of wine at the same time; why? so I don't go outside and neck the whole thing in the carpark?

Hotblack Desiato

evillive wrote: »

But there must be no excuse duty payable (anything up to 1.2% is exempt) so where's the money going? I guess the Publican is hitting the non-alcoholic beer drinking customer so even more than the real beer drinkers? Or am I wrong?

yes of course they are. You're not going to drink ten pints of that stuff in a night. You're taking up a seat so they want to be making as much profit out of you over an evening as they would from a drinker.

Same in a supermarket, fewer people buy NA beer but it still takes up shelf space. Slow selling items in supermarkets always are outrageously priced.

Of course there's the "charging whatever people are prepared to pay" thing too.

inforfun

stevek93 wrote: »

I was in Holland recently and the non alcoholic beer there was very tasty! Also a few people mentioned that non alcoholic beer has somewhat of alcohol will this now be included in the minimal pricing of alcohol?

All alcohol holding beer tastes better too there compared to the same brand here. None of that 4.2% crap. The full 5% alcohol.


But....

I once had an alcohol free beer and if it hadnt been pointed out to me that it was, i wouldnt have tasted the difference.
Of course after a bottle of 10 i would have wondered why i was still standing
It was in Portugal, the brand was Superbock and i had not read the label well enough.
The 2 people i was drinking it with, hadnt noticed it either.
So there is proper tasting alcohol free beer i think.
But ..... you are not cool when you knowingly drink it, i suppose, that is why no one likes it.

kylith

ablelocks wrote: »

When you think about it, if the gubberment were serious about trying to slow or stop alcohol intake in Ireland, they would remove all excise, VAT and whatever other taxes are on non-alcoholic beer (the decent stuff, not the likes of Becks or Kalibre or whatever other muck is out there taht should be banned and all traces of those responsible for it should be removed from the face of this earth)

They want MUP? It souls be a max unit price for non alcoholic drinks. It’s ludicrous that a pint of coke is more expensive than a pint of beer. I have done the maths while tipsy and made the choice to get drunker for cheaper rather than the more sensible choice.

inforfun

kylith wrote: »

They want MUP? It souls be a max unit price for non alcoholic drinks. It’s ludicrous that a pint of coke is more expensive than a pint of beer. I have done the maths while tipsy and made the choice to get drunker for cheaper rather than the more sensible choice.

yeah.... i was such a mathematician in the army bar.
A can of coke costed Dlf1,50, and a fresh cold beer from the tap Dfl1 (that is 0,70 and 0,45 in fake € money)
Of course convenient to forget that 2 cans of coke would get me through the night and that 15 beers would be needed to do the same. (15 Dutch glasses, not pints)

JoannieG

The law regarding the sale of non-alcoholic beer really is a bit silly. You can buy vanilla extract (minimum of 35% alcohol) or Bach Flower Remedies (27% alcohol) at any time of the day or night. Granted, it would cost you a fair bit to get drunk but it makes a mockery of the current legislation.

beertons

Why are you shouting it?

dubstepper

It has it's place. When you want a beer but don't the alcohol, obviously!

I have tried most of them. Becks, Paulaner and Erdinger are bad. Krombacher is the closest I have tasted. Unfortunately you lose the "bite" of the alcohol.

Capt'n Midnight

CruelCoin wrote: »

The issue is that boiling it at 76(ish)celcius wreaks havoc on the flavour profile.

That's why the alcohol is extracted under vacuum. Way lower temperature. Or enzymes can be used to break down the alcohol.

Ashbourne hoop

The new Heinekein non alcoholic is quite tasty.

Hotblack Desiato

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Or enzymes can be used to break down the alcohol.

I prefer to do that part myself

klaaaz

There is a good cheap wheat non-alcoholic beer in Dunnes going for something like 65cents, it actually tastes good and is German! Also Aldi stock a Russian non-alcoholic lager called Baltika, that's quite nice too.

Harika

klaaaz wrote: »

There is a good cheap wheat non-alcoholic beer in Dunnes going for something like 65cents, it actually tastes good and is German! Also Aldi stock a Russian non-alcoholic lager called Baltika, that's quite nice too.

I second that Gerstl and Baltika are great non alcohol beers