Ask Lemmy

There isn't really anything that tastes like beer other than beer. As others have said, the non-alcoholic versions have gotten pretty good over the last few years.

I'm also quite partial to unsweetened iced tea. Just make a very strong tea and pour it over ice and chill, optionally add lemon juice to taste.

Cold brew coffee is also quite nice, but personally, I prefer that one as a sweet drink mixed with sweetened condensed milk.

Kombucha

Non alcoholic beer

I have been enjoying sparkling water flavored with hops. It's distinctly different from non-alcoholic beer, and much better IMO.

Unsweetened iced tea and cold brew coffee are also standards in my kitchen during summer. My significant other likes kombucha enough to make it at home sometimes, but I never liked the stuff myself.

If the alcohol is the problem, there's a lot of non-alcoholic beers available in Australia these days.

Possibly a nitro cold brew? I don't know if you'd consider that a good pairing with a burger, though!

Maybe a switchel, if you make it yourself and don't sweeten it too much, leaving it mostly tart.

Unsweetened buttermilk, or even better, ayran?

Virgin Bloody Mary is really good.

Or just ... alcohol-free beer.

Rye kvass, Kombucha

In Japan they drink cold unsweetened tea.

collapsed inline media

Why a Bottle of Japanese Iced Tea is the Ultimate Summer Refresher

Personally, I like just plain seltzer water. (i.e. just carbonated water with nothing added.) Mixing it with a bit of plain (unsweetened) cranberry juice is good too if you want something more flavorful.

Chilled barley tea is another good hot weather drink. It was a summertime staple when I was in Japan.

Gaspacho? At least it is cool and savory...

If you are willing to make it yourself, kvass or ginger beer, those can be dry and sparkling. Water kefir or kombucha. All very, very low in alcohol, not intoxicating. Chinotto soda is something I buy for dry months too.

As someone else said, tonic water has a bitter edge that really hits the spot, I make a sweet non alcoholic cocktail called the Friend Zone, made with strawberry tepache (strawberry fruit kvass), lime, and tonic water, and I swear everyone thinks it's a boozy cocktail. Too sweet for what you are looking for here but it's certainly the tonic pulling most of the weight.

There's lots of dry / tart option, especially if you like tonic water and that dry quinine taste. Add a dash of citrus or bitters and it's not much more trouble than a beer. There's also some intresting non alcoholic herbal 'spirits' that bring complex (and often dry / bitter) flavours, and could be used to make something nice with tonic or plain soda water.

A ginger beer, tastes nothing like beer and is a real pickme up.

Unsweet iced tea

Water kefir is a great alternative. You can buy it in organic shops or make it at home. The hardest part would be to source grains but once you get them started, as long as you take care of them they last forever.

It's tart, fizzy, refreshing, has flavors reminiscent of some wild fermentation sours, and can be flavored with almost any fruit after transfer (and probably hops too).

chinotto

If you want to make it yourself, try Tepache

If you want a savory drink, I recommend soup broth.

What about a kind of cocktail with at most 20% red wine filled with sparkling water?

It sounds weird, I agree, but it has few calories, is refreshing, is tasty and may remain cheap enough as you do not need a great wine for it.

Malt beer or even better Kvass

My go-to social drink is a club soda with a twist of lime

It is simple, cheap and has the added benefit of sort of looking like it might be a vodka club or gin and tonic.

Unsweetened Iced Tea.

Can choose pretty much any variety of tea you like and just drink it with ice and no sugar.

Around here (not Australia), it's normally black tea, lemon optional for mild sweetness. Unsweetened green tea (not matcha) is also common. Not good if you're looking for unsweetened, but the Arnold Palmer is also a popular drink, which is 50% iced tea and 50% lemonade.

Anywhere boba tea is served, you'll find varieties of matcha iced tea available. More of a cafe drink, but probably good if you're a matcha person. Milk tea is also common in boba shops and is just any variety of iced tea plus dairy, so if you like your tea with cream, that's still enjoyable as a cold drink.

In Japan, barley tea is pretty commonly served cold and unsweetened, along with other popular tea varieties like oolong and jasmine. If you're in Australia, it might not be too difficult to get Japanese imports (or even to just learn to make your own, they're easy).

ice tea?

I think Tapache might be a good idea to take a look at.

Oh, yes, also cold black tea (no ice, no lemon, just nice slightly bitter taste. Also nice because the taste is not really fighting with the taste of whatever you eat

Tonic and Angustura on ice, with a splash of lemon. I put a dab of sugar sometimes.

Tonic water is your friend. Works for both low-alcohol options (bitters, preferably citrus bitters but you can experiment) and boozy ones (G&Ts are obviously a classic, whiskey tonics are pretty nice sometimes, herbal liqueurs work very well, etc.)

Often when I'm out and want another drink, but don't want to keep drinking, plain tonic water is the preferred choice recently. I got 99 problems, but malaria ain't one 😎.

Beyond that, you can look into the wild world of drinking shrubs.. Haven't been arsed to try it yet but I like the concept.

80% Unsweetened iced tea, 20% lemonade. Play with the ratios. (the classic Arnold Palmer is 50/50 but that's too sweet for me.)

Guinness Zero is the "closest tasting to the original" non-alcoholic beer I've found so far. Don't know if its available in Oz but its worth a try.

Club soda

Sekanjabin is an Iranian vinegar-based drink that's easy to make and stays good in the fridge as a concentrate for a long time.

My favorite kind is made with strawberries, honey, and apple cider vinegar.

Refreshing, sweet, and sour. Water it down to taste when serving.

Kombucha

Not sure about availability or price in AU, but I like "hoplark" non alcoholic beer. Their IPAs are awesome.

Have you tried a Shandy? It's beer mixed with lemonade or orange juice. It's delicious.

Ginger soda. You can use a ginger bug to ferment soda. You can add flavors to make different varieties or you can just do the ginger base.

Its refreshing and good for you. Does have like up to a half percent alcohol... But nothing that will be inebriating.

I don’t know if you can get it in Australia but I like Spindrift seltzer/sparkling water when I want a beer substitute. Obviously it doesn’t taste like beer. I was someone who hated seltzer for a long time, none of it tasted right and too fruity but also somehow not enough since its just sparkling water. Someone recommended Spindrift since they use real fruit so it has some real flavor but it’s still low in calories. I’m partial to the grapefruit flavor because it’s the most tart/crisp.