Why does alcohol-free beer taste so different, and generally nowhere near as pleasant, as ordinary beer? Is it purely the presence or lack of alcohol? I鈥檓 not convinced that it is, because I added some neutral alcohol spirit to an alcohol-free lager we have here in the Netherlands to make it up to the strength of ordinary beer. My friends and I can report that it tasted absolutely foul. So what else is missing from alcohol-free beer that makes it taste so different?
鈥� Any fermented beverage is a complex mixture and includes a wide variety of molecules, such as microscopic particles of yeast cell wall or protein molecules.
Processes like pasteurisation change the taste so grossly that even untrained palates and noses can detect the differences. Other treatments might cause chemical changes or changes in the proportions of flavourful chemicals.
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鈥淧asteurisation changes the taste of beer so grossly even untrained palates can detect the difference鈥�
We can hardly generalise, because no two brewers use identical processes. However, producers of alcohol-free beer have two options.
First, they can simulate beer by mixing suitable components 鈥� but this doesn鈥檛 usually yield good results. Second, they can produce a weak beer then extract the alcohol, replace any lost non-alcoholic components, such as organic acids, and re-carbonate the notional beer.
Having concentrated a good red wine by freezing it and then removing the ice, I can vouch that even this process, which is gentle in comparison with distillation, yields a thoroughly vile product. What is missing is more than a component, or the producer would simply be able to add it. What is lost is a physical and chemical state and balance.
Your 鈥渘eutral spirit鈥�, by the way, will still contain various incidental flavours.
Jon Richfield, Somerset West, South Africa