There are various reasons why you can opt for non-alcoholic beer. Some people drink this drink in the hope that it does not harm the body, others choose it so as not to get drunk. Meanwhile, almost nothing distinguishes it from ordinary beer.
Non-alcoholic beer first appeared in the United States in 1919. The reason for its invention was the "dry law", which prohibited the consumption of alcoholic beverages. The maximum content of the volume fraction of alcohol in the drink should not exceed 0, 5. This is the percentage that modern varieties of non-alcoholic beer contain. So, on the brink of ruin thanks to the new law, some of the largest brewers began to produce a drink that resembled beer. It was pale brown and almost tasteless, but legal. After 13 years, the ban on alcohol was lifted, but new circumstances arose: many people fell in love with the taste of super-light, light beer. Brewers could simply add a little more alcohol to the already existing low-alcohol drink.
Statistics show that a person drinks several times more non-alcoholic beer at a time than he could drink a regular one, due to the feeling of "under-catch".
How is non-alcoholic beer made?
Non-alcoholic or "zero" beer at the beginning of production is no different from regular beer, i.e. it is also made from malt, hops and water and goes through the entire process from wort preparation and mash brewing to fermentation. The difference is that at the end of the process, regular beer is bottled and non-alcoholic beer is not. It is also necessary to remove alcohol from it. The most common way is heating. However, the result is a drink that can be drunk, but without any pleasure, since when heated, its smell and taste change. To avoid this, brewers came up with vacuum distillation of beer, during which the beer does not heat up much.
Another method is called reverse osmosis. The liquid passes through a filter so hard that only alcohol and water can seep through it. The alcohol is then evaporated from the water and recycled back into the viscous mixture of sugars and flavors. And, indeed, the result is a drink that tastes close to beer. After the alcohol has been removed, the non-alcoholic beer must be carbonated. Regular beer ferments due to the sugar and alcohol in its composition and is saturated with carbon dioxide. It would be possible to start the fermentation process in non-alcoholic beer, but it is rather difficult to correctly calculate how much yeast and sugar to add so that the alcohol does not exceed 0.5%. Therefore, brewers prefer to simply carbonate the drink with carbon dioxide.
Scientists believe that non-alcoholic beer can also become addictive, reminiscent of alcohol dependence.
Is non-alcoholic beer harmful?
To be honest, non-alcoholic beer is more of a low alcohol beer. And do not think that its weak strength does not put stress on the heart, pancreas and kidneys. This, of course, is not vodka, but it is not a harmless carbonated product either. It should not be drunk by children, pregnant and lactating mothers, as it has the same toxicological effect as any alcoholic drink. The dose of exposure depends only on how much you drink. In addition, any type of beer is a natural phytoestrogen, hence all sorts of consequences of the influence of female hormones on the body.
