Facts About Alcohol-Free Beer

To those who have never tried it, non-alcoholic beer is a mystery. This beverage is made to serve a niche market of those who enjoy the taste of beer but would like to avoid the intoxication.The legal, religious and health implications of non-alcoholic beer are commonly debated, while the makeup and process of creating this beverage are often highly misunderstood. If you are considering switching out your regular beer for a non-alcoholic version, it is a good idea to learn a few facts, first.

Though generally thought to have no alcohol at all, any beer containing less than .5 percent is legally considered "non-alcoholic."

Most types non-alcoholic beer are lagers, though there are a few non-alcoholic ales.

Non-alcoholic beer is simply regular beer which goes through a process of alcohol removal. This process is similar to the distillation process of hard liquors, except the alcohol is removed rather than preserved.

In some U.S. states, non-alcoholic beer cannot be purchased or consumed by a person under the age of 21.

Recovering and former alcoholics are often advised to avoid non-alcoholic beer because of a risk of re-triggering dependency responses in the brain, either because of the taste or the small amount of alcohol present.

The taste of non-alcoholic beer is generally considered to be very similar to that regular beer. This is because the most distinctive aspects of beer taste come from the non-alcoholic ingredients.