 |
ALKOHOLFREIES
BIER
AKA:
Alkoholarmes Bier, NA
Pronunciation guide for English-speakers:
"ull-cohol-fry-es beer"
Definition:
Strictly speaking,
"alkoholfrei" (literally: "free of alcohol") may not
be a beer style in the
traditional sense, but merely a characteristic
of a particular brewing process—one that can be employed for many different
beer styles. Though called "alcohol-free," in Germany or "non-alcoholic"
or "NA" in the U.S., these beers are not entirely void
of alcohol. According to German law, a beer called alkoholfrei may contain
up to 0.5% alcohol by weight; and it usually does. This
is the equivalent of about 0.625% alcohol by volume. In the U.S., NA beers
are defined as having less
than 0.5% alcohol by volume. Many of them also tend to be low-carb because
they have next to no residual sugar content, such as maltose. Non-alcohol
beers, however,
ought not to be confused with Leichtbier or
"light" beers, which, in Germany, tend to have an alcohol
content by volume of approximately 2% to 3.2%.
Related beer styles:
Light Bier, Leichtbier,
Malzbier
The
(Almost) No-Alcohol Option
In Germany, non-alcohol beers can be made in several different ways, but
they always start out like "normal" beers. The brewer can interrupt
fermentation at an early stage by removing the yeast through filtration.
This, however, leaves plenty of unfermented sugars in
the brew and makes 
for
a very sweet beverage. Some so-called Malzbiers ("malt beers")
are made this way. Malzbiers are often served to children, and, because
of their high carbohydrate content, they were once regarded as beneficial
for women during pregnancy and while nursing.
A second method involves the removal of alcohol from the finished beer using a variety of techniques. The simplest and least-favored method involes the heating of the brew to evaporate excess alcohol, a process that has a negative impact on the beer's flavor. Vacuum evaporation, on the other hand, is a much gentler, more favored process. When exposed to a vacuum, alcohol, a more volitile substance than water, it becomes gaseous before the water does and can thus be withdrawn.
The
most flavor-preserving method is called reverse osmosis. Maple syrup is
often made this way from maple sap. The process makes use of the fact that
adjacent liquids will equalize their so-called molecular pressure, provided
they are allowed to interact through a
permeable membrane. If an alcoholic beverage is contained in a vessel made
of a permeable membrane material and is then surrounded by pure water, the
alcohol in the brew will travel through the membrane until the beer and
water have the same alcoholic content. The process is repeated
several times by replenishing the alcohol-saturated water with fresh water
until the beer reaches the prescribed level of no more than 0.5% alcohol.
German drunk-driving laws are extremely strict and rigidly enforced. The legal limit for blood alcohol is 0.5 parts per million. Penalties for driving while intoxicated are severe. In addition, modern Germans, like most people nowadays, generally try to reduce their caloric intake. For these reasons, virtually every common German beer style is now available in a non-alcohol version as well. There are non-alcohol versions of Altbier, Kölsch, Pils, Weissbier, and Schwarzbier, among others. Non-alcohol beers, have gained a market share in Germany of 2.4% (figure from 2004).
The so-called Leichtbier or Light Bier category (see Leichtbier), by comparison, has a market share of just 0.7%. Perhaps the best-known German non-alcohol brew commonly available in the United States is Clausthaler from the Binding brewery in Frankfurt. Then there is the Haake-Beck NA from Beck's in Bremen. Non alcohol Weissbiers, too, are now making inroads, such as the Erdinger NA from Bavaria, introduced in 2005.
