Alcohol-free beer can be sweet! I was amazed when I drank “Hugarden Zero”.

It was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in recent years, so I will leave it in writing.

I do not drink alcohol at all, but I love non-alcoholic beer. However, I don’t like any non-alcoholic beer, and I only drink Asahi’s “Dry Zero” beer.

I think this Dry Zero is a departure from the original beer flavor. I haven’t had beer in 10 years, so my memory is a little fuzzy. Still, I highly recommend it for its strong carbonation, which makes it pleasant to drink before a meal. For me, non-alcoholic beer is no longer a “cheat for when I can’t drink beer”, but a drink in its own genre. Whether it resembles beer or not is no longer relevant.

Recently, non-alcoholic beers from Germany and Belgium have begun to be distributed in Japan. My impression is that most non-alcoholic beers from these countries, the home of beer, are made by a process that removes the alcohol after the beer is made. This is a different approach than the Japanese style of “making a drink from scratch that tastes like beer”.

I was happy with Dry Zero, but one day I was able to get a nonalcoholic version of Germany’s “Veritas Broi” for a reasonable price, and I began to pay attention to nonalcoholic beers from other countries.

But the price has to be low.

A 350ml can of Dry Zero costs 97 yen including tax (as of April 2023) when purchased through Amazon’s regular delivery service. So “100 yen per bottle” is a guideline for me.

The promising “Veritas Bloy” is a bit out of this price range if you buy it on Amazon. I was able to buy it because it happened to be in stock at ABS Wholesale Center, the pride of Adachi-ku, a very inexpensive store, and you can only buy it cheap at such stores. When I visited the store later, it was no longer for sale. As residents of Adachi-ku know, this store is known for selling stolen goods at such low prices that one wonders, “Are they selling stolen goods? The store is known for selling products at such low prices that one might wonder, “Are they selling stolen goods?

At the moment I mainly drink “Dry Zero” and occasionally “Krausthaler” for a change.

It’s a little light on flavor, which is a little lacking, but I appreciate the low price. Then there is “Budweiser” which is also cheap and might be on the table.

If I had the money, I would like to try “Bitburger” or “Erdinger”, but they are too expensive for me to buy.

It’s just a drink that doesn’t get you drunk, and even if you give the reason that it’s a “reward” for yourself, it seems like a waste of money.

If I really wanted to reward myself, I would buy a “BIERE DESAMIS”. I’ve only had it once, but I found it surprisingly tasty.

That’s why I occasionally check Amazon for trends in alcohol-free beer, and this time I discovered Hugarden Zero.

Hugarden is a well-known Belgian white ale in Japan, and the fact that there is a non-alcoholic version of it is great news.

The price is 106 yen including tax for 330 ml. That’s acceptable to me. Okay, I’ll buy it.

I poured it into a glass.

Because I poured it into a blue Edo-kiriko glass, I couldn’t tell how much it looked like white beer. But when you drink it, you will understand. It’s a good time to experience this unique taste in a non-alcoholic form.

What?

I was surprised when I took a sip. It tasted like a lie, right? It tasted like a “No way!

In a word, it was sweet. It was so sweet that I was seriously worried that I was drinking a poorly made juice. It was so sweet that I was seriously worried that I was drinking a bad juice.

Well, did Hugarden taste like that?

Since I can’t remember the original taste, I can’t judge whether this is a “faithful reproduction of the Hugarden taste” or a “strange drink that doesn’t even resemble Hugarden.

But I can say one thing for sure. It doesn’t “taste good” to me. It doesn’t fit my lifestyle at any time, before, during, or after dinner.

The sweetness is like a syrupy mix that I don’t like.

I checked the ingredients on the back of the can.

It says, “The alcohol content has been removed from the beer” and “The original flavor of the beer has been extracted”. Hmmm, I wonder if Hugarden is such a sweet drink after all. Was it?

But then I discovered that there were references to “liquid sugar” and “thickener” in the ingredient list. I knew it wasn’t just Hugarden without the alcohol. I knew they were adding sweetness. How did that happen?

When you remove the alcohol, does that remove the sweetness from the beer? And is that compensated for by the liquid sugar?

As a regular Dry Zero drinker, I found this sweetness painful. It is a drink in the exact opposite direction. Maybe there was nothing wrong with the Hugarden Zero itself, but it was just a completely different genre of drink to my taste.

Oh dear, I’m buying 24 bottles of this in bulk. I’ve had two bottles so far and I already feel like I can’t have any more. From now on, I will have to consume the remaining 22 bottles bit by bit.
Since I can’t remember the original taste, I can’t judge whether this is a “faithful reproduction of the Hugarden taste” or a “strange drink that doesn’t even resemble Hugarden.

But I can say one thing for sure. It doesn’t “taste good” to me. It doesn’t fit my lifestyle at any time, before, during, or after dinner.

The sweetness is like a syrupy mix that I don’t like.

I checked the ingredients on the back of the can.

It says, “The alcohol content has been removed from the beer” and “The original flavor of the beer has been extracted”. Hmmm, I wonder if Hugarden is such a sweet drink after all. Was it?

(2023.04.28)