The Non Alcoholic Beer Market
Heineken 0.0 is brewed by Heineken N.V., one of the most famous and oldest breweries in the world. The non alcoholic beer market has grown rapidly in recent years with the introduction of non alcoholic beers that taste more like regular beer. Non alcoholic beers have several health advantages over regular beers, including fewer calories, sugar, carbs and of course, alcohol. Non alcoholic means less than 0.5% alcohol, so non alcoholic beers can still have traces of alcohol.
Athletic Brewing is the current market leader in non alcoholic beers with an approximate 19% market share. More and more specialty non alcoholic breweries are entering the market, as well as traditional breweries like Heineken N. V. Not a day goes by without some news story about the rise of non alcoholic beer and societal trends towards reducing alcohol intake.
Heineken N. V.
Heineken N. V. is a Dutch company that is one of the most famous names in beer dating back to 1873. The company exports beers to 192 countries including the United States. It claims that 25 million Heineken beers are served every day worldwide.
Heineken Original is Heineken N. V.’s flagship beer. The Heineken website has a lot of information about how they brew the beer, its history and familiarity, and the special “Heineken A-Yeast.” There is a lot less about what the beer is actually like. What they say is “For over 150 years, a ceaseless commitment to premium taste and quality have made Heineken® the most iconic beer brand in the world. When you see the red-star on the green bottle, you know every ice-cold, crisp sip will deliver that richly satisfying flavor with subtle fruity notes. A tradition of taste that has lived on for over a century and a half thanks to the simplicity and quality of the ingredients and the meticulous attention to the brewing process.”
You have to dig deeper to find out Heineken Original is a lager (although it does say that on the bottle). The site seems to be saying “We have been around a long time so our beer must be good.”
Heineken 0.0
Heineken N. V. introduced Heineken 0.0 in some countries in 2017 and in the United States in 2019. The brewery describes the beer as “Brewing a great tasting 0.0% alcohol-free beverage. Is it even possible? Yes. Our master brewers started from zero and spent years exploring, brewing, and tasting before they finally created a recipe defined by its refreshing fruity notes and soft malty body…Heineken® 0.0 is brewed and fermented with Heineken’s unique A-yeast and made with premium ingredients with gentle alcohol removal and blending to achieve its distinct flavor. We carefully remove the alcohol with vacuum distillation and blend the brew to perfection, delivering a perfectly balanced alcohol-free malt beverage.” Heineken 0.0 has an “Okay” rating on Beer Advocate.
Heineken 0.0 has 69 calories, 16g carbs, 0g protein and 2g fat. It is alcohol-free and not just under 0.5% like many “non alcoholic” beers. There is no IBU information. These figures are supposedly per 12 oz. The can is 11.2 oz. and the can indicates that they are for 11.2 oz.
Our Review of Heineken 0.0
If you read our post about ProofNoMore, I bought 35 single non alcoholic beers to try. I started with non alcoholic beers from large well known breweries and followed that up with craft breweries. Then I moved on to non alcoholic breweries, starting with Athletic Brewing Lite, which was better than expected. Many of these were very good and barely discernable from beers with alcohol, but some were downright bad. I am not a fan of Heineken Original so my expectations were very low for Heineken 0.0.
The Tasting
I was pleasantly surprised with Heineken 0.0. It tasted a lot like Heineken Original but without the strange aftertaste. If I had only two beer choices, Heineken Original and Heineken 0.0, I would choose to drink Heineken 0.0, mainly because it has a cleaner taste without the aftertaste. I imagine that Beer Advocate readers agree. While they scored Heineken 0.0 at 70 “Okay” they scored Heineken Original even lower at 65 “Poor.”
Heineken 0.0 is available at Amazon at Heineken.
As an Amazon Associate and a Proof No More affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
For more recommendations, try Athletic Brewing Cerveza Atletica, Best Day Brewing Kolsch, Athletic Brewing Lite, Go Brewing Sunbeam Pils and Figueroa Mountain FMB 101 Blonde.
For non alcoholic beer nutritional information for all NA beers we have reviewed and more, see NA Beer Nutritional Information.
