Sharp's Doom Bar Amber Ale Zero Alcohol Beer 8 x 500 ml (bottles)

Product Information

The brewery boasts that it’s more difficult to produce a 0% beer than a 0.5% one. I’m not really sure we can consider this a major selling point though. Even though I occasionally drink full-strength beer, a change in my tastes coupled with an arguable drop in quality – especially in the bottled version – has steered me away from Doom Bar in the last few years. For over two centuries Molson Coors has been brewing beverages that unite people for all of life’s moments. In the UK and Ireland we now have six breweries, with our UK home in the renowned brewing town, Burton-upon-Trent, and a nearly 300-year-old cider press in Suffolk. In those days, it felt like this Cornish beer, which was first brewed as recently as 1996, was popping up everywhere in the south west. We’re really proud of this beer, which we believe has an enhanced level of body and balance, and improved drinkability compared to its competitors. This is one of very few true 0.0% beers out there in the market.”

Doom Bar Zero is the company’s obvious attempt to cash in on the burgeoning nolo movement. Launched in the autumn of 2020, it boasts of being a ‘perfectly balanced beer’ on the side of the bottle. I’ve reviewed one other alcohol-free beer from the Molson Coors Brewing Company before, their Peroni Libera. It came out pretty well, but Doom Bar Zero is a completely different style of beer to the Libera. Have Sharp’s Brewery successfully navigated the seas of non-alcoholic success or will they run aground upon the sand bar of worty failures? Offshore Island deliveries will take longer than two days including Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Scottish Highlands and Islands and Scilly Isles. Molson Coors has been slower than rival AB-Inbev to introduce low and no alcohol versions of its popular brands, with only Peroni “ Libera” and Cobra “ Zero” being launched with any fanfare in the UK.The smell of this amber ale surprised me. When taking my first sniff, I was hit with a strange ‘sweet metallic’ aroma. I wasn’t a fan. For context, this sharp (and unwelcome) scent isn’t in league with the soft iron undertones of a good Irish stout and is not as detectable in the alcoholic version of Doom Bar. In a word: no. It's a relatively new release - hitting the shelves in August 2020 - but it brings something different to the table. Sharp’s has a tally of more than 100 international brewing awards, which in 2019 included five medals at the Drinks Business Awards, five medals at the International Beer Challenge, two medals at the World Beer Challenge and five titles at the esteemed World Beer Awards 2019, all against stiff competition. Now we’ve explored where our ‘amber ale’ fits into the beer universe, let’s take a swig of a freshly chilled bottle of Doom Bar Zero and see what it tastes like.

The bubbles are small and as aggressive in the mouth as they look in the glass. The carbonation feels forced and unnatural, especially when you compare it to the cask version of Doom Bar. Upon tasting, the flavours of sweet malt completely dominated, and unfortunately, drowned out any hints of bitter, aromatic hops. Doom Bar Zero seemed a lot less balanced than its alcoholic counterpart which, although sweet, has enough citrusy hoppiness to create a more well-rounded experience. Mouthfeel and aftertaste Lemon Aspen Pilsner from @SobahBeverages . Citrus on the nose, orange marmalade, malts. Citrus when we taste too, but it's more earthy and floral than your traditional citrus fruit. Works well in the lager free-beer.co.uk/sobah-lemon-… @FreeBeer_UK - Nov 10 While there has been a surge in the number of low-and-no-alcohol beers on the market, a number of the options currently available contain 0.5% ABV. The expert brewing team at Sharp’s have been working for more than two years to develop a pioneering brewing method which ensures that Doom Bar Zero retains a similar flavour profile and stays true to the style of the successful Doom Bar brand while achieving 0.0% alcohol – significantly more difficult to brew than 0.5%. We didn’t really enjoy this one, and both felt it was a rather disappointing imitation of its alcoholic counterpart.There’s 3.2g of carbs and 1.1g of sugar per 100ml, so the added sugar – plus the sugars from the malt – only produce just over 5g of sugar per bottle. Flavours, appearance and mouthfeel Business Live's South West Business Reporter is William Telford. William has more than a decade's experience reporting on the business scene in Plymouth and the South West. He is based in Plymouth but covers the entire region. I started off hating this beer, but once I got used to the worty aromas and discovered its varied flavours, I didn’t mind it. James, my husband, seemed less offended by these metallic overtones but still agreed it had had a definite ‘sharp’ aroma.

Doom Bar is one of the most popular mass-produced craft ales in the world, but will their venture into the alcohol-free arena be doomed to fail? James Nicholls, Marketing Controller at Sharp’s, said: “We feel that Doom Bar Zero redefines the quality standard of the category, and are proud that as a truly alcohol-free option, Doom Bar Zero can fit your lifestyle, when it suits you. Doom Bar at 4% is probably the most successful amber ale of recent times, growing from our first brew on a small kit in 1996 to achieving the UK’s no.1 cask ale position in under 20 years. We are excited to now be expanding the range and bringing more choice to consumers with Doom Bar Zero.” Dark amber, almost brown. Very clear, good amount of carbonation and, with the right pour, a pretty nice head. All in all, what you’d expect from a decent amber ale. Smell and tasteMuch of the bitterness in an ale comes from the use of hops. ‘Hops’ are the flowers from the hop plant, Humulus lupulus and their distinctive flavours can either be the main feature of a beer or can be used to balance out other features, such as sweetness from the use of malt. Sharp’s Brewery has launched the UK’s first widely available 0.0% ABV amber ale to complement its flagship beer, Doom Bar (the UK’s number 1 cask and bottle ale [2]).