0.0 Beer: Does it contain alcohol?

Julio Cerezo - Beer Sommelier
Director de Sabeer Academia de la Cerveza

Among the brewing peculiarities in our country there are a large number of alcohol-free beer fans, which positions us with a market share of around 15% both in regard to consumption and production, far above other countries in our surrounding area.

This category of beer includes those known as “alcohol-free” and also those known as '0.0' , the latter being more popular among the new launches on the market by brewing companies.

But from a strictly legal point of view both of them are included in the same category ofbeer without alcohol, which is why they must meet the following two conditions:

• A drink resulting from a fermentation process using yeast selected from a brewing must made from natural raw materials.
• Alcohol content under 1% by volume.

Nevertheless, despite them being covered by the same legal scope, manufacturers clearly differentiate between the two groups -alcohol-free and 0,0- on the labels. The question logically arises then: Is there actually any difference between them?

 The answer is yes, and we shall now see why.

Whereas most of the "alcohol-free" beers have an alcohol content approaching the legal limit of 1% (e.g. 0.9%), the “0.0” beers are under 0.05% which means they contain a minute amount of alcohol that we could compare to the famous “trace alcohol content” found in some foods due to the preparation process.

Therefore, and to answer the question, yes “0.0” beer does contain some alcohol, although at an amount whereby it would be practically impossible to get drunk however much we drink.

Why is there no completely alcohol-free beer? 

To answer that question we need to look at the two most widely used methods to make alcohol-free beer:

1. Brewing through controlled fermentation where the right conditions in regard to time and temperature are established to avoid the yeast fermenting more than a set amount of the cereal sugars.
2. Brewing according to the usual brewing method for beer with alcohol, and then evaporating the alcohol from it by raising the temperature.

Although both methods are very effective in reducing the alcohol content it is still not viable to produce a fermented drink

(as is required to call the drink “beer”) and to eliminate 100% of the alcohol, but the available options of "alcohol-free" and "0,0" are more than acceptable for people who do not want to or cannot ingest alcohol.

To get a rough idea: 100 bottles of “0.0” beer would be the equivalent of 1 bottle of any normal beer, whereas in the case of “alcohol-free” beer this would be about 5 or 6 bottles.

As always, our advice is to enjoy beer in moderation in accordance with your own personal circumstances while at the same time ensuring your consumption is compatible with the guidelines for a healthy lifestyle.

Cheers!