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

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Not a good effort from Sharp’s / Molson Coors, which is surprising considering how popular it’s alcoholic big brother is. This may be one of the AF beers that gets a new recipe within six months, if not then it’ll be fuel for the nay-sayers who are adamant that it’s not possible to create a decent non-alcoholic beer. Buy Doom Bar Zero 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%. 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

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. 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. 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? 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.

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The malts also offer a layer of smokiness. There’s none of the unfinished flavours from the aroma present on tasting. For reasons of hygiene and safety, personal grooming products, cosmetics or items of intimate clothing cannot be returned. When I first graduated from mass-produced lager to real ale in the late noughties, my mates and I always seemed to gravitate to pubs that sold Doom Bar. Much 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. 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.”

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.

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Now it really is popping up everywhere.In the UK in 2019, it was the highest-earning “premium” bottled ale and biggest-selling cask ale. And it’s available not just in pubs and shops across the UK but in countries such as Japan and the USA.

Producers don’t have to reveal the ingredients in drinks over 1.2% ABV and the ingredients in Doom Bar Zero give an insight into the unexpected things the big beer producers add to their brews. In January 2020., Scottish brewing mammoth Brewdog opened what it claimed to be the world’s first alcohol-free beer bar, in London. 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 taste This growth is mostly down to global beer company Molson Coors, which bought the Doom Bar brand along with its parent brewery Sharp’s in 2011.Not quite as pungent as their pale ale siblings the IPAs (Indian Pale Ales), but with more herbal bitterness than fellow family members the ‘light bitters’, amber ales occupy a pleasing position on the ‘hoppy-ness’ scale. Amber ale brewers also use specific types of malts to give them their distinctive and inviting bunt-caramel colour. Tasting the beer

As a result, Doom Bar Zero maintains a sweet roasted malt flavour and subtle green hop aroma that has become Doom Bar’s trademark, while also offering its own unique flavour profile with hints of succulent dried fruit and a subtle bitterness. As well as water, barley malt, hops and hop extract, Doom Bar Zero also includes absorbic acid and vague natural flavourings.

In a word: no. It's a relatively new release - hitting the shelves in August 2020 - but it brings something different to the table.