When it comes to true no-alcohol beers, our craft brewers have only just cracked the nut in the past two years. Painstakingly minimal brewing has finally gotten these beers to a place where they don’t taste like they’re pretending. Along the way however, one method of achieving 0% was largely abandoned (for good reason, as it produced some truly hideous examples). That method was de-alcoholisation, where beer is brewed to normal strength before having the alcohol removed. With Super Dry 0%, Asahi has taken another stab at this process, and their results are genuinely amazing. The two areas where low and zero alcohol beers typically fall over is in flavour and palate weight — but being brewed with a full malt-bill (and consequently room for more hops), Super Dry 0% has all the body and flavour that it needs. While it still isn’t a perfect facsimile of full-strength lager, it’s leagues ahead of anything else I’ve tasted. Ultimately, I think it’s best recommended by way of this comparison: At 0%, Super Dry drinks closer to real lager than any “light” 2.5% offerings.
