It’s a hot summer afternoon. I’m sitting down on a hot afternoon, with a burger, and a cold beer.
What I’m looking for is something to replace that cold beer with. I want it to be crisp and fresh, but also not sweet. I love tart and bitter flavours. Unfortunately, my options are either cold and sweet, cold and alcoholic or hot and non sweet.
So threadiverse, what alternatives am I missing?
Tereré is great, but it’s a bit of a pain to source in Australia. What else is there?
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Personally, I like just plain seltzer water. (i.e. just carbonated water with nothing added.) Mixing it with a bit of plain (unsweetened) cranberry juice is good too if you want something more flavorful.
Chilled barley tea is another good hot weather drink. It was a summertime staple when I was in Japan.
What about a kind of cocktail with at most 20% red wine filled with sparkling water?
It sounds weird, I agree, but it has few calories, is refreshing, is tasty and may remain cheap enough as you do not need a great wine for it.
I thought I was the only one who did this omg! Do not use good wine for this, it will just make it taste oxidized.
Not sure about availability or price in AU, but I like “hoplark” non alcoholic beer. Their IPAs are awesome.
Club soda
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There’s lots of dry / tart option, especially if you like tonic water and that dry quinine taste. Add a dash of citrus or bitters and it’s not much more trouble than a beer. There’s also some intresting non alcoholic herbal ‘spirits’ that bring complex (and often dry / bitter) flavours, and could be used to make something nice with tonic or plain soda water.
Tonic water was going to be my suggestion too, it ticks all OP’s boxes.
Schwepes bitter lemon?
I haven’t seen it mentioned in here, but switchel is a favorite of mine. Water, Apple cider vinegar, some kind of sweetener (molasses is traditional), and ginger. Pretty easy to make a pitcher of during the summer. Tart, and hits the spot in the summer. You can also utilize a shrub for some NA mocktails.
Michellada
Malt beer or even better Kvass
I think Tapache might be a good idea to take a look at.
Non alcoholic radler? (Beer diluted with soda lemon - it is said that a brewery in munchen had too many cyclists one day and not enough beer to serve everyone, so in order to maximize profits and avoid leaving money on the table he decided to scam them by diluting the beer with lemon juice and saying “it’s less alcoholic so it’s perfect for you cyclists 😉” - and somehow they liked it instead of getting pissed)
Cold fruit teas sound like they could be good for ya
Sugar free ginger ale
