1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
There isn't really anything that tastes like beer other than beer. As others have said, the non-alcoholic versions have gotten pretty good over the last few years.
I'm also quite partial to unsweetened iced tea. Just make a very strong tea and pour it over ice and chill, optionally add lemon juice to taste.
Cold brew coffee is also quite nice, but personally, I prefer that one as a sweet drink mixed with sweetened condensed milk.
Unsweetened ice tea is great. If you want to drink a lot of it you can brew a pot and leave it in the fridge overnight for the next day with two containers you can just swap them out whenever one gets empty.
You also don't need to brew hot tea. I prefer cold brewing, using about 8 tea bags per gallon. Just refrigerate for about 12 hours, or longer to taste if you like it stronger. I've done this with black teas (I love Red Rose for iced tea), sencha green tea, and oolong (my favorite).
Kombucha
Would also highly recommend kombucha.
Cold, fizzy, relatively healthy as it's mostly tea by default with probiotics, and you can change up the flavor. The default is kinda tart and vinegary, but then you add (or buy) fruit or herb flavors and you can really find what you personally love.
Non alcoholic beer
On the days when I'm really just hanging out for, and worked a really sweaty, dirty day on the chainsaws, I drink N/A beer. The cheapest I can find. It either hits the spot or it tastes like garbage and turns me off beer again. Either way it averts the craving and lets me stay sober. Most alcos in recovery will frown on N/A beer, but I don't care, whatever helps me not drink alcohol is fair game.
Unsweet iced tea
how about NA beer? Everything you want and nothing you don't.
I have been enjoying sparkling water flavored with hops. It's distinctly different from non-alcoholic beer, and much better IMO.
Unsweetened iced tea and cold brew coffee are also standards in my kitchen during summer. My significant other likes kombucha enough to make it at home sometimes, but I never liked the stuff myself.
sparkling water flavored with hops
I just got some of this today! I haven't tried it yet, but the guy at the bottle shop said it's what he has when he feels like a beer, but doesn't want a beer!
Unsweetened buttermilk, or even better, ayran?
Virgin Bloody Mary is really good.
Or just ... alcohol-free beer.
Near beer works great as a shandy, too. The lemon flavor may even lend more to the desired bitterness.
If the alcohol is the problem, there's a lot of non-alcoholic beers available in Australia these days.
Possibly a nitro cold brew? I don't know if you'd consider that a good pairing with a burger, though!
Maybe a switchel, if you make it yourself and don't sweeten it too much, leaving it mostly tart.
Rye kvass, Kombucha
Gaspacho? At least it is cool and savory...
If you are willing to make it yourself, kvass or ginger beer, those can be dry and sparkling. Water kefir or kombucha. All very, very low in alcohol, not intoxicating. Chinotto soda is something I buy for dry months too.
As someone else said, tonic water has a bitter edge that really hits the spot, I make a sweet non alcoholic cocktail called the Friend Zone, made with strawberry tepache (strawberry fruit kvass), lime, and tonic water, and I swear everyone thinks it's a boozy cocktail. Too sweet for what you are looking for here but it's certainly the tonic pulling most of the weight.
In Japan they drink cold unsweetened tea.
Why a Bottle of Japanese Iced Tea is the Ultimate Summer Refresher
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.
80% Unsweetened iced tea, 20% lemonade. Play with the ratios. (the classic Arnold Palmer is 50/50 but that's too sweet for me.)
Water kefir is a great alternative. You can buy it in organic shops or make it at home. The hardest part would be to source grains but once you get them started, as long as you take care of them they last forever.
It's tart, fizzy, refreshing, has flavors reminiscent of some wild fermentation sours, and can be flavored with almost any fruit after transfer (and probably hops too).
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.
Malt beer or even better Kvass
Oh, yes, also cold black tea (no ice, no lemon, just nice slightly bitter taste. Also nice because the taste is not really fighting with the taste of whatever you eat
My go-to social drink is a club soda with a twist of lime
It is simple, cheap and has the added benefit of sort of looking like it might be a vodka club or gin and tonic.
I think Tapache might be a good idea to take a look at.
If you want a savory drink, I recommend soup broth.
If you want to make it yourself, try Tepache
That sounds absolutely amazing!
I think trying this out will be a summer project for me!
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.
Everyone is recommending just stuff that's not sweet, but you asked for savory.
Beef Fizz Search YouTube for videos of it.
Unsweetened, iced, mint tea.
Beef broth, mmmm savory!
Cold fruit teas sound like they could be good for ya
Tonic and Angustura on ice, with a splash of lemon. I put a dab of sugar sometimes.
Not sure about availability or price in AU, but I like "hoplark" non alcoholic beer. Their IPAs are awesome.
Try Nimbu Pani! It's an Indian drink that hits the tart and slightly savory points. May be annoying to get black salt though.
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
Hop water
Sugar free ginger ale
Guinness Zero is the "closest tasting to the original" non-alcoholic beer I've found so far. Don't know if its available in Oz but its worth a try.
Club soda