Beer ReviewWeihenstephanerWeihenstephaner Alcohol Fee Helles Review

Weihenstephaner alcohol-free Helles has a malty base, hoppy bitterness and a perfectly crisp and clean tasting profile, with all the flavour hallmarks of a traditional German lager without the alcohol.

From the moment it lands in your glass it is perfectly deep and golden in colour and has a wonderfully foamy head that lasted while I worked my way through all 500ml! Yes, half a litre of goodness.

The flavour profile is bright, crisp and vibrant with mouth popping carbonation and after wading through the deliciously foamy head, you’ll find:

• A traditional base of malt with some underpinning sweetness.
• Crisp floral hoppy notes throughout each sip.
• Clean finish with a lingering bitterness.
• Really active and creamy carbonation.

I have been drinking this beer for the last few months and after beer number 4, I’ve finally decided the Weihenstephaner alcohol-free Helles takes the #1 spot for, best non-alcoholic lager.

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As a whole, if you enjoy clean malts, light bitterness and a really vibrant carbonation and taste profile you’re going to love the Weihenstephaner alcohol free helles.

It would suit a wide range of drinkers from those who enjoy the floral flavours of hoppy Australian lagers, the bready and rounder flavours of lagers like the Heineken Zero or traditional German lagers.

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You’re able to pick up a bottle of the Weihenstephaner from a wide range of retailers including online through the Craft Zero team or in limited Dan Murphy’s stores. Each bottle will cost you between $4 and $5.

You can snag yourself a bargain through the links below, be sure to use the discount codes to get yourself a bit of extra change!

• Craft Zero (TZERO at check out will get you 10% off)
• Dan Murphy’s at your local store.

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Beer	Sugar per 100ml	Calories per 100ml
Weihenstephaner Original Helles Alcohol Free	0.0 g	14 cals
Bit Burger Drive 0.0	0 g	22 cals
Big Drop Uptown Craft lager	0.1 g	11.8 cals
Brewdog Nanny State	0.4 g	6 cals

The Weihenstephaner has only 14 calories, NO sugar and NO grams of fat per 100ml. At 500ml per serve the 70 calories, 0 grams of sugar and only 2.5 grams of carbohydrates is well below every other beer I have found on the market except for the Bit Burger Drive, you can see above.

Keen to find out how healthy non-alcoholic beer actually is? After reviewing almost 40 non-alcoholic beers I wrote up an article on that very topic along with the sugar content. You can give it a read here.

The full breakdown of the Weihenstephaner nutrition information is listed below.

Avg Quantity Per Serving (500ml)		Avg Quantity Per 100ml
Energy	290 kJ 70 Cal	58 kJ 14 Cal
Protein	0 g	0 g
Fat, total	0 g	0 g
— saturated	0 g	0 g
Carbohydrate	2.5 g	0.5 g
— sugars	0 g	0 g
Sodium	0 mg	0 mg

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The weight in the body of the Weihenstephaner alcohol-free option is naturally lighter than the traditional alcoholic version. This means, that if you are coming to non-alcoholic beer for the first time, keep in mind that you may find the body to feel thinner than the original 11.7% version.

If this is you, pause for a moment and take in the fact the team managed to remove all the alcohol and still retain all that flavour – remarkable!

While not strictly a lager, if you’re looking for a full-bodied beer, I can’t currently go past the Vandestreek Playground IPA. I wrote a post about it if you’re interested in beers with a great mouthfeel.

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I touched on it a little above, however the alcohol free Weihenstephaner helles is a perfect option for that Sunday roast dinner given the 500ml size means there is enough to keep you busy even when you go back for seconds.

It also plays nicely when you’re done with the garden on a Sunday afternoon or unwinding in the sun. The light, vibrant and crisp profile means this one can be enjoyed on any occasion.

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You know my thoughts about glasses and how important they are to non-alcoholic beers.

I am an absolutely huge fan of the Spiegelau Craft Tasting Kit and if you’ve ever seen any of my content or other reviews you’re going to find Spiegelau beer glasses featuring in 99% of the snaps when I’m at home!

For this review, I grabbed the Wheatbeer option from my lineup and found it helped hold the foamy head in the glass the entire time I was drinking.

Given the carbonation I feel like this beer could get ‘washed out’ and flavours trapped in the bottle, so I’d always glass this one for best results.

If you’re interested in finding out more, I grabbed mine from Amazon (they’re between $45 – $55 at the time of writing this) and I’m a big fan and will likely pick up another set before Christmas to help some extra taste buds involved in the Tipple Zero tasting time!

If you’re keen to level up your beer drinking, check it out if you’re in Australia here or the USA here

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With the Weihenstephaner being the new wearer of the ‘Best Non-Alcoholic Lager’ crown, it is going to take a lot to knock it off the top spot.

I have really enjoyed the way that the lively and vibrant carbonation adds to the mouthfeel and really gives you a great drinking experience.

Yes, the body is lighter than the original, however when you take into context that the beer started its life at 11.7% and has been reduced to less than 0.5% and retains all the hoppy notes, crisp bitterness and clean flavour profile it is a rather remarkable feat.

Much like the Heaps Normal XPA, this beer is going to land itself only the second ever 9.5/10 from me.

The half a point goes to mouthfeel (because I like to have my cake and eat it too), however, beyond that, I wish they made this in a 6 pack so I could pick it up more easily. Beyond that, it is a perfect beer to rehydrate you any time of the day, night, week, month or year!

Interested in giving a go? You can find it over here at Craft Zero.

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