Many people frown upon the notion of low alcohol beer citing the fact that it does not have the same effects as ordinary beer which – when drank in large quantities – can induce feelings of giddiness and drunkenness.
Why Have Low Alcohol Beer?
Principally the purpose of low alcohol beer is to give the drinker the impression they are drinking as they might drink ordinary beer without the side effects and also without experiencing those heady feelings of being drunk.
Low alcohol beer was first introduced during the 1920s in the United States when Prohibition was in place. As a way of combating the illegality of alcohol brewers produced what was known as ‘Cereal Beer’ which allowed the drinker to believe they were drinking alcohol without actually do so.
Benefits of Drinking Low Alcohol Beer
Firstly low alcohol beer is a lot less likely to cause problems with the drinker’s liver. Admittedly drinking ordinary beer would only cause problems with the liver if taken in vast quantities but one of the reasons low alcohol beer was introduced onto the mass market was to provide a less potent alternative to the real thing.
Low alcohol beer was also designed as a means of trying to combat drink driving. Some low alcohol beers contain small amounts of alcohol 0.5% normally which means that large quantities of it would have to be consumed before the driver would be over the legal limit.
In addition to this low alcohol beer was – as we have already mentioned – deemed an important way of trying to reduce the risk of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency. Beer in its ordinary alcoholic form can form the basis for an addiction to alcohol simply because it is cheaper and more accessible than spirits which are more expensive and require the consumer to be older than those drinking beers.
There are also religious connotations to providing low alcohol beers – such faiths as Islam prohibit its members to drink alcohol so low alcohol beers offer a way in which these individuals can drink without going against the teachings of their religion; although it must be said that for the most part practitioners of such faiths tend to abstain from drinking alcohol in any form.
Low Alcohol Beer Vs Real Beer – Cost
There are sometimes variations in the price of ordinary beer as opposed to low alcohol beer. You may well find that if you ask for a low alcohol beer it may cost you slightly more than its more alcohol-based counterpart. This is because low alcohol beer is slightly more expensive to produce given that the process by which it is produced varies from that of ordinary beer. Indeed many low alcohol beers are constituted from the by products of ordinary beer; this is called ‘producing a second running’.
Having mentioned the slight cost differential however it is still worth noting the benefits of drinking such low alcohol beers. Not only are they better for your health but they also reduce your changes of being under the influence whilst in charge of a motor vehicle and they can have far less debilitating effects and impairment of personality than their stronger alcohol infused counterparts.