Buckler: Our Favorite Non-Alcoholic Beer (So Far)

We have a particular reason for craving non-alcoholic beer right now, and this has emerged as a recent favorite...

See, I'm pregnant. And I love beer. More than wine, slightly less than gin gimlets, and on par with margaritas. I miss all of those things right now (hot weather is even more cruel when you can't cool off with a cocktail), but fruity concoctions like basil lemonade tide me over pretty well. Most of the time.

But on certain afternoons (or, hey, mornings! It's non-alcoholic, people, I can drink it for breakfast...), I really want a cold beer in a frosty bottle. Having not explored non-alcoholic beers before, I thought O'Douls was the standard. But Buckler is much better.

It's made by Heineken, and while it definitely has a thinner, less-bodied taste than normal beer, it's got a nice color and the flavor of a decent lager. In short, it'll do. I highly recommend it for those seeking a non-alcoholic option. Of course, like any NA beer, it has a teeny tiny bit of alcohol, so don't go crazy.

Now, I originally intended this post to be a taste test of many NA beers, but they can be hard to find—especially in singles (I don't really need eight six-packs in my fridge). So I'm recommending this one, but I'd love to hear about others that are good. I've got several months to go...

(Image: Sam's Wine & Spirits, where you can buy a six-pack for $6.50)

Comments (9)

I am also a pregnant lady looking for something to sip while my friends enjoy a beer. I found that O'Doul's Amber is pretty good. I'm not a big fan of lagers, which makes the Amber a nice alternative.

I've tried n/a wines, but they seem to taste like raisin-juice.

I've been enjoying lime with tonic water. It tends to raise eyebrows, cause people think I am actually drinking booze.

I'm another pregnant one feeling sad drinking boring things while everybody else is having tasty beers and stuff :)

I also terribly miss coffee, which smells and tastes awful to me now :(

The lime and tonic water idea sounds good!

Woo hoo! Congrats to you gals!

Paulaner is another good n/a beer.

Honestly I've heard good things about Busch NA. Maybe we're partial over here in A-B land, but it's worth a try. Esp. if it comes in a sweet gold-top can! ;)

The best n/a beer i had while pregnant was at Hopleaf in Chicago, but i don't remember the name of it - i think it was German - it was really good.

Of the beer i could get in any liquor or grocery store Caliber was the best.

Another pregnant beer lover here! I will have to look for this once I run out of Clausthaler.

Paulaner Thomas Brau is one of my favorites. I also enjoy a super cold Molson Excel NA in the summer.

Clausthauler. Hands down my favorite (the two available in the US are both lagers, but one is an amber and the other is a typical pilsner style). And frankly, I didn't have much trouble finding this in most places in Milwaukee.

I also liked St. Pauli Girl NA.

I'm a bit of a beer geek, so it was really nice to be able to have a decent NA beer every so often while I was pregnant.

another preggie here--Beck's NA is pretty good. I will try these other suggestions!!