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The Daily PollGUINNESS IS ALMOST as synonymous with Ireland as shamrock and rain, with the black stuff encapsulating the idea of our drinking culture both at home and abroad.
Recently the company launched Guinness Zero, an alcohol-free alternative aimed at the Asian market where the non-alcoholic beverage category is well established, not least due to government hostility towards alcoholic drinks in the region.
An Irish launch still seems to be some distance away.
But if it were to launch here, how would the Irish, Guinness-drinking public react?
We’re asking: is Ireland ready for non-alcoholic Guinness?
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I would love this..I am not a big drinker and usually drive. You can’t drink fizzy stuff all night but would drink two or three of these on a night out. I usually go with becks.
Didn’t Guinness release a ‘half-strength’ version a few years ago? It was 2% or 2.5%, instead of the usual ~4%.
I haven’t seen it around much recently – is it still sold?
Years ago the did a Guinness Light it was the biggest brand flop in the history of Irish Marketing. If the taste was the same (don’t think that would be possible) it would be a great idea.
is Posh alright with that?
Have you tried cobra n/a? It’s actually really tasty!! Not that easy to get though!!
Spain is great for non-alcoholic beer. Can’t move for a pint of 0% Estrella Galicia or San Miguel over there. Guinness Mid-Strength is still sold in the odd pub but not as much as it was two years ago.
I lived in Spain and concur with that. much better than the Beck’s NA that left me feeling queasy after two bottles at a wedding recently
They may as well just sell stinking disgusting air fresheners to put in your bedroom and cut out all the fun.
About as ready as Springfield was for non alcoholic duff…..!
Yep, 30 minutes & Duff were out of business…
Well that’s the end for me!
The last nail in the coffin for alcoholic Ireland
if they can get the taste right, ching ching more and more brands are doing non alcho beers. Stella, cobra, tesco used to do a great non alcho cider no different from 5% stuff. bring it back Tesco….. no its not the same as cidona. .
Non-alcoholic beer is just awful regardless of brand, and is no better than beer flavoured lemonade!
To narrow minded so you are Ted with a sweeping statement like that. There are plenty of alternatives if you’d try them, instead of dismissing them.
Sorry your highness, but it will never catch on, unless Diageo come up with some Harry Potter wizardry to extract the alcohol and leave some taste, whilst also inject some carbonation into the beer so it doesn’t seem like flat warm coca-cola!
Non-alcholic Erdinger for example makes my stomach seem like it’s gonna burst like a beachball after 2 beers cos it’s pumped full of Co2! :(
Shittin’ rings and nothing to show for it.
To Arthur !!
To Martha
It’s hard when you are designated dessie. This might fool me into thinking I’m drinking too. Plus people won’t be asking me why I’m not drinking.. . Even if they forgot they designated me.
Arthur would be turning in his grave!
Sure, Guinness isn’t even really Irish anymore.
I’d rather spend my few bob on a decent Irish-owned and Irish-run stout. Maybe a nice Galway Bay, Trouble Brewing, or an 8 Degrees offering or something.
Made with almost 100% Irish ingredients employing a huge Irish workforce! It doesn’t need to be any more Irish than that!
Great idea, – Going for a pint is more about meeting people than anything else, – otherwise you could stay at home & drink cans for a fraction of the cost, so it doesn’t have to alcoholic, – in fact, I used to bring a fake rubber pint of Guinness with me, for ‘pranking’ friends (by knocking it over at the bar/dropping it, & everyone ends up laughing their ass off)
But I noticed that I felt a certain ‘comfort’ in holding it until I got my first actual pint, – I suppose I didn’t feel as ‘naked’ if I’m holding a pint of anything, – even a fake one.
Also, if you feel a bit tipsy, but don’t want to go home just yet, one or two of these might fill the gap until you get your ‘second wind’.
https://msnorth.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/jfspunctuate.jpg
Would help stop women being asked are they pregnant because they’re not drinking. No I’m not pregnant, I’m on antibiotics…..
as long as it tasted the same…then i could drink it during work. Win Win…
Imagine the look on a Gardas face at a check point and you driving with a can of Guinness in your hand.
Pointless waste of time.
Like veggie cigarettes.
Like decaffeinated coffee.
Like putting a Lada engine in a Ferrari.
some people can’t except change, pity.
I would drink this but I don’t think this country is ready for it. I don’t drink much and am sick of all the questions about why u don’t drink. are you pregnant, are you on antibiotics, have a drink, have a drink. added to the fact that non alcholic beers are the same price as normal beers, doesn’t give non drinkers much optimisim.
If they get the taste right, then I’d be all for it. It would be great for drivers that like beer, and just don’t like to sip on Coke or 7-Up or Fanta.
Beck’s non-alcoholic is atrocious stuff, but Erdinger and (to a lesser extent) Paulaner are very drinkable.
This Guinness could be popular, but Diageo are clearly about large profit – if a drink’s sales just “tip away” it won’t be deemed a success and it won’t last long. Mid-Strength Guinness was great while it lasted.
Blasphemy!
Is Ireland ready for it? It’s not going to replace all of our Guinness or anything.
Ever tried the West Indies Guinness? That’s lovely! Pretty strong, too.
All alcohol tastes like shiite.
Non alcaholic beer is like having a bullet surgically implanted in your spleen so you get all the misery of a gunshot wound with none of the excitment.
yum yum
is this real?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes,
Look up to the skies and see,
I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,
Because I’m easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Anyway the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, to me.
Probably the best sequence of comments on this site.
Top drawer chaps!
I don’t drink to get drunk…… yep, same way I don’t smoke weed to get high. load of fooking nonsense and a 20% mark up. only difference is you don’t fall over when you’re pissing it up the same wall as your drunk friend
Should have includes another option in the poll that reads…..
I drink Murphys
Whither Kaliber?
Maybe they could invent one that doesn’t cause it’s drinkers to fart like there’s a dead rat up their arse and breath like day old manure ?
…I’m just a poor boy, alco-free Guinness for me…
I don’t understand non alcoholic beers. They look like real beer so is their purpose to replicate real beer for the drinker so they don’t have to give into the peer pressure of drinking alcohol? Would you feel more comfortable standing there with a 7up or a non alco? It seem to be more about keeping up the brands image. If it wasn’t they would have had Guiness water or orange by now. ( not Guiness flavoured. ..that would be just rank!!!)
It’s not obligatory to type every little thing that pops into your head Paul.
It’s called opinion. I’m entitled to it.
But…why?
More bollocks!
No that is oyster stout…
http://www.incrediblethings.com/food/beer-brewed-with-bull-testicles/
non alcoholic beer!! its like going down on yer sister !!! it might taste the same but its not right!!!
Drinking alcohol free beer is like eating a chocolate cake without chocolate.
Not if you were only trying to eat circular things. If that was your aim, non chocolate cake would be fantastic.
Once it tasted good I would drink it. I son’t understand why they can’t get non alcoholic beers to taste nice or be value for money in this day and age.
What ever happened to shandies, half smithwicks and half red lemonade?
Gluten free Guinness …. now that could be a winner!
Glutton free Guinness, lol.
The Saudis will love it. A whole new market for Guinness in Muslim countries.
Definite yes for me…been off the sauce for 10 years. Becks non-alcholic is muck also.
Call it Bovril…
It’s the alcohol that makes Guinness tolerable!
It will flop here but will probably do well in Islamic countries.
have your say