Nonalcoholic beer has come a long way since Prohibition, when breweries like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Pabst were forced to produce “near beer,” an insipid malt beverage with most of its alcohol removed.
In contrast, many modern nonalcoholic beers are clean and crisp, with a kaleidoscope of hop aromas and flavors that work hard to convince your senses you’re drinking the real thing.
Brewers do this a number of ways, using vacuum distillation, reverse osmosis, or a spinning cone to remove alcohol, while boosting mouthfeel (which typically comes from alcohol) with additives like protein and dextrin, and reintroducing aroma through cold dry-hopping…