Ask Lemmy

Non alcoholic beer

There isn't really anything that tastes like beer other than beer. As others have said, the non-alcoholic versions have gotten pretty good over the last few years.

I'm also quite partial to unsweetened iced tea. Just make a very strong tea and pour it over ice and chill, optionally add lemon juice to taste.

Cold brew coffee is also quite nice, but personally, I prefer that one as a sweet drink mixed with sweetened condensed milk.

Kombucha

how about NA beer? Everything you want and nothing you don't.

Unsweet iced tea

Everyone is recommending just stuff that's not sweet, but you asked for savory.

Beef Fizz Search YouTube for videos of it.

Beef broth, mmmm savory!

Gaspacho? At least it is cool and savory...

If you are willing to make it yourself, kvass or ginger beer, those can be dry and sparkling. Water kefir or kombucha. All very, very low in alcohol, not intoxicating. Chinotto soda is something I buy for dry months too.

As someone else said, tonic water has a bitter edge that really hits the spot, I make a sweet non alcoholic cocktail called the Friend Zone, made with strawberry tepache (strawberry fruit kvass), lime, and tonic water, and I swear everyone thinks it's a boozy cocktail. Too sweet for what you are looking for here but it's certainly the tonic pulling most of the weight.

Unsweetened Iced Tea.

Can choose pretty much any variety of tea you like and just drink it with ice and no sugar.

Around here (not Australia), it's normally black tea, lemon optional for mild sweetness. Unsweetened green tea (not matcha) is also common. Not good if you're looking for unsweetened, but the Arnold Palmer is also a popular drink, which is 50% iced tea and 50% lemonade.

Anywhere boba tea is served, you'll find varieties of matcha iced tea available. More of a cafe drink, but probably good if you're a matcha person. Milk tea is also common in boba shops and is just any variety of iced tea plus dairy, so if you like your tea with cream, that's still enjoyable as a cold drink.

In Japan, barley tea is pretty commonly served cold and unsweetened, along with other popular tea varieties like oolong and jasmine. If you're in Australia, it might not be too difficult to get Japanese imports (or even to just learn to make your own, they're easy).

Cold fruit teas sound like they could be good for ya

I have been enjoying sparkling water flavored with hops. It's distinctly different from non-alcoholic beer, and much better IMO.

Unsweetened iced tea and cold brew coffee are also standards in my kitchen during summer. My significant other likes kombucha enough to make it at home sometimes, but I never liked the stuff myself.

Rye kvass, Kombucha

Try Nimbu Pani! It's an Indian drink that hits the tart and slightly savory points. May be annoying to get black salt though.

If the alcohol is the problem, there's a lot of non-alcoholic beers available in Australia these days.

Possibly a nitro cold brew? I don't know if you'd consider that a good pairing with a burger, though!

Maybe a switchel, if you make it yourself and don't sweeten it too much, leaving it mostly tart.

Unsweetened buttermilk, or even better, ayran?

Virgin Bloody Mary is really good.

Or just ... alcohol-free beer.

Michellada

80% Unsweetened iced tea, 20% lemonade. Play with the ratios. (the classic Arnold Palmer is 50/50 but that's too sweet for me.)

In Japan they drink cold unsweetened tea.

Why a Bottle of Japanese Iced Tea is the Ultimate Summer Refresher

My go-to social drink is a club soda with a twist of lime

It is simple, cheap and has the added benefit of sort of looking like it might be a vodka club or gin and tonic.

I think Tapache might be a good idea to take a look at.

Sugar free ginger ale

Hop water

Unsweetened, iced, mint tea.

Water kefir is a great alternative. You can buy it in organic shops or make it at home. The hardest part would be to source grains but once you get them started, as long as you take care of them they last forever.

It's tart, fizzy, refreshing, has flavors reminiscent of some wild fermentation sours, and can be flavored with almost any fruit after transfer (and probably hops too).

Personally, I like just plain seltzer water. (i.e. just carbonated water with nothing added.) Mixing it with a bit of plain (unsweetened) cranberry juice is good too if you want something more flavorful.

Chilled barley tea is another good hot weather drink. It was a summertime staple when I was in Japan.

I haven't seen it mentioned in here, but switchel is a favorite of mine. Water, Apple cider vinegar, some kind of sweetener (molasses is traditional), and ginger. Pretty easy to make a pitcher of during the summer. Tart, and hits the spot in the summer. You can also utilize a shrub for some NA mocktails.

My go-to fave is Peroni 0.0%

Not sure it's available in Australia, but it's really good NA beer imo. Someone else mentioned hop water. It's more like soda, at least to me, but similarly bright and v fizzy

Oh, yes, also cold black tea (no ice, no lemon, just nice slightly bitter taste. Also nice because the taste is not really fighting with the taste of whatever you eat

Malt beer or even better Kvass

A ginger beer, tastes nothing like beer and is a real pickme up.

There's lots of dry / tart option, especially if you like tonic water and that dry quinine taste. Add a dash of citrus or bitters and it's not much more trouble than a beer. There's also some intresting non alcoholic herbal 'spirits' that bring complex (and often dry / bitter) flavours, and could be used to make something nice with tonic or plain soda water.

What about a kind of cocktail with at most 20% red wine filled with sparkling water?

It sounds weird, I agree, but it has few calories, is refreshing, is tasty and may remain cheap enough as you do not need a great wine for it.

If you want to make it yourself, try Tepache

chinotto

If you want a savory drink, I recommend soup broth.

Tonic water and lime is probably my favorite combo. Sometimes, I'll even add gin.