Doom Bar Zero Beer Review - Doomed?

January 15, 2023 Cameron Mackenzie

Doom Bar is often said to be among the bestselling beers in the UK. The home of this beer is situated on the North Cornish coast. The first bottle of Doom Bar was brewed in 1996, and this is when its popularity began to peak. This beer continues to be a popular choice among drinkers as proved by the 2019 Highest Earning Premium Beer Award. Its success continued and arguably grew, when in 2011 a global company by the name of Molson Coors bought Doom Bar. Since, the successes of this brand are not only visible in the UK but all over the globe. In the Uk it is available in most supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s or Tesco for an affordable price.

In light of dry January, we are zooming in on a different version of Doom Bar. Doom Bar Zero is a variation of the beer is 0% alcohol and was first seen and drank in 2020. Doom Bar Zero is the company's obvious attempt to jump onto the ever-growing popular movement of alcohol-free beer. The side of the bottle highlights how it is a ‘perfectly balanced’ drink, this is what we will be exploring.

Upon opening the bottle, and pouring out the beer, it appears to come with a tawny resting colour. When poured, a yellowish-brown colour with hints of dark orange can be seen. The aroma of this drink feels ‘half-baked’ and unfermented. A sickly-sweet malt and brown bread smell dominates the aroma with hints of hops following right after. A decent brown looking head can be seen, but not for too long. When opened, vicious and lively carbonation of the drink can be seen.

The taste of Doom Bar zero has hints of a fruity underlining flavour that melds with the malts when drunk. Some describe slight tastes of caramel, liquorice, or raisin, but this is hard to detect and must be subtle if at all. The drink overall can be described as quite bitter, with an unpleasant chalky, dry aftertaste.

The verdict for Doom Bar Zero is unfortunately not a positive one. In light of Dry January, I bought this from a local supermarket for a very fair price and tried it. The aroma of the drink instantly indicated to me that this is not my cup of tea. I must admit that Doom Bar did a far better job with the alcoholic version. If you enjoy the tastes described above then perhaps you might like this, however personally, this was relatively difficult to drink.

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