Dark Cheers

A couple of weeks ago we had a small BeerCast night out at Hanam’s, one of the very few authentic Kurdish restaurants in Scotland. Having been a couple of times before, I knew it has no licence and is BYOB. However, beer is to be found on the drinks menu – it’s just that all of them are alcohol free, of course. Marketing these kinds of beers can prove to be pretty difficult (aside from highlighting the conscientious angle for designated drivers) – historically low and non-alcohol beers have been either bland, plain nasty, or both. On the menu however were a few I’d never heard of – including the enticing Dark Cheers, with no other description other than it was “Sem Álcool”.

Brewed by Unicer Bebidas in Santarém, Portugal, Dark Cheers (or Cheers Preta in the Portuguese) was the first alcohol-free black beer on the market in that country, having been launched ten years ago. It comes in at ‘not more’ than 0.5%abv, so might not strictly be alcohol-free – but it’s rare enough to see a dark one amidst the Kaliber (which incidentally is 0.05%), and other lager brands that put out a reduced strength namesake (such as Cobra, Bavaria, Becks etc). Whilst I’d not be too bothered to ever sample any of those, the prospect of a dark one intrigued me enough to give it a go.

It’s certainly dark, there’s no denying that. The head retains for an impressive amount of time, as the carbonation levels are quite high. There’s almost no aroma whatsoever from the beer – maybe a slight malty sweetness, but without any real hop levels and no alcohol (aside from the 0.5%), it pretty much just sits there, looking like a cola/porter half and half. Tastewise it’s an improvement, but as you’d expect with so little to back it up, the flavour struggles to make an impression. It’s very sweet, a bit vegetal, and reminds me of a watered-down session porter. It probably lies towards the top-end of the alcohol-free beer spectrum, but that’s not really saying much.