Just tried that new Bacardi Silver and love it (except that it made my migraine worse - but hey, ya gotta try). Didn't care much for Zima and the other clear beers, but this one is sorta like an alchoholic Sprite with a vanilla/rum undertaste. I like to have a beer-type, low alchohol beverage (low alchohol vs mixed drinks, but those Silvers are at 5%, so they're not really all that low!) to sip on the porch after mowing the lawn, but I hate the taste of regular beer. Up til now, I was pretty much left with the hard ciders (good, but monotonous if it's all that you have).

So can these clear beers be made at home, and if so, how? And how do you get the different flavors (citrus, fruity, vanilla, etc). Are they really "beer" or are they just a watered-down mixed drink? Most of them say that there is no measurable "hard likker" in them.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), March 03, 2002

Answers

As a bartender for many years I will fill you in on a few things. First off beer, wine, or liquor will process through your body in the same time frame. 1 drink per hour. I believe it is 12 oz beer, 8 ounce mixed drink, 6 oz wine. The clear beers that you are refering to are a malt based product. Meaning they use a malt to make it compared to distilled liquor. Cant tell you how you could brew it.

-- tracy (murfette@stargate.net), March 03, 2002.

My husband has been a homebrewer for years. The so-called Clear beers are just beer with no color. They are made the same way. If you don't like the taste of beer try making hard cider with fruit in it. My husband makes me strawberry hard cider that is to die for. He also makes bluebery and raspberrie, but my favorite is strawberry. Or try making wine. It's easy and cheap. You can add sparkling water to the wine for a spritzer that reduces the amount of alchohol in it. "Clear" beer is just another gimmick to get you to buy beer.

-- Mary R (cntryfolk@ime.net), March 03, 2002.

I have made a "clear" wine by using a sugar base and white tannin, then flavored it. Bottled a little "green" and it can be effervesent when opened.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), March 03, 2002.

I haven't done any home-brew for years now, although I will take it up again when I get my own place (about a year). However, I once did a quite effective ginger beer. THIS WAS NOT A SOFT DRINK. It was basically sugar and water, ginger and yeast. The (dried) ginger gave it a very light tan colour - I imagine I could have used macerated fresh ginger root and had it clear. This stuff was VERY enjoyable chilled on a hot summer's day. Throw it down cold - cooled you. However, it left a bit of a ginger prickle at the the back of the throat that left another cold one very attractive. After about the fourth, if you tried to stand up, you reconsidered. If you'd tried slowly, you were lucky. If you'd tried fast, you were on your face. That was interesting, but I didn't do it again. Like I said, interesting, but the end result wasn't quite what I was looking for. I may try some variations on that next time. Anyone like to come for the grand opening of the next batch?

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 04, 2002.

Oh if only I could home brew Bud!

-- julie (jbritt@ceva.net), March 04, 2002.

julie, we weren't talking tasteless - the thread was on colourless. I've tasted Budweiser - twice. Well three times. I couldn't believe the first - I had to confirm - and yes, it WAS like that. I tried again - same same. If you try homebrewing, with at least canned malt extract and scrupulous hygiene, you'd never find many commercial brews acceptable again. Of course, that includes a lot of "clear" beers, because malt is an amber colour, and that passes through to the brew.

Australia has some of the best large-scale commercial beers in the world (Victoria Bitter, Fosters, Toohey's Old, particularly the naturally brewed Coopers), but even most of our commercial brews (some specialist exceptions) can't compare to the best European stuff (Czech, Scandinavian, German, Belgian). Those countries who adopt the standard that beer is allowed to contain malt, salt, water and yeast (ONLY!! - and did you notice the allowable peservatives? None? Means they REALLY have to be scrupulously clean) produce outstanding beer. While there are some specialist Australian beers made that way, the majority of commercial USA, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, UK beers aren't).

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 04, 2002.

Don, I'll have to disagree with you on Foster's being one of the "best" beers, although I do enjoy VB. Fiji Bitter is pretty good as well, if you get it in a bottle. I ordered one on an Air Pacific flight last year expecting a "stubbie", and they brought a can instead - probably the most vile thing I've ever drank. If you want an example of an American non-pasteurized, non-preserved beer, you can try Miller Genuine Draft - I think it is probably available over there. Why do Queenslanders drink XXXX? Because they can't spell "BEER".

The clear beer thread reminded me of a story told to me by a friend who used to be director of corporate planning for Miller Brewing. Miller High Life originally had the slogan "Brewed only in Milwaukee", which was fine when they were a regional beer, but as they went national, the transportation costs were killing them. Some of the corporate big wigs got the idea that they could brew it in Milwaukee, condense it, ship it, and reconstitute it at the destination. While playing around in the lab in an attempt to make this work, some of their scientists started messing with carbon filters, and found that they could completely remove the color, odor, and flavor, leaving them with a completely clear, odorless, tasteless alcoholic malt beverage, and once you had removed all that stuff, you could add back in whatever colors, odors, and flavors you wanted. One day for funsies, Steve had the lab guys make up a couple each of several flavors - grape, lime, strawberry, etc., and took home a couple of 6 packs to let people try out. When he got there, his next door neighbor, who didn't drink, was there visiting with his wife. She decided that she wanted to try one of each flavor, and when she stood up to go back home again, fell down on the floor.

-- Steve - TX (steve.beckman@compaq.com), March 05, 2002.

Carbon filters, huh. Sounds intriguing.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), March 06, 2002.

Steve, I sort of agree with you - I think Foster's is right up there with Budweiser. However, a lot of people like it, and they do use a VERY good yeast. We're veering from the original question a little here, although it IS related - one of the (dis)advantages of a public forum.

Personally, I find XXXX rather acceptable for a commercial beer. Best Aussie beer I've tasted so far is one you probably won't find - a Western Australian boutique beer called Dogbolter. Very dark pure malt beer - very pronounced malt flavour and good hops, but not as heavy or as bitter as a stout. Which reminds me - different style - Cooper's Stout - love it - dark, bitter, a bit sweetish - naturally brewed - live yeast - you can use it to start your own home brew. Not bland and homogenised like Guinness. We can buy home brew kits as well for most of the Cooper's beers.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 07, 2002.