Free Damm

You’d be forgiven for thinking Free Damm’s producer, S.A. Damm, might hail from Holland or Germany, as technically that is the right area. The Spanish brewery was founded in Barcelona by the Damm brothers August and Joseph, natives of Alsace, back in 1876. They are the oldest brewing trademark in Spain, and are famous for their ‘Estrella Damm’ beer, a popular tipple in Barcelonian bars.

Despite it’s fame not being as prevalent in the UK, the brewery’s non-alcoholic offering ‘Free Damm’ is readily available in supermarkets throughout the country. It uses the same ingredients and fermentation process as their standard alcoholic beers, with the alcohol then being removed via vacuum distillation. They also claim to have developed a system to reintroduce some of the aromatic components which are usually lost in dealcoholising. Have they been successful in this endeavour?

Pouring from the can into my glass we get a pale amber liquid with a few bubbles. As usual with non-alcoholic lagers, we get a small foamy head, but then wave goodbye to it within a minute or so. So long friend!

Malt dominates on the nose, with a whisper of corn, apart from that pretty sterile. The malt and corn continue on in the taste of the beer, with some vague sweetness and bitterness, especially after swallowing. Carbonation is moderate though the beer is quite watery and lacking in body.

A generally inoffensive lager, it seems clear to me that Damm have produced this just to make sure there is a non-alcoholic product in their range. Many other alcohol free beers have made the effort to be flavoursome drinks in their own right, whilst this can only really be classed as middle of the road. Still better than a sugary coke at the pub though.

Nutritional Information (per 100ml)

0.0% alcohol by volume
20 calories energy
0g fat
4.7g carbohydrates
1.7g sugar
0.2g protein

(taken from the company website)

Ingredients

Water, Barley Malt (8%), Maize, Glucose and Fructose Syrup, Rice, Hops