by BeerDrinkerIf you’ve ever been on holiday to Portugal, you’ve no doubt come across the Super Bock brand during your travels. Probably on equal footing with Sagres in the public eye, the beer has been brewed since 1927, and is now the biggest-selling Portuguese-made beer in the world, with bottles and cans of the brew available in over 50 countries and on every continent. The brewery was nationalised in the 1970s as part of the Portuguese ‘Carnation Revolution’, becoming known as Unicer. During the 1990s however the process of re-privatization took place, with the brewery regaining it’s original name, and ending up with the Carlsberg Group owning a 44% stake in the company.
Super Bock have a number of non-alcoholic offerings on the market, as Portugal is no stranger to nolo beers – you need to keep well hydrated in their climate! We’ve reviewed their Super Bock Sem Álcool Preta before, which was a rather malty black lager style beer. Along with the subject of this review Super Bock Free, coming in at 0.5%, they also produce a true 0.0% version, Super Bock 0.0. All of them start off life as fully-fermented alcoholic beers, which then go through a process that was developed in partnership with the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. From what I can translate from their old press release, the technology uses a ‘vapour’-based approach. This sounds very much like a cool vacuum distillation process, which is pretty standard for macro nolo production these days. Let’s see what the University of Porto’s finest have come up with.
Pouring out the beer from the bottle we get a dark golden coloured liquid with good clarity and steady streams of bubbles visible. A finger of soapy head is produced but makes itself scarce within a minute or two. Inhaling, we get the aromas of lager malt, some hoppy spice, and a slight background of citrus lemon. Classic lager aromas, but nothing to write home about.
Malt greets us when we taste, not too sweet, in fact the beer is quite dry. Some spice and floral notes complement the malt and add some character to the drink, with lemon citrus coming in on the back end. The body is light to medium, with a smooth mouthfeel and a relatively high carbonation level. The beer finishes with a slight sweetness.
Super Bock Free is up there with the other macro alcohol-free lagers – tasty enough, inoffensive and easy to drink. Above average, and a solid option for an accompaniment to a meal if offered at your eatery of choice.
Buy Super Bock Free
Super Bock’s beers are available at some branches of Tesco and Morrisons, and you can always buy your bottles of Super Bock Free online below:
| Nutritional Information (per 100ml, taken from the side of the bottle) | |
|---|---|
| ABV | 0.5% |
| Energy | 23 kcal |
| Fat | 0g |
| Carbohydrates | 4.7g |
| Sugar | 1.0g |
| Protein | 0.5g |
| Ingredients | |
| Water, Barley Malt, Unmalted Cereals (Maize and Barley), Flavourings, Hops | |
| Additional Information | |
| Country of Production | Portugal  |
| Brewer | Super Bock Group – https://www.superbockgroup.com/en/ |
| Gluten Free? | No |
| Vegan Friendly? | No |
Super Bock Free Review
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Summary
Another perfectly drinkable macro non-alcoholic lager to add to the usual suspects. Just nothing really to make it stand out from the crowd.
