I first wrote about Heineken 0.0 back in 2018 when non-alcoholic beer was starting to become a trend in the beer industry but wasn't taken as seriously*. I bought a case of regular Heineken around Christmas time and it came with a free bottle opener, BBQ apron and a can of Heineken 0.0. This time around I'm checking it out again, this time out of a can instead of a green bottle to see how it is now in 2025. *In hindsight, Heineken's advertising campaign for the NA beer was really bad - including an ad where a guy is sitting in the drivers seat of his car, takes a big swig of 0.0 and a cop sees and pulls him over.
Appearance: Insane amount of carbonation, fizzy and has a very thick snow-white foam on top at the beginning. Well, the foam diminishes nearly immediately leaving only a slim layer of white bubbles on top - no lacing on the glass to be seen. The beer itself is a bright, clear with a golden-straw hue to it.
Aroma: Fairly light. I get mostly a sweetness at the beginning - a hint of honey-like notes, followed by a faint straw presence to it, and a hint of Dove soap at the very end. Very inoffensive so far but lighter than I'd like as well.
Taste: Again, light, inoffensive. There's a slight graininess to it, definite notes of straw, a hint of honey-like sweetness and a smidgen of hops at the end. It's very clean and smooth. If you like that Heineken green bottle skunk, of course you won't be seeing it here. Slight hint of metallic aftertaste at the very end.
Overall Thoughts: This is your standard Dutch lager right here. I don't know if the can has anything to do with it but this time around I found this very enjoyable, smooth, crisp and tasted like an actual 5.0% European lager. One thing that I found weird about the beer can was that it didn't list the ingredients on it except that it contains barley - Generally there's always a list of what the beer contains. A quick look to Heineken.ca tells me that it's brewed with Water, Barley Malt, Hop Extracts, and Heineken® A-Yeast, so is it possible that the recipe has changed? Very possibly.
Would I drink this again? Now I would - this no longer has that "raw grain" taste that I disliked back in 2018. This along Peroni NA are now my top two NA lagers, so far here in 2025.
Check out my other non-alcoholic beer reviews!
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