mcld.co.uk

After some in-depth field research, I'm ready to report that the Netherlands alcohol-free beer scene has boomed in the last couple of years. We've now tasted 24 of them! And 7 of them are great.

Van de Streek's "Playground IPA" has been around for a while now and is in all the supermarkets, cafes, etc - and, I have to be blunt, it's still the absolute best low-alcohol IPA we've tasted, even though we've now tried over 100 from around Europe.

But there is a whole carnival of others, and some of them are right up there in the top. There's a good representative for each of the classic beer styles, plus some funky quirky ones too. You should definitely check out:

• Brouwerij 't IJ "Vrijwit" - finally, a delightful Belgian-style wheat beer! Frothy head, a complex full flavour, well-balanced and satifsying. This rises easily to the top spot of wheat beers, and handily it's also available in lots of shops. By the way, the brewery is "'t IJ", named after a river - you can pronounce it "utt eye" if you like.

Other Dutch breweries have attempted the low-alc wheat beer: Grolsch and Brand's are OK, Lowlander's tastes like a bitter lemon not a weizen. (Also, FYI, don't go anywhere near the Hoegaarden 0.0 - it's awful, despite my hopes for it. It's not Dutch... but the warning is needed.) If you want a wheat beer, go straight for the Vrijwit!

• Lowlander "0.3% IPA" -- A stunning low-alc IPA - complex, foamy and refreshing, with a bitter hoppy tang combining with rounded mango and orange flavours. Stunning, and more "different" than Playground IPA.

• Braxx "Rebel IPA" -- Very interesting malty IPA, almost a brown-ale flavour plus hoppy twang.

And if you want more... van de Streek's other alcohol-free beers: Fun House is a good NEIPA, Non-Bock a tasty bock, the grapefruit IPA good and fruity.

Other IPAs: there are good ones from Jopen, van Breugem ("Klein Zoentje"), Uiltje ("Superb Owl"), Waterland and Brand. The "Brand" is a great choice if you need genuine-zero in an IPA.

As ever - the big spreadsheet lists these and hundreds of others (or here's a PDF of it) from around Europe (124 at time of writing).