Non-Alcoholic Beer vs Kombucha vs Soft Drinks: What Is in the Can

Three cans often sit on the same shelf: a non-alcoholic craft beer, a kombucha and a cola. People tend to group them together as the drinks for anyone who is not drinking alcohol, but they are three different products, made in three different ways. Here is how they compare.

How each one is made

Non-alcoholic beer starts the way regular beer does. Malted grain is mashed, boiled with hops and fermented with yeast. Some producers then separate the alcohol out afterwards. SOMA is made differently: it is fermented with a maltose-negative yeast, which cannot eat maltose, the main sugar in wort (the sweet liquid that becomes beer). This keeps the alcohol under 0.5% ABV, and every batch is then pasteurised and lab-tested.

Kombucha is also fermented, but in a different way. Sweetened tea is fermented with a living culture of bacteria and yeast, known as a SCOBY, which eats the sugar and produces acids, bubbles and a small amount of alcohol as a by-product.

A soft drink is not fermented at all. It is made from water, sugar or sweetener, acid and flavouring, and its bubbles come from carbon dioxide added from a tank.

In short, non-alcoholic beer is brewed and fermented but kept under 0.5% ABV, kombucha is fermented on purpose and stays a fermented drink, and cola is mixed.

Trace alcohol

Many people are surprised to learn that trace alcohol is found in more than one drink on this shelf. Non-alcoholic beer states it on the label as under 0.5% ABV, which is the legal non-alcoholic threshold in India, the US and most of Europe. Kombucha usually contains trace alcohol too. Raw kombucha can sit in the same range, below 0.5%, and home-brewed or long-fermented kombucha can rise higher, which is why commercial producers manage fermentation carefully.

Some everyday foods are in this range as well. Very ripe bananas, some fruit juices and certain breads contain similar trace amounts of alcohol from natural fermentation. The difference is that a lab-tested non-alcoholic beer states its number. That makes its label the clearer one on this shelf, but it does not make it the more alcoholic drink.

Sugar: the biggest gap on the shelf

A 300ml cola has roughly 30g or more of added sugar, because sugar is central to the recipe. Kombucha varies widely between brands. Fermentation uses up some of the starting sugar, and what is left is usually anywhere from a few grams to more than 15g per bottle, so it is worth reading the label. SOMA has no added sugar at all, because its carbohydrates come from malted grain, not from syrup. A 500ml can of SOMA has an indicative 11 to 20g of carbohydrates, depending on the beer, and that is for a full half-litre.

Calories per serving

A 500ml can of SOMA has an indicative 63 calories (the Lager) to 99 calories (the Stout). A 300ml cola has around 120 to 140 calories. Kombucha usually has between 25 and 60 calories per bottle, depending on the brand. Note the serving sizes: the beer figures are for 500ml, which is two-thirds more than the 300ml cola.

Caffeine

Kombucha is made from tea, so it contains some caffeine, and colas have caffeine added as part of the recipe. Most non-alcoholic beer has no caffeine. The exception is a coffee stout such as SOMA's Dark Arts Espresso, which gets its caffeine from the cold-brew coffee it is brewed with. Its caffeine content will be declared on the can.

What each drink is for

A cola is a sweet drink. Kombucha is a tangy drink with live cultures, and it tastes closer to a sharp apple juice than to anything brewed from malt. Non-alcoholic beer is the only one of the three that is a beer. It pours with a head, tastes of malt and hops, goes well with dinner and suits any occasion where you would usually have a beer. The choice comes down to what you want to drink.

Four things to check on the label

First, check whether the drink is fermented or mixed, because fermented drinks develop their flavour during fermentation. Second, check the declared ABV and whether it is lab-tested. Third, check whether the carbohydrates come from added sugar or from grain. Fourth, check the calories for the serving you will drink. These four checks tell you what each drink on the shelf is.

SOMA was founded in Bangalore, India, and makes five non-alcoholic craft beers. They are fermented with a maltose-negative yeast, and every batch is pasteurised and lab-tested to confirm it is under 0.5% ABV. At launch, a 500ml can costs ₹149 and a 250ml can costs ₹99. SOMA has no added sugar and does not give you a hangover. Only one of the five contains caffeine. That is the coffee stout, Dark Arts Espresso, and its caffeine content will be declared on the can.