O'Doul's - Anheuser-Busch

dewalt

New York

2.1/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Smells strongly of stale grain and rice, like a box of breakfast cereal. It pours to a large, frothy, slightly dingy head, which dissipates quickly. And the taste of the stuff is watery and dull, with only a hint of grain flavor.

That said, I've had worse. O'Doul's is not a complete disaster -- I would never drink it voluntarily, but it compares favorably to some mass-market light-beers and macro lagers.

Serving type: bottle

06-29-2008 00:08:39 | More by dewalt

Rhynes2

Ohio

2.1/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 2 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

I'm not really ready to admit that this is a beer. Taste is completely below average and doesn't have any special characteristics. Very bland. Little head that dissipates quickly and a sub-par smell. Color is pale and mostly unattractive. Stay away from this one. As far as flavor is concerned, this ones a no go.

Serving type: can

01-27-2009 15:33:51 | More by Rhynes2

TMoney2591

Illinois

2.1/5  rDev -1.4%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Served in a Lagunitas mason jar.

I reiterate: Who needs alcohol, anyway? Answer from earlier: everybody... Anyway, this stuff pours a clear pale straw topped by a finger of short-lived lightly off-white foam. The nose comprises mineral water and dusty grain. The taste brings in some fruity funk for the sake of it, but that just makes things a touch less palatable, frankly. The body is pretty light, with a light moderate carbonation and a watery feel. Overall, if you want such a non-alcoholic option for a beverage, just drink water or soda or something. It's just not worth it to opt for this shit just for the sake of saying you drank something that sorta/kinda had the vague appearance of "beer".

Serving type: bottle

01-04-2013 23:51:03 | More by TMoney2591

clayrock81

Virginia

2.13/5  rDev 0%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 1

I drank this once before I was 21 when a friend of mine was stealing a beer from different 6-packs from his work. For some reason, he grabbed a couple of these and I haven't seen since the other night when I went to drink at my "recovering" alcoholic sister-in-law's house.
clear, yellowish body that has no smell really. Taste is light and airy, a tad sweetness is overpowered by barley and water. This stuff doesn't dry out the mouth, which is good. Then again, that's because there is nothing in here except water and barley. I will take a soda anyday, but I guess I can see why people trying to quit alcohol but still like a cold "beer" here and there will spend money on it.

Serving type: bottle

02-12-2008 20:15:04 | More by clayrock81

happygnome

Minnesota

2.15/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

a:straw yellow color with eigth inch of white head that dissapears fast and leaves very little lace
s: corn and adjunct malts not really any hop presence
t: really sweet kinda funky, no real detectable flavors
m: light bodied beer with average amount of carbonation

overall, i couldnt see drinking another of these, i thought i would try it though since my buddy offered

Serving type: bottle

08-08-2007 01:02:53 | More by happygnome

ansurdu

Michigan

2.15/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

appearance - clear, yellow, the usual. had tons of head when I first poured it so I got my hopes up. Was gone almost immediately. Left a little lacing

smell - had a weird metallic quality to it. Smelled a bit of malt, maybe.

taste - Bland, but you can taste the malt...kind of...

mouthfeel - watery. At first there was too much carbonation. Halfway through it's almost gone.

Drinkability? I mean, it's not the worst thing ever, but there isn't much of a use for it. Although, I would put this on par with most bmc's. Slightly more drinkable even.

Serving type: can

08-18-2009 19:57:34 | More by ansurdu

aasher

Indiana

2.15/5  rDev +0.9%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 3 | overall: 2

My uncle is undergoing chemotherapy so he can't consume alcohol without getting sick, so we got him some O'Douls in the meantime. It looks just like ginger ale. It's the brightest of yellows with no head but insanely carbonated and bubbly. It doesn't smell too horrible. It's definitely bready with the lightest hoppiness. Other than that it's flat with little else going on. The taste is almost nonexistent but does have slight breadiness in the after taste. It drinks very light and very fresh and crisp. This is drinkable only if you can't go for the real thing.

Serving type: bottle

10-11-2010 19:56:51 | More by aasher

AtLagerHeads

Ohio

2.17/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

Not a bad effort for a non-acoholic beer. Of course there is some acohol, but not much. Certainly not enough to add any flavor or body overtone. The appearance is not that bad, nor is the malty nose. The flavor is actually BTB, but not by much. An OK offering if you've got to have beer, but can't have the alcohol. But in all honesty, what's the point?

Serving type: bottle

04-14-2003 16:19:36 | More by AtLagerHeads

mschofield

Massachusetts

2.17/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

So I think, I've never had a non-alcoholic beer, why not..
This actually did pour a respectable color, amber with a white kind of rocky white head. Appearance wise this is far better than most AB products.
Sulfur in the aroma, malty-sweet.
Malty-sweet taste is way too sweet, but does have a beer character. Very light feel, just a touch bitter. Not horrible, I could deal with drinking it. Would work well for a macro drinker. This does come across as beer, more so than say Miller Lite, or Michelob Ultra.
I prefer Goya's Malta soft drink, it's not brewed but made from malt and hops, they just don't add the yeast.

Serving type: bottle

01-12-2004 22:43:20 | More by mschofield

Beerandraiderfan

Nevada

2.17/5  rDev +1.9%
look: 1.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Yellow beer. No head, but loads of carbonation. Aroma was sweet, corn, like Iowa, but worse. I might even discern a light hoppiness.

Taste is like bmc, but worse, I dunno where that light hoppiness went in the nose, but it ain't on the tongue, although some residual metallic bitterness is. I can't rate this 'to style', I don't like the style, and the style it is denatured from is a crappy one to boot, so you're getting like a xerox of a crappy xerox (to borrow from duplicity essentially, or was it the Simpsons?). Its not awful, but it doesn't blow me away either. Light body, no alcohol or hops. . . really, what rating could you expect from this?

Only relative value for this, is clearly if you want a real beer, but for whatever reason (legal, emotional, responsible) you can't.

My dad used to have loads of this crap and Sharps. At .99 cent in the singles pile, figured this would be a good weekday beer. Boy was I wrong, it just left me all pissed off afterwards.

Serving type: can

05-09-2011 22:35:59 | More by Beerandraiderfan

soju6

Missouri

2.18/5  rDev +2.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

A: Pours a pale yellow color with a small head that fades quickly.

S: mild aroma of malt sweetness and grainy.

T: Taste is similar to the aroma. Mild sweetness and grain. No real bitterness and a slight aftertaste.

F: Light body, crisp and a bit refreshing. Not much else.

O: Could have been worse, decent beverage for "Duty Driver".

Serving type: bottle

05-07-2012 23:16:02 | More by soju6

Thorpe429

Illinois

2.2/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

Pours a very light color with a not bad white head. The smell is somewhat earthy, but not in a good way--more in the way of an old basement. The flavor isn't really off in any particular way--perhaps a little bit of cardboard--but in reality there just isn't much there. Mouthfeel is light with quite a bit of carbonation. Drinkability is similar to seltzer water--just not much about it that would keep me drinking more, but nothing too horrible either.

Serving type: bottle

10-04-2009 18:16:24 | More by Thorpe429

Beastdog75

New Jersey

2.2/5  rDev +3.3%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2

The name O'Doul's has almost become synonymous with non-alcoholic beer. It's like when one wants to order a cola, they simply order a "Coke" regardless of the brand. I've heard people say "gimmie an O'Doul's" whether or not this brew is available. As a non-alcoholic beer, I suppose O'Douls accomplishes its job adequately: it tastes like a mass-produced lager. Is it good though?

O'Doul's pours a translucent golden yellow with a finger and a half of foam, which thins out a little but overall lasts for about 2 to 3 minutes. Aroma is somewhat skunky, perhaps due to the green bottle. Skunk aroma is mixed adjuncty grains and straw-like scents. On the palette, the beer feels like a standard macro-lager with a high-moderate amount of carbonation. As mentioned, it does taste like beer. The flavor is grainy with some wet paper flavors. There is an extremely light hop flavor, but make no mistake there really isn't any hop "zing" to this. The aftertaste is seltzer-y with some lingering graininess, and of course a beer like this finishes with no alcoholic warmth.

I asked before: is it good? My answer: not really. While it tastes like beer, that's because it SHOULD. After all why try marketing a beer substitute if it isn't going to resemble the real thing. O'Douls might compare to a light beer in flavor, but even then it's pretty weak. Better than the low carb beers for sure, but I have to believe there is better non/low alcohol beers out there than this.

Serving type: bottle

08-10-2010 02:57:32 | More by Beastdog75

BlackHaddock

United Kingdom (England)

2.23/5  rDev +4.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

Note to myself: Make sure you have your glasses with you when buying new beers!

I was in Ruby's Inn genreal store after a days hiking in Bryce Canyon picking up some stuff for the evening and grabbed this beer along with a few others, my mistake.

Green 12 oz bottle, poured into two plastic toothbrush holders from our motel room.

To be fair the beer had a lovely foaming head of snow white bubbles. The body was a typical lager clean looking golden straw colour.

That is about the best I can say about the brew, it got steadily worse as the tasting progressed.

I wasn't impressed at all, apart from its initial looks.

Serving type: bottle

06-05-2010 04:36:37 | More by BlackHaddock

scarletfire79

New Hampshire

2.25/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2

so i'm giving up beer for lent and figured i'd give a NA a try. i've never had an urge to try one of these brews but i figured what the hell. it looks like a regular macro lager and it actually smells better than most. as far as ab products go this one is definitly one of their better smelling. definite hop aroma and no skunk. the taste is similar to a regular macro lager but it almost seems seltzer like to me. i think it actually tastes like seltzer and beer mixed together with alcohol removed. not horrible but not great...i'll give some other NA's a try and see how this compares, but for right now i guess it'll suffice

Serving type: can

02-23-2007 04:50:52 | More by scarletfire79

Hunter

Arizona

2.25/5  rDev +5.6%
look: 3 | smell: 2 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 3

Yellow brew with reasonable carbonation. Absolutely no smell to it, and taste to match. Reminds me rather of club soda, with a slight beer flavor added. Some notes of hay and hops but otherwise utterly bland.

Having gotten the bad out of the way, I'll say that it serves in what it is designed to do - satisfy a taste for beer when it's inappropriate to be drinking alcohol. It's certainly no worse than the domestic macrobrews that so many swear by (i.e. Budweiser, MGD, etc.) I'll buy it again when I need to keep my wits about me.

Serving type: bottle

04-23-2010 23:46:07 | More by Hunter

Proteus93

Virginia

2.28/5  rDev +7%
look: 3 | smell: 1.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

This is how I am marking the #500 milestone in reviews :P The opportunity to try a bottle was there, and I figured it was as good a time as any to give it a shot!

A: Pale yellow, though not as light as some others I have come across. It almost looks like it might have some colouring added, as it doesn't seem all that natural in a strange way. A notable finger-high head resting on top with a reasonable retention and an actual trimming of lace that was unexpected.

S: Quite a strong aroma, considering. Quite vegetal, with a fairly notable scent of corn husks and a grain scent - a smell that always reminds me of big bags of puffed wheat or ricecakes. Not really an aroma I have a whole lot of love for, honestly.

T: A very notable rice flavouring - again, very much like ricecakes. Fortunately, I enjoy those, so that's not too offensive. There's a soft, sweet taste to it, which makes it alright. It's not something I can't tolerate, and it's not devoid of flavour which I think, in some cases, is the greater crime.

M + D: It could ease up on the carbonation a little, though it does have a fairly decent density in the body - only in beer do I ever like my bodies 'dense.' It's a reasonable shot, though the rice aromas and flavours seem to be a bit of a move in the wrong direction when trying to reproduce the 'flavours of beer' without the alcohol content. Drinking something that hopes to reproduce such a flavour when not wanting alcohol always seems like a rather unusual idea, too, but that's just me. It was ultimately drinkable, and I wouldn't pour it down the toilet by any means. I just don't see myself going after it again any time soon.

Serving type: bottle

10-30-2008 01:19:20 | More by Proteus93

TheKingofWichita

North Carolina

2.28/5  rDev +7%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 5

Pours a nasty looking piss straw yellow with a white head and lacing that isn't present. Smells like grain and a little corn. Tastes weak with a little corn and some grain. Mouthfeel is really super than and leaves much to be desired. Drinkability is high because it has like no alcohol.

Serving type: bottle

10-28-2010 19:46:20 | More by TheKingofWichita

BeerLover99

New Jersey

2.28/5  rDev +7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2

A: pale yellow, more clear, trace head, almost no lacing

S: hops, grain, tricking my nose into thinking its 'real' beer.

T: light grain up front, watery body, not sweet, nor bitter.

M: light body, dry finish

D: Not bad, but the alcohol is clearly the missing flavor ingredient. If one wants to drink beer, but avoid the buzz; just pass on beer. It's not worth the sad calories.

Just above drinking water/liquid bread.

Serving type: bottle

03-14-2011 19:36:45 | More by BeerLover99

evlu1441

Alberta (Canada)

2.28/5  rDev +7%
look: 3 | smell: 1 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 3 | overall: 2.5

I haven't ever had a "low-alcohol beer" before, but this one was sitting in the singles bin at my local store. I figured it might be nice to find a good beer to enjoy without getting drunk.

Looks like a normal lager. Very pale with a huge head that quickly settles down into nothing.

There is literally almost no aroma. Only a slight metallic and faintly sweet smell, but it takes some concentration to discern.

The taste is kind of boring, but I wasn't expecting anything too exciting. It is a little malty and sweet, but also kind of watery. Not terrible, and kind of refreshing.

Overall... I didn't really like this beer, but it isn't a complete turn-off to the world of alcohol-free beer.

Serving type: can

06-10-2011 04:10:04 | More by evlu1441

output01x

Ohio

2.28/5  rDev +7%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 2

Poured from a 12 oz. capped bottle (no date) into a snifter glass.

A moderate pour yields a 2-finger off-white head of large, energetic, soap-like bubbles that quickly dies down after about 1 minute to a nearly nonexistent dusting and thin foam ring. The body is a perfectly clear pale amber yellow with a good amount of large, fast-rising carbonation bubbles. Very little lacing can be seen clinging to the sides of the glass throughout consumption.

Light, grainy, and slightly sweet malt aromas comprise the entirety of the rather weak nose. A corn adjunct aroma gives this beer a nose very similar to a mass-produced American Adjunct Lager. A slight note of overly ripe green grapes can also be detected.

The taste truly follows the nose. Light, grainy, and sweet up front, the corn malt slides smoothly over the tongue. This beer tastes like a watered down Light American Adjunct Lager. A slight mineral quality is also noticeable.

Light bodied with good carbonation, this beer is as drinkable as seltzer water. The body has the consistency of Lipton Iced Tea. The carbonation is a good bit prickly when the beer is held in the mouth. After the beer is swallowed, a slight dryness comes out during the aftertaste.

Serving type: bottle

10-18-2011 07:26:26 | More by output01x

Suds

Pennsylvania

2.3/5  rDev +8%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 2.5

As the designated driver at a wedding, after a few Saranacs, I switched to NA beer for the evening. I’ve had O’Douls in the past, but this was the first time I’d had it in years. It’s yellow, very clear, and presents a moderate white head. The aroma reminds me of cereal grains and seltzer water. There’s not a lot of flavor, but it tastes similar to an average macro. I’m not a soda drinker, and I wouldn’t mind having this again, if I didn’t have a choice.

Serving type: bottle

06-27-2004 20:44:59 | More by Suds

psugrad98

Pennsylvania

2.33/5  rDev +9.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

Light straw with slight head and lace. Slight sweet aroma with dextrin cooked grain nose. Light and slightly fizzy. Somewhat skunky taste, like beer that hasn't had enough time to ferment (duh, its a NA). Finishes slightly cabbagy. Still, not bad for a NA.

Serving type: bottle

11-01-2002 12:05:51 | More by psugrad98

justintcoons

Pennsylvania

2.33/5  rDev +9.4%
look: 2 | smell: 2.5 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 2.5

Poured into a shaker pint.

Appearance
Pale straw with 2 fingers of fizzy head. Excellent clarity and low carbonation.

Nose
Water with a splash of apple juice and maybe a cereal grain or two.

Taste
I can barely taste anything. It's basically seltzer water with the tiniest hint of grain and a drop of apple juice.

Mouthfeel
Light bodied with stinging carbonation.

Overall
It's not really offensive, but at this point you might as well drink a Soda. Not bad for the style though.

Serving type: can

11-20-2012 23:48:43 | More by justintcoons

yen157

New Jersey

2.35/5  rDev +10.3%
look: 1 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 2 | feel: 2 | overall: 2.5

This may be the ugliest beer I've ever come across. It was so pale yellow, it almost looked a bit gray. Very strange. That aside, it had a thin, grainy aroma and a touch of floral hops. I was really impressed because AB gave their NA beer a hop aroma that their regular beers lack. The beer had a macro, super-carbonation, thin mouthfeel. It had only a very faint malt tase. The other flavor / aroma struck me as odd. It could only be percieved by retronasally. It was a very faint, soft fruit. It reminded me of Diet Snapple Peach Iced Tea. Very strange.

Serving type: bottle

11-10-2002 07:26:03 | More by yen157