Istak Lemon Alcohol-free Beer
Istak Alcohol-free lemon beer is my first non-alcoholic drink from Iran. It came to my attention whilst dining in a Turkish restaurant.
Istak the company behind this drink is Iran’s largest brewery and has, since 2005, been producing non-alcoholic malt beverages. They have recently collaborated with German beer company Krones which has enabled substantially more production and now offer 15 different flavours of which this lemon drink is one of them.
Istak uses classic ingredients to make these non-alcoholic beers and when it comes to the lemon beer you can expect malt extract, hops extract and a tart lemon flavour.
So, the question is, is Istak’s beer one perfect with Turkish cuisine or one fit for the sink? Well, you’ll just need to read below to find out.
Is Istak non-alcoholic beer any good?
Taste
As a malt drink this was pretty tasty and had similarities to a traditional lemonade shandy. There certainly were background malt flavours and a refreshingly sharp lemon cut-through. My only gripe would be that it was a bit too sweet and could have done with more hop flavours to balance it out.
Aroma & Appearance
You certainly get wafts of malty notes entering the nose when you pop the top of this bottle. In the glass it has a cloudy amber look with a low frothy head.
Bonus points
It is difficult to find out a huge amount of info on this drink and actually quite a tricky drink to find if you are looking to purchase it.
Key information
– per 330ml
Type – Lemon malt drink
Brewery – Istak
Country – Iran
Alcohol content – 0%
Calories – unknown
Ingredients – malt extract, hops extract, concentrated apple, lemon flavour, ascorbic acid, citric acid, soda water
Vegan friendly? – unknown
Gluten-free? – unknown
Availability UK/ EU – hard
Availability US/ CAN – hard
“Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.”
-Seneca, AD 50 BC
