As sales of booze-free drinks surge, we tested Guinness and Guinness 0 to see if our tasters could tell them apart

• Sign up for the Filter US newsletter, your weekly guide to buying fewer, better things

The biggest beer brands in the US are all launching non-alcoholic alternatives to its brews, including Sam Adams’s Just the Haze IPA and Budweiser’s Zero. In her guide to the best non-alcoholic beers, craft beer expert Beth Demmon named one booze-free riff the “best mainstream” pick: Guinness’s iconic Irish stout.

“If 100 people were blindfolded and taste-tested the original Guinness next to Guinness 0, the majority of them wouldn’t be able to tell the difference,” she wrote.

Overall score: 3.4

Flavor score: 3.6

Aftertaste: 3.5