Hi there. My partner is a homebrewer, and although I am not as passionate about brewing beer as he is, we will occasionally brew a beer together. It is not a "throw this kit in a carboy and mix" kind of process; rather, it is an elaborate and very interesting journey (yes, journey!) of selecting your style, and then calculating all the parameters needed to achieve that style, including grains, hops, yeast, water chemistry, temperature and length of time to boil, when to add the ingredients... not to mention sanitizing everything all the time and making sure nothing becomes contaminated. As my partner would say, you could get lost chasing the details. Similar to you, he enjoys beer for the sake of beer, and not for purposes of drinking alcohol for the buzz or to get drunk. That being said, he has explained to me that is is very difficult to go lower than 3 or 4% and still retain all the qualities that make beer taste good. Lower or no alcohol beer will be very watery and, therefore, to go lower is compromising the quality. I promise you, there are options, you just have to search for them. Look for saisons and table beers - good quality ones. Talk to the Brewnosers (you can post to their online forum) or local beer gurus (Stillwells is an excellent start). I wish you luck on your quest for a low/no-alcohol, delicious beer!
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