“If it looks like a beer, and tastes like a beer, it must be a beer”

“If it looks like a beer, smells like a beer and tastes like a beer, then it’s a beer” is an old saying that may need revising. If it doesn’t contain alcohol, is it a beer? If it’s without malted barley (gluten-free), is it a beer?
 
“If it looks like a beer, tastes like a beer and makes you belch like a beer, its a beer” was cited in print in 1996. “If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck” started the now-familiar sentence structure in the 1940s.
     
 
Google Groups: alt.beer
Best beers are from Germany !!!!!!!!
brewlawz
5/1/96
Some guy wrote: (hey, its gone from the thread an I don’t remember)
> > Guiness is not a beer nor a lager.
 
If it looks like a beer, tastes like a beer and makes you belch like a beer, its a beer.
 
I think I’ll go nail back a sixer of Geese.
 
-Dan (Lookin for a new thread: “Guiness: A Beer or not a beer?”)
 
Twitter
Alissa Giarratana
‏@a_liss_a
@halia duck type it!  If it looks like a beer and tastes like a beer then it’s a beer.
2:14 AM - 20 Nov 2009
 
Twitter
Nick Thayer
‏@NickThayer
@Bleekster if it looks like a beer, smells like a beer and tastes like a beer… #tiestoglowstickcontroversy
6:11 AM - 11 Apr 2010
   
Definition Ale
Friday, November 16th, 2012 at 9:00 am
Gluten Free Beer Can’t Technically be Called “Beer”… Or Can It?..
If it looks like a beer, smells like a beer, and tastes like a beer, well it must be beer! Not necessarily the case. And on two fronts. Beer is the most recent consumable product that is starting to see significant attention by the gluten intolerant community. The problem with the term “gluten-free beer” is that in order to make it you cannot use malted barley – which is loaded with gluten. But if you aren’t using some form of malted barley then the beverage technically cannot be called beer. At least not in Canada. Not right now. I think the real problem though lies beyond these bureaucratic rules and regulations and in the fact that very few beers that are made without barley in order to be gluten free don’t actually taste like beer. They may look like beer, and sometimes smell like beer, but no, they don’t taste like beer. And that is where the market has some room to grow; creating gluten-free, or gluten-reduced beers that are actually beer.
 
Twitter
Supes
‏@web_supergirl
if it looks like a beer
acts like a beer
tastes like a beer
then it’s probably a 24 pack
9:04 PM - 20 May 2013
   
Burlington (VT) Free Press
Jeff Baker on the blurred lines in beer brewing
JEFF BAKER 12:58 p.m. EST January 22, 2015
How does the old adage go? “If it looks like a beer, and drinks like a beer, it must be a beer?” Recently I’ve started questioning this as I see more beers that are brewed with wine grapes, tea, rice and apples. There’s a trend in the beer world to blur the lines between beer and other alcoholic beverage categories such as wine, kombucha, sake and cider.