You don't use beer in your batter?
No, Suzi, the baking soda and the egg white are analogous to the beer. It comes out very crispy. I like beer batters too, though, very much.
However, when Jeanne and I were first married, I remember buying these very large shrimp and boiling 'em in beer - now that was great! 'Course, that was before I figured out that I'm allergic to crustaceans. Shrimp ain't kosher anyway ;-)