The Most Beer I’ve Ever Drank is After I Quit Alcohol
After I made my summary video of an alcohol-free year, I had some thoughts that did not fit the format. This article is about them:
Non-Alcoholic beer
Rising popularity of non-alcoholic drinks
Pint = half a Big Mac
One of the things I dislike about it is how people who drink alcohol feel threatened by my non-drinking. I get it. I was also bewildered when I realised that normal, healthy people can just choose not to do something.
I really liked the way Chris Williamson explained his experience (he also stopped drinking). To paraphrase his words: if you have friends who you need to drink alcohol with, in order to enjoy their company - then they are probably not your friends. To all my close friends, you are not the kind of company I don’t need to drink alcohol with to enjoy. Your company is even better for me without booze.
Is Non-Alcoholic Beer Any Good?
When it comes to non-alcoholic “alcohol”: beers, wines, spirits and the like; some of them actually taste unhealthy. From my quick look-up at NA Beer Club, it seems there are four different methods to create non-alcoholic drinks. I assume this is why it's a hit with some drinks, and miss with others.
Krombacher 0.0% tastes unhealthy, Lammsbräu 0.5% tastes good.
If you go to a bar and have a few non-alcoholic mocktails, you will most likely feel just as hungover (I did) because of all the sugar and crap they put inside them.
What I’ve found is that as a non-alcohol drinker, the closest you can get to the real thing is beer. The difference is anyway; only 5%. But when it comes to cheers-ing with your buddies and being part of the group, it’s the same.
The New Vegan
I remember first seeing alcohol-free beer years ago, perhaps a decade. Back then it didn’t taste good. Now, most of the brands I try taste good. My girlfriend told me she heard on the radio that non-alcoholic beer is becoming increasingly popular. I agree. It’s seldom in the last year that I’ve not been able to get a hold of a non-alcoholic alternative. At my birthday party alone, five people (including myself) were non-alcoholic alcohol drinkers. That’s 25% of everyone there.
Half the Calories
What’s tricky about alcohol is how many calories are present in what we drink. It comes in liquid form so it doesn’t seem like we’re consuming the equivalent to half a Big Mac with every pint.
What’s more is; if you’re a party drinker like I was (wow, that’s strange for me to use “was”) the more you drink, the bigger you get, the more you need to get drunk. It becomes a feedback loop. One beer won’t make a difference, but over the course of 10 years (How long have you been drinking for?), an unhealthy relationship to booze can become quite significant.
Non-alcoholic beer has half the calories of it’s alcoholic equivalent
No Side Effects
I find it interesting that even with non-alcoholic beer, I get the same stress relieving effects that I would from normal beer. You know, opening a beer after a hard day’s work to relax a bit. Except it’s all placebo but it works. Even better is that I can drink it any day of the week, because there is no hangover from it.
I find it strange that people would even pick the alcoholic beer when the non-alcoholic alternative tastes 95% the same. Give it a go and let me know if you can tell the difference.
