Johno1967

A couple of months ago I was in a city in the North of Australia that is a tourist hub. I was staying in a hotel and went down to the restaurant and ordered a brand of Ginger Beer that is very popular in Australia and my preferred beverage now that I don't consume alcohol. I was told it was not available and was offered a local brand instead. Thinking nothing of it I ordered 1 and had a couple more and then because I had to get up early I went to bed. I didn't like the taste.
Fast forward to today. I learn that the Ginger Beer I drank was in fact alcoholic at about 4%! I never knew this and was not given the bottle as it was poured into a glass. I thought all Ginger Beer was non-alcoholic. That really upset me because I assumed I was being sold a non-alcoholic beverage and had been sober for 8 months at the time.
Case in point, I'm going to try to pretend it never happened and will not consider it a relapse. I've a good mind to sue someone.
But it just goes to show how people assume if you are in a bar you want to drink and most people just don't suspect abstinence. Always check when you order something new.

Mountainmanbob

bigsombrero

Dang, that sucks. And you're right not to consider it a relapse - as long as you're being honest with yourself about the situation that's the main thing. Thanks for sharing though, because it brought to mind this dessert I had when I was traveling in Central America. It was given to me as part of a course-style meal, and I asked the woman if it had alcohol in it, she said no. But when I tasted the sauce, it kind of numbed my tongue, maybe like a sherry our liquor-style sauce would...and I got real freaked out on the walk home, thinking I might have just "drank" by accident. Turns out it was just some kind of cinnamon, and not alcohol, but you're right you have to be very vigilant. I used to have nightmares about accidentally drinking all the time in early recovery also, for some reason.

Dee74

I've never heard of alcoholic ginger beer but I know there's alcoholic lemonade...makes sense I 'spose.

There's a popular ginger beer here in Queensland called Bundaberg - it is brewed, in the sense that yeast is involved, but the alcohol is less than 0.2%

D

Johno1967

What gives me the sh*ts though is that I could have been going to the bar all day ordering Ginger Beers for me and my 9 year old Kid who loves the stuff.
Just lousy training on the part of the Bar Staff in this so called Tourist Trap called Broome. Duty of care.
(I'll ease up and let go now because I feel resentment coming on).

Johno1967

Someone showed me something interesting at work the other day.
If you eat bread and then after a minute blow into a breathalyser you will get pretty high numbers. Its caught out a number of people on site that have registered numbers and then after spending ten minutes claiming innocence have blown 0.000BAC.

Dee, I drink Bundarberg Ginger Beer and had no idea it has 0.02% alcohol. The label says lots of sugar but no alcohol. Does that mean I drink?

Dee74

It's not on the bottle...it's from the FAQ on the website the actual wording is 'less than 0.02%'...

I think I'd call that trace element level (and before someone posts...no I don't mean that literally lol...)

If you drink by consuming that, I have too Johnno...and my 12 yo nephew....

I've certainly never felt any different anyway.

D

aasharon90

If anything has the word beer on it,
I would definitely think it was beer.
To remain sober and honest in recovey
I have no place in a bar for sure and
whether it be a bar or grocery store,
anything beer, wine, hard alcohol is
all poison.

Pretty packages all wrapped up
ready to tempt, tease, intice, prey
upon the weak, cocky soul, unprepared,
unarmed with knowledge and useful
tools of a recovery program, cunning,
baffling, powerful poison to take it's
next victim.

I wear an armour of recovery each day
for protection against the addiction
monster lurking around many corners
of life to bring me down.

Johno1967

Thanks Dee. I decided long ago it was not the amount I drank but why I drank that made me an alcoholic.

My beef with the bar in Broome was that they served me alcohol when clearly I ordered a soft drink. Not the place to go if you have say a peanut allergy.

The Matso bottle from what I can see states on the label "Ginger Beer" not Alcoholic Ginger Beer. Effective labeling as it fooled me. The food standard here states beverages at or below 0.5 alcohol content may be sold as soft drinks. The Matso Ginger Beer looks like a soft drink and packs 4%.

Anyway I might cut down on the Bundy Ginger Beer as it seems to be putting inches around the waste.

Dee74

Me too - it's rare treat now

It's simply not intoxicating tho - I remember a few years back a thread here mentioning trace elements of alcohol were found in cola drinks...but you'd need to drink 10, 000 cans to get a hit.

I think it's a similar situation here

My only concern for anyone new to recovery is the Bundaberg stuff comes in a glass stubby - it may be a trigger that way....

D

Dee74

even root beer sharon?

D

Johno1967

What about Ginger Ale? Root Beer? Sergeant Pepper?
Unfortunately we can't all lock ourselves into monasteries or escape into the wild. Occasionally we have to go into places where alcohol is being served if we happen to know other people and retain some form of relationship.
Alcohol is a simple hydrocarbon chain, nothing evil about it. Certainly it causes havoc through misuse and abuse. I don't trust my own inner demons but I think I have them under close enough guard that I wouldn't have a demonic possession episode if I walked into an ethanol factory. It's my residual faults and character defects that concern me more than residual alcohol.

StevenT

I think I'd like to agree with the intent part being very important. The reason I drank was to feel the effects, simply. Today I enjoy a soft drink made by virgils soda company which has sugar alcohol in it. Once this metabolizes in the stomache it becomes the same as alcohol. In reality the amount contained is negligent.

For me it would be the effect that it had on me that would term it as a relapse. For the definition of relapse is the resurgence of a disease after a period of improvement. If I went from being ok being sober, drank a virgils and suddenly craved the feeling as I used to, it doesn't matter whether or not I got drunk or even buzzed, as my disease would be kicking back in. Even if I didn't intend it to.

As far as being careful is concerned, well, I have my opinion there, but I choose to keep it to myself here. Whatever works for you is what you should do. I've heard the saying in the rooms of AA "Your way of working the program is great for you, but it would get me drunk." I had to figure out what works for me and go for it

Johno1967

Oh well at least this alcoholic ginger beer I drunk in error was gluten free.

That's it I'm only drinking this high in preservative and big on artificial colors kids pop top drinks you get in colorful wrapping with Disney Pixar characters on the label. No chance of alcohol in that lot! (When not drinking water).

karate

Don't sweat it , -IMO

longbeachone

Everyone is in agreement, it doesn't affect your sobriety date. There is alcohol in lots of things. Vanilla, or any other flavoring used in dessert prep is almost 75% alcohol. Non alcoholic beer has some alcohol. If you eat out, many dishes contain alcohol, used in cooking, and its not all burned off by the heat. It's all about intent.