AWald88

Hi All

One of the brewerys here in Australia just released a new non-alcoholic beer which tastes exactly like one of our most popular beers (and one of my favourites). As you may know I have been struggling with the cravings as the heat builds back up, so today I went out and grabbed a few of these 0% beers.

Now I won't lie the first can I basically skulled. Undoubtedly in the uncontroled expectation of getting a buzz. Now of course being that there was no booze in it it did nothing. However once the initial supprise wore off I was able to relax and enjoy a supprisingly good drink. What's more the craving have vanished and have not comeback even though tonight/today would have otherwise been an ideal candidate to drink.

I am wondering if this could be in the long run a great fix in the same way methodone is meant to be for heroin addicts? It would allow for me to simultaneously continue to enjoy a ice cold beer after work, sate the cravings and slowly train my brain to deassociate beer with alcohol.

Have any of you had any experience with this approach? How did it turn out?

Dee74

There's a world of problems with your methadone analogy but I don't want to miss the real point here.

My experience is I don't drink NA beer not because of the alcohol or lack thereof but because it looked like beer, felt like a can of beer, it smelt like beer, it had that same condensation thing on the can like a beer, the same fizz and foam when you pop the can, tasted like beer (kinda)....

Then I'd wonder why I'd go out everytime and get 'real' beer.
I was still knee deep in old behaviours, and didn't even realise it.

As a former beer drinker I know it ticks all the boxes for me, and opens the door to old behaviour and old thought patterns and the desire for the buzz.

I don't recommend it.

The fact you skolled the first one would be a red light for me, and I hope at least a yellow light for you.

D

AWald88

Thanks for the response D.

The desire to skoll the beer definitely reinforced for me what would have happened if I had brought grog. I would have hit it hard...

But, that's kind of my point I crave beer often because I want to get drunk alone. However I can't deny as the heat rises from the low 90s to the 120s. The thought of being able to enjoy a cold beer is tempting and deeply ingrained in the way of life up here.

I know I'm probably trying to have my cake and eat it too. But I wonder if as addiction is partly learned behaviour of beer=alcohol. By having beer which contains no alcohol over time I'll subconsciously deassociate the two. If this works wouldn't the cravings lose their focus?

August252015

I too choose not to drink these beverages. Occasionally I will have a "Zero Proof" cocktail at one of our restaurants when dining. I never drank mixed cocktails so from that regard, no association for me. I am also known throughout the company as a leader of our recovery group for the F&B world (not the company itself, but founded by our owner) and it is a deliberate measure that he chooses to include these options in every restaurants menu and one that I support for anyone, not just alcoholics nor specifically for us.

Bluntly, anything that I associated with my drinking preferences and habits was just not something I did or do, once I stopped. We don't have wine glasses in the house, for example- why would we? Adding anything that could take me closer to a drink vs further away from one, which is one thing that guides my choices, emotional, literal, mental, is just a bad idea.

There is plenty to eat, drink and most importantly focus on than the what's and wherefores of this train of thought. You are already thinking about whether you are opening he door to drinking the real stuff. That's a sign to me that you know this is a bad idea and are bargaining around it.

FBL

I was almost exclusively a beer drinker. I drank beer to get drunk. Period. I never understood the appeal of "near" beer. Besides, it does contain a very small amount of alcohol, so that turns me off even more.

Dee74

Well I never drank for taste - I said I did but not really.

I drank from bottles I accidentally ashed in, butts and all - hard to play the connoisseur card there.

I just think there's a world of yummy and thirst quenching drinks out there that don't remind me of the alcohol I used to skol, and I enjoy those options immensely

I let the fear of change or of being seen as different dictate to me for too long.
I didn't put all all this effort to stay just a little bit chained up.

but...I can't tell you what to do, only provide some cautionary tales, AWald

D

Ken33xx

I never drank for the taste. I drank to get buzzed and/or flat out drunk.

But there was a time decades ago while in my early 20's and it was Friday and if I wasn't working.... I would go to the supermarket and buy a large can of coconut juice.

Then I would buy a pint of rum.

Mix the two and I was **good to go in a coupe of hours.

Loved the taste of that coconut drink.

Sometimes when the wife and I are at a nice restaurant and the drink menu has non-alcohol fruit drinks I will order one.

However, this is once in a blue moon and not something I often order.


** Well, maybe not always. One Friday afternoon after finishing the pint of rum and coconut I headed to a downtime bar to meet my friends when they finished work. I got there early and had a few drinks. Then I fell off the bar stool.

Next thing I know I am standing outside the bar getting arrested for public drunkenness. One of the officers at the police station went to high school with me and put in a good word.

So, I was given a citation which was equivalent to a warning and told to go straight home. Which I did not obey and went to another bar. I didn't get arrested again but my evening was just getting started.

I'll end by saying that was the night my landlord decided I had to go.

yinzer

I drank beer for the taste. Never found a good NA beer. That said, I did go through an NA beer phase many years ago. I didn’t change my habits; I just replaced the beer with non-alcoholic beer. I still went to bars, I still did the same old things I was doing. Then one day the bar didn’t have nonalcoholic beer. What did I do? Drank the real stuff and fell right back in the hole.

doggonecarl

So the temperatures climb and your first thought is enjoying a cold beer. That should tell you all you need to know. Don't re-enforce that by drinking NA beer.

Michael2018

I tried alcohol-free beers in the past. But I then went to 1% beers (can't get drunk on them, so surely OK, I thought), then 2% beers, and then soon back to 5% beer.

It didn't work for me.

AlwaysGrowing

So the goal is to see how close one can get to drinking again..... Sounds like plan of failure. Is there not something that just may taste better? Romancing the near beer is... well... one step closer to the real thing.

I'll pass and find a soda to drink.

nez

I absolutely loved beer. The cold sweaty container on a hot day. The taste. The carbonation. Popping open a new one. The head. Etc. etc.etc. The beverage of my dreams.

I tried the NA beer route because of my love for everything about beer. It always led me back to real beer, however it was no longer a dream beverage, by now it was a nightmare beverage.

I never thought I would ever find another beverage that could replace beer. The funny thing is that I no longer miss beer. No romancing the stone. It wasn't replaced by another beverage, it just isn't in my thoughts. It might occasionally pop into my head, but only for a nanosecond, probably less than 10 seconds a year, probably less than that even.

That freedom is irreplaceable.

Ihadmyfill

Non alcoholic beer is for NON Alcoholics!

Mango212

SoberCAH

I haven't walked down the no alcohol path since I've been sober.

No way, no how, ain't going to happen.

I liked the taste of beer, bourbon (mash and blended), vodka, gin, liqueurs, brandy, cognac, etc.

But I have made a decision to let go of those things because I wasn't happy with the results they yielded with me.

And I have given them up all the way and not held on to just a little memory or romancing for when I am lonely or tired.

They are the province of a better man (or woman) who can drink without the consequences that they resulted in when I drank them.

We get hot days here in the South, too, and my Perrier and San Pellegrino sparkling waters do just fine.

I don't need the reminder of how good some of these things tasted.

I choose to not have them in my life and I have been able to live without them pretty well for a while now.

nez

They can take the alcohol out of beer, but that does nothing to address the root cause of my problem, which is my thinking. It took work to address that issue.

ScottFromWI

Yup - that's about the size of things. I was purely a beer drinker and I also tried NA beer several times as an alternative, and every single time I was back to drinking regular beer in a matter of weeks usually.

Whatever we drank, its was for the alcohol - not the "flavor". Your addiction will tell you that over and over of course, but you will never "disassociate" the connection. Your addiction craves the alcohol, not the taste of the beer.

AWald88

Thanks for the responses everyone I appreciate the effort.

From all the responses if I have understood properly the question I should be asking myself is, is choosing a non-alcoholic beer just a way for me to get closer to drinking again.

I'll have to play this one by ear. I appreciate the warnings and will be vigilant as to where this is leading. I'll update this post every little while with my experiences.

STDragon

I had alot of fun exploring that world, kept me outta trouble.....

least

I can only speak for myself, but I drank to get drunk, not for the taste.