melonhead

I drink one or of these on occasion and I wonder why it is considered a bad idea. What did I miss?

Pick-a-name

There have been a lot of posts about this topic: here and on the "alcoholism" site.

Basically: NO; is the bottom line!

There IS some alcohol in it (and for some people it really is enough to start the craving back up...just like mouthwash,etc can). For others it just is a way to "cut back" without quitting. My AH tried this...did not last more than a day; then tried every opther,etc...all kinds of "combinations" (that I did not really pay attention to) but in the end....he didn't like it.

Of course he did not like it....he is an alcoholic. He does not drink it for the taste (no matter how he tried to tell himself) he drinks it for the EFFECT. It did not "work".

Try the "search" feature and you can pull up some of the old threads...there was one on the "Alcoholism" (maybe AA,too) sites a few months ago that had pages and pages of postings.

Let us know what you think!

melonhead

So, if I'm not an alcoholic its ok if I drink one? Its less calories than the soda I really want. Which one of the smiles is used for [crazy]?

Pick-a-name

If you are not alcoholic, I would assume that it is not a problem for you to have one or two of a REAL beer now and again, if you want one....

Without a problem, should be a non-issue;JMHO.

I am a water (black coffee/tea gal,myself)..so I don't worry about the calories in any of them.

michski

Most people won't agree with me but I personally know lots of alcoholics who switched to near beer and didn't then go on to drinking the real thing. Then again I know a woman who spent all day carefully removing the caps of near beer, pouring it out and replacing it with real beer and recapping it just so her husband would think she was still on the wagon.

You've got to think about your motives.. honestly!

I drank near beer when I went out to dinner with friends or did anything socially where people were drinking. It took the pressure off and made me feel less conspicuous and part of the party.. but I was already sober quite a few months by that time. My favorite drink was mineral water with a lot of fresh sqeezed (is that sqooze? weird word!) lime. It was delicious, non fattening and with enough lime in it it tasted and looked like a cocktail. Extremely refreshing when it's hotter than the hinges of hell outside!!!

Kellye C

Hi Melonhead. I guess I'm confused (or crazy LOL!) but if you're not an alcoholic then why would you question whether or not you can drink anything? I am an alcoholic so maybe I'm looking at this from a skewed perspective. I'm not trying to be offensive, I am truly just confused by the question.

Anyway, I'll give you my experience with NA beer and my ex-AH. At this point in time when this happened I was not yet an alcoholic (that came afterwards) but was married to someone who was and would become very verbally abusive and just plain mean when he drank (which was every day). I being a codi first and foremost would tolerate as much of his crap as I could stomach until he did something so outrageous or something to my kids and I would snap. A huge fight would ensue, followed by the silent treatment (I was famous for this) and his declarations that he would change. The miller lites were replaced with o'douls NA beer and the misery would start. Being an alcoholic who also happened to LIKE the taste of beer (yuk!) he would drink this stuff but wouldn't catch his buzz so he'd get frustrated, snappish and meaner each day. Eventually he'd say he just wanted ONE beer. Then he'd go buy the biggest ONE beer he could find. Then it was just on the weekends. And the beat goes on. The NA beer served no purpose except to shut me up for a while and make us all miserable. The day came when I had enough and just didn't give a dang anymore what he drank or how much. By then I had decided if you can't beat em join em and I was outdrinking him. I was also plotting how to get away from him because this marriage was a trainwreck from day one. I left shortly after our 1 year anniversay (yeah, that was all I could stomach) and moved from Louisiana back to Texas and brought with me a 1/2 pint a night habit because "I couldn't sleep." 4 months of daily phone calls, begging, pleading, crying etc and I stupidly believed he had changed and he moved here. Same ol story different state and 4 more months of hell. NA beer once again became the mechanism to shut me up because even though I got drunk every night I passed out and wasn't violent like he was so I was still trying to control his drinking (how sick is that?)

Anyway, sorry for all that, but I imagine that non-alcholics who actually like the taste of beer perhaps enjoy the near beers. I truly don't know. I hate beer and in no way could understand why in the world anybody would drink them.

Ok, I'm going to shut up now. I've been off for a while and suffering SR withdrawals and this question just baffled me LOL!

Hugs,
Kellye

Carol87

I also wondered why you raised the question! I'm also an alcoholic and very very early in recovery 'experimented' with the so-called non-alcoholic wine, in my case. There is NO such thing as non-alcoholic. As has already been posted, there is just enough to whet the cravings. I was literally one grab away from getting the real thing. Scary and needless to say, I stopped buying it. I suppose there are some who would feel I should probably change my sobriety date ...

mallowcup

About ten years ago there was this obnoxious Respitory therapist who worked nights. He was single and prided himself on having a member mug at the local watering hole. He seemed to be quite a ladies man. I didn't get it, he wasn't remotely attractive. Well anyway, I had covered this guys butt over and over. One night he actually slept through a code. That was it for me. I reported his sorry butt! He apparently didn't get it because he went on to thinkit was funny to walk around the hospital at night with a NA beer in his hand. Read the label idiot! It has a percentage of alcohol in it. Cool guy got fired. Some people like the taste of beer so I suppose it is a great substitute for the real beer but not at work. I hate the taste of beer. I once bought these cigarettes that helped you quit. Quest. They were great. You bought the packs in color coded packs so that each week you took less and less nicotine until finally you smoked cigs with absolutely no nicotine in them. Great. It did occur to me that I was paying 6 bucks for cigs that had nothing in them. duh.

denny57

I think this can also lead to the debate on whether someone who is able to drink near-beer or wine is alcoholic or someone who abused alcohol.

Pick's suggestion to search the forums is a good one - it's been debated to death.

melonhead

I quit drinking altogether as a response to my husband's drinking. I drank more than I should have when we were together, but its not an issue for me now that I'm in my own place. I have had an occasional glass of wine, and it doesn't trigger me to want more.

I guess I could have regular beer, but I like the NA as well, so that's what I bought. It doesn't trigger a desire for the real beer, or 5 or 6 more NAs either. I suspect maybe I am over thinking it or under thinking it.

You could say I'm still a mess, upstairs, and I couldn't argue with you. Thanks for your frank answers.

2dayzmuse

There has been a couple of occasions over the years where I ordered a N/A beer to have a drink with family or friends. It did not lead me to crave real beer, nor do I crave N/A beer. I've come to the conclusion it is not for me. However, I do believe it is all in the motive as to why you drink it in the first place.