patman

How do you guys feel about the use of non-alcoholic beers to "keep the hands busy" or help get through cravings? Does anyone drink these things or are they a little to close to the line to drink them without triggering relapse?

suki44883

This question comes up often around here. It's been argued to death. Most here seem to think it's a little too close to romancing the real thing. Others drink NA without any problems. It's all a matter of choice and depends on the individual person.

LaFemme

I think it depends a little what you drank when you were drinking...I was a wine drinker so the NA wines 1) don't do it for me, and 2) are a little to close to what I used to poison myself with.

However, I enjoy mocktails quite a bit.

Last note...most NA beers have alcohol in them.

patman

I had never really thought about it but I guess the presence of alcohol, even in trace amounts, could be problematic. The thing with me is that I don't like soft drinks (which is probably a good thing) and sometimes water just doesn't cut it. I'm not really looking to push the envelope right now though. I just thought I'd see what you guys thought.

LaFemme

How about Arnold Palmers? They are good:-)

patman

What are they??

LaFemme

Half iced tea, half lemonade... I grew up on them, but we called it a half & half. Apparently the golfer Arnold Palmer liked them so much they named it after him.

TexasNative

Too close to the real deal for me...and it's as expensive or in some cases more expensive as the real deal. I like to drink La Croix, which is just carbonated water with natural lemon flavor...and a 12 pack (hate to even say that!) is only 'bout 4 bucks.

DayTrader

^^^^ iced tea / lemonade.

NA beer gets some occasional debate around here. I don't know what the split is but I'm pretty firmly on the "drink the real stuff" if you're going to drink NA beer. I know me, I'd probably be trying to pound down 40 of em in no time. To me, it's playing with fire but to each his/her own. Many don't use mouthwash or anything that has any alcohol in it... I use Listerine all the time with no impunity.

Search your heart......you already know if it's ok for you or not.

soberbythesea

Right now, I prefer not to drink anything that resembles alcohol that much. So NA beer, wine, or anything like that would be a no-no for me at this time.

One exception is virgin fruity drinks (like a virgin strawberry daiquiri)... those are ok for me. They don't trigger cravings for the "real thing", since I never drank the alcoholic versions. I was a wine drinker primarily.

RobertHugh

My understanding is that most NA beers and wines have alcohol in them. So if you have a few, you might be having the equivalent of a half a "real" beer. Is that enough to set things in motion? I know a guy who was drinking a case of NA beers. Cause he "liked the taste."

Putting that to the side, I think I'd need to look at my motives for drinking something that tastes the same as the thing that kicked my ass.

I'm a big fan of tonic water and lime (I was never an alcohol and tonic drinker). Tomato juice is a nice change (and actually healthy). Poland spring makes some nice flavored bottled waters.

TravelinMan

I was in the local Publix Supermarket today and noticed there were at least 6 different brands of NA beer, foreign like Beck,St Pauli,Buckner,Clausthauer and domestics O'Douls,Coors.

There are some giant companies in that mix that feel that there is a large enough niche market to make some hefty profits.Obviously Americans are drinking the stuff.A few years ago O'Doul's was about all you could find on the shelf.

I've tried a few and haven't had any urges to go back to the real thing.You'd have to drink 12 or 13 to equate one legit Bud. No way,IMO,should they pose a problem for most folks.

Dee74

I think the point is some of us here may not drink 12 or 13.

When I was 'moderating' with NA beer, I'd drink 2 or 3, then think 'hang this, I may as well drink the real stuff'.

Nowadays, as an ex beer drinker, I reckon I have no business drinking something that looks smells and tastes like beer.

There's something perverse in that for me.

I've stopped looking for loopholes
D

RobertHugh

I also was thinking this.

I'm allergic to alcohol. I have an abnormal reaction to it: when I put it in me, I want more, and I can no longer predict what will happen. If you identify with that, than it follows that we don't know how much alcohol it takes to activate the allergy.

I mean, we don't say "Stay away from the first drink, unless it's a trace amount of alcohol found in a non-alcoholic beer."

So, given the consequences we face, maybe it makes sense to play it safe and believe that any alcohol can activate the allergy.