newwings

Any thoughts? I'm doing salmon in a sauce that required white wine, but I bought a bottle of non alcoholic white wine to cook with. It's actually not bad.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or feedback about whether it's sensible to drink what's left over. I really am DONE with real wine, that's for sure, I've no question in my mind about it. I'm certain it wouldn't trigger me to drink again, same for non alcoholic beer.

Does anyone drink this stuff?

SomethingBetter

Hi Newwings, this is just me but I dont play around with drinking, I dont drink na beer, it would serve no purpose in my recovery, I had done that in the past, it didnt turn out well for me.

FNB3

If you had a problem with the real stuff I would avoid things that imitate it. Why make things difficult or put yourself in that situation? I would try to make staying clean as easy as possible. Eat something else.

LaFemme

There is a lot of debate on this question...there is trace alcohol in both the na wine and beer. I think its similar to the debate on cooking with alcohol or even using mouthwash that has alcohol in it. Everyone has to answer this question for themselves.

I had na wine and beer early on...didn't care for it and haven't had it in ages.

Mida

Not sure if you're aware but this question has come up repeatedly so if you do a search you'll get a wealth of info on where SR folks stand on the topic. Personally, I drank wine for the effect and in fact didn't like the taste at all so non alc wine would be pointless to me. BUT I have been thinking about NA beer since on a hot day I may want one. Honestly tho after reading the previous threads about this I'm a bit afraid as quite a few people seem to have relapsed as a result. Just some food for thought...

BHF

This may sound harsh, but...what is going through your head! Really, the cooking with alcohol? I wouldn't try it, but I can cut some slack for others b/c they might not have been as bad off as I was. But then to realistically consider drinking the remainder? You're certain that na beer and wine wouldn't trigger you to drink again?

What I keep thinking is what do you expect to accomplish by drinking the na beer/wine? Is there any alcohol in it? There is in the na beer, for sure. But more importantly, for me, it would put me back into that mode of "romanticizing" the good old days when I could drink (but couldn't manage it). Before long, the temptation would be toooo much. I'd convince myself that I could try the real thing. I know, b/c I've done it before.

Back to my question. What do you expect to accomplish by drinking the na beer/wine? What's the purpose? Is it the taste? Would tea or soda not work as well? All I can say is before you decide that you can have "a few" na beers or glasses of wine, look back to the last real drunk that you had. If it's worth it, then....cheers.

Again, rereading it, it sounds a little harsh...but if I were even considering doing the same, I would hope that others on here would do it for me.

Crow3000

Tried it. Alcohol lends a particular taste to these kind of beverages and evidently there is a reason these "alternatives" don't sell as well ... They are disgusting.

Missy7

I think that the wine is probably not worth drinking. Why not freeze the leftover in 1/2 baggies for later cooking use.

I am keeping my goal in mind. It is not my goal to demonize alcohol. I'm actually the problem, not it. So when the weather is beautiful and the kids come out to our little farm for a barbecue, I will buy NA beer as well as real beer. I've gotten this far (not very far ) on Ginger Ale, but I actually love cold beer. For me, and again, it's very early and I haven't been a great success, but intellectually, what I really want is not to find myself on the happy train to nowhere land. Even if a na beer has a tiny bit of alcohol in it, it shouldn't lead me to crazy land. That's my barometer.

I do feel really strong right now. I'm darned sober and functioning beautifully. I'm not afraid I'm going to blow it, so I'm just forecasting. For me, alcohol is so very, very social. I don't think I'll need to drink what they're drinking but I will need to be "drinking."

BTW, I love, love, love red wine. So I will not be cooking with it. And na red wine would never do. Eventually I will cook with it, but I will open four little tupperwares along with the bottle and freeze every drop of leftover for future use. I love saving things! And I cannot drink wine. Nope.

Dee74

I loved beer.
I tried the NA beer route when I was trying to moderate.

It looked like beer - felt like a can of beer, it smelt like beer, can had that same condensation thing 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.

I don't recommend it.

D

SullenGirl

Thanks for asking this question... I had been wondering the same thing.

MsCooterBrown

One word. BLECK!!!!!!!!!!!! NA beer is enough to gag a maggot. NA should stand for Near Abomination.

It is a personal choice as to whether it is ok to drink it or not...

Mark75

If you have to ask, the answer is no.

ACT10Npack

I never like the taste of non alcohol drink.

Reset

I still cook with alcohol and it hasn't been a trigger.

But I don't miss the taste of alcoholic drinks at all. It was a taste I got used to in order to get a buzz.

newwings

Thanks for all the replies. I definitely didn't buy it because I wanted to drink, I just want to make that very clear!! I have a recipe I've been cooking for YEARS, I adore it, and didn't want to buy white wine for the simple reason I don't want it in the house at all. But the n/a wine was far too sweet for the sauce anyhow, so I won't try that again. Time for a new salmon recipe!

I did try a small glass, and it didn't trigger anything off, but I chucked the rest anyway. Why bother with it when I've got my collins mix that tastes much nicer? It's got that sour/salty kick that I love (I've never been a soda drinker, or anything sweet).

As to n/a beer, I was never a beer drinker anyhow, so it's not really my thing. I see there are many different viewpoints, but with 30 days coming up tomorrow, I don't want to risk even placing any negative thoughts in my head. Thanks guys!

Raindance

I never drank beer or wine for the taste, so non alcoholic either has no draw for me. I drink diet coke, iced tea or water now.

EmeraldRose

I guess being a recovering alcoholic I would go out of my way to find a new recipe to enjoy. I have favorites, too -one of which is beer steak. But no way would I ever, ever buy beer regardless if it was NA or regular beer to make a recipe. That is playing with fire. I'm not sure as I understand the thought process behind wanting to tempt yourself or even find a substitute for something that is so destroying, ruthless and all of us here are struggling against. It just doesn't make sense to me...but then again, it's not my recipe!

I'm glad you didn't like it and hopefully won't investigate further.

newwings

I honestly didn't buy it to tempt myself, I promise. I'm long done playing temptation games with myself as I know where it could lead. It was simply an alternative ingredient to a recipe, like substituting brown rice for white rice - it was more for flavor to the sauce rather than anything else. Since I do a lot of French cooking (hubby is half French), I'm going to have to find a decent replacement/alternative or just not ever cook French food that contains wine again, and I'm not prepared to do that. There was a thread the other night about cooking with alcohol and the burn off times, but I don't want to even buy a bottle of wine and try that. When I say I'm sober, I do mean it, and my continued sobriety is number one on my list and it's not going anywhere. So I tried what I thought would be a decent alternative - I didn't even think of it as wine, to be honest - it isn't. It's about as close to wine as White Wine Vinegar, in my opinion. (might have to check the threads and see what pops up about that, too).

Since hubby drinks around me every night and there's an open bottle of wine next to me on the countertop from 7pm - 11, I really think I'd be more tempted and triggered by that than cooking with this stuff. I'll definitely take all this on board though - didn't mean to provoke anything with this thread, I thought it was just an innocent enough question

DUNE

I think it's a good question, but your going to get a lot of different answers on that one. I won't question you on why, or why not something else. you have your reasons for the choices you make in your sobriety, just like we all do.

From what I have been told, the physical reaction to the alcohol that trigers the urge to drink more usually takes about 1-2 drinks of normal alcoholic drinks. It has to do with the way a alcoholic person metabolizes the acetone in the alcohol differently then a normal person. This however is just 2nd hand info that I got from a very educated person on the issue. not something I read out of a recent artical from the american medial association.

The phychological effects however will differ from person to person. It doen't seem as if it is something that will triger you, but I personally wouldn't try it for the first time unless I was with someone else I know who is also in recovery. You could always do some exspirmentation with it, but it could turn out to be a very costly exspiriment.

Seth84

I started out with an na beer many years ago. In my grandmas fridge. It's a joke and a tease. IMHO.