Talana

Is it a good idea to drink non-alcoholic beer/wine,
or will the taste of it just encourage you to drink the real thing?

GracieLou

I guess I have to ask why you are asking....lol

Are you going to party and want to fit in or are you missing the taste?

ReadyAtLast

I only drank for the effect not the taste so never saw the point of non alco stuff. for me,I'd just be annoyed it was having no effect and probably move onto the real things. There are lots of fabulous non alco drinks around which I love to experiment with now

Talana

GracieLou, I'm going on a holiday & every other holiday has
been a drinking one. Now that I'm sober I thought maybe drinking non-alcoholic beer or wine would take the edge off a totally sober holiday and make me feel like I'm not missing out on anything.

Dee74

This comes up so often I have a response written...

My concern for you Talana would be you'll be there, in a situation you've been in before, drinking something that reminds you of the old days... how long will it be before you miss the buzz?

how long might it be before you think I've been good, one 'real drink' won't hurt?

been there done that too.

D

GracieLou

You want to take the edge off of being sober and you feel you are missing something?

I think you may have answered your own question.

Talana

Lol.... I guess I did

Talana

Still when all is said & done, I have a good feeling about his trip & more importantly about me. I think I will emerge a stronger person.

Michael66

As part of my commitment to sobriety I chose to avoid anything that mimics the taste of alcoholic drinks. I think that helped to create a clearer separation from my beer-imbibing past. In the past I also went from NA to beer to 1% beer, then 2% beer and soon back to 5% beer.

Certainly avoiding these drinks is another thing to add to the armory if needed.

Talana

A friend of mine is a recovering alcoholic and she has fallen off the wagon many times, but this time around she is drinking non-alcoholic wine and she says it's helping her stay on "the straight and narrow." She has been sober for 4 years now.

flutter

I thinks it is a personal decision, like everything else. I think (for me) it's ridiculous to engage in all the same behaviors without the added alcohol (the look, the feel, the taste, the timing etc).

AnotherPaul

I wouldn't touch a non-alcoholic beer for all of the reasons Dee and flutter mentioned, plus as far as I know all non-alcoholic beers contain a tiny amount of alcohol and I've heard of people relapsing after no more than the tiny amount of alcohol in a shot of Nyquil. No point in risking it. Also, if I couldn't be in a room of people drinking without feeling like I was missing something, I would feel that I wasn't ready to be in that room at all yet. Just my $0.02.

Threshold

I have thought about non-alcoholic wine. But my boyfriend is recently sober, so...if I do that, then of course he should be able to have non-alcoholic beer, and we both know that will get him drinking again....

So, I guess I was trying to kid myself. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and in this case vice/versa. I could see it was a danger for him, but wanted to pretend it wasn't a danger for me.

Coldfusion

Talana, you have been a member almost two years and made only 31 posts. You really need to spend more time here, this site can actually help you stay sober.

Abetterway

Talana,
Hope no one thinks less of me for saying this but I drank them at the start and have no problem except that now I just don't want to. Drinking something that tastes like beer but dosen't give a buzz just dosen't have too much of an appeal any more. Rather drink something refreshing. I Think it did help me in the beginning and understand your reasoning. However, I will say that my life is a million times better sober than not and if I felt that I was risking it with NA beer or anything else I wouldn't do it.

tomsteve

wouldnt non alcoholic drinks be for non alcoholics???

been doin pretty giid here for 8 years with water and diet mountain dew. havent missed out on anything. not sure what this"edge" is thats being referred to, but i could see me if i were to drink non alocoholic wine/berr sayin,"screw the dumb stuff. give me a real drink" pretty quick.
non alcoholic beer/.wine has a small percentage of alcohol.

ScottFromWI

This is a pretty hot topic around here, you can find a multitude of discussions about if you search the archives Talana.

Contrary to and against the recommendations of some I do consume NA beer from time to time. Never "alcoholically" like I did with regular beer though. I have half of a 6 pack in my fridge at home right now that has been there for a couple weeks at least. I do enjoy the taste along with certain foods and find it refreshing. Having said that if I ever found myself drinking large quantities of it or obsessing about it, i'd probably quit having it around. And I also understand that there are many who might find it way too tempting and have it turn back into drinking the real thing in short order.

Every person is different, you need to decide if it's a good idea or not for you. Probably the biggest question would be your motivation for drinking it. Just for the taste, or to help feed some of your old habits/cravings?

Louise82

Talana, I'm also going on my first sober holiday soon and I've personally decided not to drink n/a beer or wine while I'm there, but that's just because I was only drinking for effect for most of my drinking years.

I'm planning to work my recovery program just as I would at home, as much as circumstances will allow me anyway. Do you have any particular recovery program/methods/tools/activities you could continue to use while you're away? I'm also planning on taking my laptop with me so that I can log on to SR occasionally if I find an internet connection.

I'm going to plan activities to do that don't involve my old drinking habits/routines etc. I'm hoping to spend quality non-drinking time with the people I'm going away with and the people that we'll be visiting. I'm looking forward to exploring the place in a way I never would have done while I was drinking. If someone offers me a drink, I'll say I don't drink. If they remember that I used to drink and ask me about it, I'll say that I stopped because it doesn't agree with me - which is all too true! The people that I'm going with know that I don't drink anymore anyway.

But the important thing is for you to find a plan/response to people that will work for you personally. I hope you have a great time!

PaperDolls

It's a personal choice. I choose not to do it.

As a side note, non-alcoholic beer does actually have a small amount of alcohol in it. It's not non-alcoholic at all.

LadyinBC

I don't drink the stuff as it makes me think about drinking the real stuff. It just doesn't put my head in the right place.

You will get lots of different views on this and as someone said it can be a pretty hot topic!