noturningback2

I have dabbled and here what I found. I drank wine alcoholically eventually, but, I did like the taste, the smell, the nice glass, I held the wine in my mouth and tasted it. I love love love how wine tastes, a good Malbec was my thing. I didn't initially drink wine to get drunk, although that's what inevitably happened over time. So as no non alcoholic wine tastes anywhere near what real wine does, it hold absolutely no interest to me. It tastes vile. But here is also the thing. I had to let go of 'imitating' drinking, because it kept my brain ever so slightly on the brink of being hopeful I could drink. I had heard of people putting soft drinks in wine glasses to trick them into feeling they had a 'fancy' drink, it didn't work for me. I had to accept I don't drink, and that goes for everything associated with it, or forever be tettering on the edge . And to do that I had to just stick to a soft drink, no fluff, no trying to pretend its alcoholic, its not part of my life anymore.

ive found people don't really care if youre drinking or not.But drinking non A just stands out more IMO, and likely to encourage more questions than a sparkling water/lemonade etc, if you are worried what people will think. The choice is of course yours, but I don't think personally it sets you up for great success

Done4today

It says right on the bottle who it is for, "Non-Alcoholic"s

Ezra78

Okay, so I'm not far off on my thinking.

Fake wine (I've never had it) tastes like garbage to someone who actually enjoys the taste of wine (me) and obviously avoid high-pressure situations.

Ezra78

I am not sure how to avoid these situations 100% at this time of year. We have planned a quiet NYE at home playing board games, but Xmas is a different story ... we will be out of town at a relative's house over night. I plan to drink lots of water and coffee. I don't drink pop; I don't enjoy fizzy drinks.

Dee74

If you really feel that you can't get out of something you can still plan ahead

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...ers-2-0-a.html (Thanksgiving and Xmas Survival Guide vers 2.0)

D

tomsteve

its good that youre lookin at the possible problems that might occur.
it would be wise to plan an escape route- if you start feeling squirrely take a walk or drive maybe?

Ezra78

I've got an escape route. We are taking our RV so we have our own space to sleep, and we always take our pets (3 cats, 2 dogs) when we go somewhere overnight. My plan is to check on the cats (and snuggle with them A LOT) and walk the dogs. Usually my kids walk the dogs but I will go with them if they don't want to give me the task.

tekink

My brother in law drinks it occasionally at the bar, there's a brand called Fre that had the alcohol removed. He was hospitalized with cirrhosis five years ago and stopped drinking then. Even sparkling water with fruit is a non-alcoholic vodka soda.

MyLittleHorsie

I wouldn't personally go for non alcoholic beer or wine. I never liked the taste of beer enough to drink it and wine isn't wine unless it is the kind I liked. My parents make about 100 bottles a year of their own wine and I can honestly say in 40 something years, I maybe had it mixed with gingerale once or twice. The grape juice before it gets fermented is very yummy! Especially their own grapes.

Now club soda with grenadine, orange juice, gingerale and grenadine, sparkling cider - those I will drink and I don't consider them, me fake drinking. It's just something refreshing and fun to drink, which when you consider just how dry the wine I had a taste for is, it's understandable I see the distinction. Plus, it's stuff I make for my kids for parties and special occasions. Rim their glasses with coloured sugar and mix up a special drink complete with cherries, frozen raspberries in ice cubes, fun and child like

For me, tonic water or club soda in a glass with ice. Nobody will notice or care.

Silverback4

Tried a few NA beers in the past.
My partner tried the NA wine whilst pregnant but hated it.
Around a year ago my poor suffering partner whilst trying to edge me towards drinking less or to stop altogether bought me a variety case of NA beers.
24 or so different varieties of artisan beers beautifully packaged etc.
It's a shame the didn't taste as good as they looked and got bored with them pretty quickly.

I don't drink alcohol or fake alcohol now.

Fly N Buy

This always goes back to motivations for me and my pat answer is simply to thine ownself be true. I have no one to dilly dally around anymore. I am comfortable in my own skin, so to say.

I am an outlier and do occasionally drink one or two NA beers. I do like the taste, always have. It is not motivated by any peer pressure, however.

tealily

Truth. And good life advice in general!
No one cares. We are the ones obsessing about drinking/not drinking/what we are drinking or not drinking. The farther you get from it, you realize how ridiculous and unhealthy it is.

Non alcoholic drinks remind me of the fake bubblegum cigarettes that were around for children when I was a kid. Is that really a good idea, to "fake smoke"?

I get that some might like the taste of NA beer or wine but that's hard for me to see. Generally it's pretty gross. And we are lucky now that there are so many great seltzers, sodas, etc. I was out with a group the other night at a restaurant that had an extensive "mocktail" menu. I wasn't trying to "fake" drinking, it was just fun to try all the various drinks that were festive and celebratory and not so sweet. I had mulled cranberries with ginger and rosemary and seltzer in a fun glass. Lovely!

At the end of the night, I felt great, and I drove. Sometimes it's hard to not feel superior (that's my battle) but in the meantime I"m enjoying the new non-drinking way to be out and about. It has huge advantages!

Celebrate that! Who needs to fake drink? Or fake smoke, or fake drug?

Ezra78

I drank mocktails when I was pregnant. I never even thought of ordering them now. *lightbulb*

JJ991

Mocktails are my Christmas & New Year plan! Let me know if you find good recipes!

Fly N Buy

Gingerale with some cranberry juice and a lime is really good! I will say that the focus on what I drink has become pretty irrelevant. It's more about being engaged with those people who are in front of me at any given time.

Easy does it, work well as my mindset. I listen more than I speak - and smile a lot.

Happy Holidays

Dee74

Mocktails may also have the behavioral/ritual problems I spoke about as fake wine and NA beer, especially if you were a cocktail drinker.

D

Ezra78

My issue is with wine. I can have one beer and be done. Granted I'm definitely NOT going to test that theory. Never much of a cocktail drinker, just a single chocolate martini once or twice a year at special occasions.

Dee74

It was more of a general thought Ezra.

One thing about drinking as much as I did is I found out I wasn't just a beer drinker...I could be an anything drinker given the opportunity.

It was all alcohol and it all knocked me on my butt.

Things that remind me of those drinks just seem like a slippery slope to me ...and a little shackling to the past..

There's so many yummy drinks that don't remind me of old drinking, or try to placate the desire to fly under the radar as a 'pretend' drinker.

D

tealily

Dee, I totally get what you are saying. That's why I stay away from NA wine or beer. And I feel absoluely no need to "pretend" to drink for anyone's sake. But I do enjoy fun, special drinks rather than just coffee, water or tea.

I guess that a seltzery drink -- especially if it's called a "mocktail", I wish it weren't -- could be seen as trying to fake-drink a cocktail, but I feel OK about it, since it's just water and juice. I'm willing to admit I may be wrong. Do you think it's bad to order seltzery drinks, because they are too much like something that could have alcohol in it? Then again, some people put alcohol in coffee!

Honestly open to thinking I"m wrong about this. I've just found tart seltzery drinks to be a huge help to me in avoiding temptation for alcohol. They completely satisfy me and I don't miss or wish for the alcohol!

MindfulMan

I live in a place where bartenders are now “mixologists.” If they don’t have a mocktail on the menu at all or that’s not your pleasure, they love coming up with something for you. As sobriety is getting trendy, it’s an increasingly common request at trendy places. I get sick of sparkling water, iced tea and juice. Rather than being a trigger, it allows me to feel like part of the party without drinking. For Mexican food, my go-to is a margarita subbing fresh squeezed orange juice for tequila on the rocks with salt.

I haven’t been doing this recently because my keto diet doesn’t allow sugar or fruit juice. If I’m on the rare cheat day, I’ll have a mocktail if out.

Fake Wine is gross, but I’m having a sober Christmas Eve dinner and am thinking about serving a pitcher of alcohol free sangria as cocktails, with sparkling cider in place of champagne.