WhoDeyPI

I special order NA beer, specifically IPAs from two different breweries that only produce NA beverages. What they provide me is a canned beverage that looks like beer, tastes like beer, but it is actually packed with vitamins and hydration. The product is not at all like the "big box" NA beers such as "O'Dohls"...as I find that crap to be....crap. This stuff is more like an herbal beverage. This has never been a trigger for me, and I only indulge in it on special occasions.

What works for me won't always work for others.

MarkstheSpot

My addiction to alcohol is / was psychological rather than physical. I have realised since giving up that I was as much in love with the idea of it as I was the reality.

So for me N/A beers have been a total lifesaver. That time of the day when I would normally have been thinking about starting on the first of eight tins of lager, I now have a bottle of N/A stuff instead, and I never have more than two because I never want more than that.

Likewise, if I'm in a pub I immediately feel more relaxed and at home if I have a glass of N/A beer in front of me. Again, it's partly psychological, but to be honest, I don't want a glass of something fizzy and sweet; I want a proper grown-up drink, and on that note, I've been thrilled to discover that there's a huge variety of N/A beers (like an idiot, I used to sneer at them) and by and large they're of very high quality.

I totally get that your mileage may vary on this, but for me they work.

MarkstheSpot

Incidentally, on a recent and admittedly very brief trip to the US, I found N/A beers in fairly short supply*. Several bars I visited didn't serve it at all, and the two stores local to my hotel only stocked one variety. Here in the UK it seems to be a bit of a booming market and there are plenty on offer.

*Could be I was just unlucky.

brighterday1234

Hodd

Santi27

In Spain I think it's even better than in the UK, at least in Madrid. Many bars have non-alcoholic beer on draught. If you get the chance try Mahou tostada, which is a non alcoholic malt beer. I don't remember non alcoholic beer being big when I lived in the UK, though that's over 15 years ago now.

I've never wanted to have more than 2 or 3 non alcoholic beers in the same way that I've never wanted to have more than two or three cokes or lemonade. It's maybe because wine has always been my poison that I don't make the connection between beer with alcohol and beer without alcohol. That said, I can totally understand the feelings of other people who don't want to drink non alcoholic beer and I'm equally sure that they can totally understand that we all have different opinions.

lessgravity

To each their own on this one! My only concern would be that if you need to ask then perhaps it's not for you. Kinda cool how Whodey enjoys them. I know for me it's a no thank you but it's not because of any concern, more just because I only drank too get drunk, not for flavor or anything else.

tomsteve

doesnt matter what anyone else things. whats important is what you think and if youre asking you probably have reservations about walking into temptation.
do you want to risk your past becoming your present and your future to be worse?

would ya recommend noncrack crack to this ex crackhead?

NerfThis

I'm a Brit living in the USA and have heard the same from friends here who seek it when they're trying to take a 'break' from alcohol. Definitely doesn't seem to be a thing here, well not where we live anyway.

Off topic, but your avatar fills me with joy. 'Take your pocket money and GET OUT!'

Hodd

MarkstheSpot

A fellow fan!

Kid50

Hodd

WhoDeyPI

I've been told to avoid bars, avoid being around alcohol, stop being friends with people who drink, etc etc etc.

To ME, and for ME, that's all nonsense.

I understand that SOME people on here cannot walk past a bar without being tempted to drink. Some people on here can't be next to a glass of wine without chugging it. That's not ME. I can do all those things. All my friends drink. I can hang out at bars. I can hang out around drunks. I'm fine with all that. I don't drink because I don't want to drink. Period, enough said. I don't have "triggers".

August252015

^^^That's great. It's also early for you, and as I went along I found different things were ok, not ok, etc.

I don't believe in the word triggers, either, and I don't have fear of going anywhere or doing anything. Doesn't mean I want to or it's good for me to xyz.

My world is one where the better actual (ie concrete) choice is always the right one, and upon examination maybe that will change. Ex, I flipped out at the first dinner party I went to, about 7 mo sober, when I learned that the wonderful squid appetizer I had was boiled in wine. Lesson- ingesting alcohol even in food form was a no go for me. Fast forward to almost exactly two years later and I was served risotto and thought I could taste the wine. I didn't freak out, but I did stop eating it. No prob.

I always say it so I will throw it in again- the choice that takes you (literally or emotionally) further away from a drink rather than (possibly) closer to one is always the better bet.

Hodd

NerfThis

I do the same. And probably once every month to two months if that.
I also still comfortably go to bars and live in a house that contains alcohol because my husband drinks (in moderation)

My alcohol issue was that I would drink socially on a Friday and more often than not, would end up still drinking heavily from early Saturday until late Sunday. A lot of the time I'd happily have one drink with a meal when out with no effort to even try to moderate, because I didn't need to try.

On the weekend it was a different story. It was party and binge time, followed by depression and regret.

I believe the amount people need to avoid alcohol is dependent on how far into the disease they were when they decided enough was enough and how really committed they are to 'enough is enough' idea. A lot of people mention being in ER multiple times, nearly dying etc, needing AA and partners who don't drink. None of those things happened to me. Maybe if they had, I'd need to live in a dry house and never see my friends or ever cook with alcohol.

I do however think if I actually drank something that tasted like alcohol and was made to simulate drinking I'd be putting myself at risk, as it would very clearly remind me of those binge weekends.

August252015

Cooking is a personal thing and for me (and my husband) it just wouldn't happen. We'd have to buy alcohol in the first place

This topic is always a good one for me as I work in the restaurant group and lead a recovery group for us industry folks. So things like bartenders who taste bitters and end up drinking bottles (true story) or chefs who start with taste testing their food that turns into [ ] .... common.

Intent and awareness can be sneaky - so many people talk about not realizing they were setting themselves up for a relapse by this "little" stuff, until they had started drinking (and generally, if they stopped, again and looked at what really happened). I know I could have justified ANYTHING when I wanted to keep drinking.

Santi27

Good to hear. I remember in the early 2000s there was hardly anything on offer. In Spain non-alcoholic beer represents about 15% of sales in our beer market.

Santi27

Some people can drink alcohol sensibly and never have problems.

Some of us can't control our alcohol consumption and it causes us serious problems.

Some people manage to give up and never drink again.

Of those who give up, some drink alcohol-free beer and don't relapse.

Others drink alcohol-free beer and it leads them down a certain road and they relapse and start drinking again.

Others can't drink alcohol-free beer as the similarity to real beer is too painful.

Others can't go to bars and can't continue friendships with people who drink (including friends who don't have an alcohol problem) as any contact with alcohol is just too painful and could lead to a relapse.

Everybody who suffers from this awful problem does so for different reasons.

Everybody who has beaten this problem has done so with one of the solutions or a blended solution from the wide spectrum of options available.

The problem isn't black and white, nor can the solutions be.

All advice is welcome, the trick is to decide which advice works for you.