I couldn’t find the “Commercials you hate thread”
So I made this one.
There’s a ad for their non-alcoholic variety. It’s singing foam on top of the Guinness glass. Singing that “Hero” song that’s so irritating.
I get it. Someone must be the designated driver. I applaud that.
But say you are the DD this certain night. Driving 4 of your pals out to the club/bar. Fun was had. You drank 4 or 5 O’douls or Guinness NA. Sober as a judge.
Time to depart. Everyone is loaded in. Seat-belted. No open containers.
But, lo and behold blue lights behind you. As a good citizen, you safety pull over. What are the chances the police are gonna smell fake beer on your breath and assume you’ve been drinking? Is this gonna be a giant PITA on the side of the road? Til it’s cleared up. I assume you can get it cleared up in the long run.
I am of the opinion that when pulled over with 3-4 drunk friends in the car that the odds of me being asked to go through a sobriety check are excellent. I might get lucky if my demeanor suggests I’m not drunk, but my assumption is I’m touching my nose. Why the hell would I want to drink non-alcoholic beer? Drinking a Coke isn’t going to make me feel excluded.
In Australia you get pulled over and breath tested at random anyway regardless of the smell of alcohol. Years ago, when I was still drinking, I was tested after having had one drink. The cop could smell it on my breath but as soon as the device gave me the all clear off I went.
I still drink beer because it is just far, far better tasting and more refreshing than Coke etc. There are many really good 0% alcohol beers now in lots of different varieties. I haven’t tried the Guinness though. I may try one with my neighbor, Irish Ash. He loves a drink.
These NA beers are using new technology, and not the sickly sweet O’Douls or Chausthauser of old. Heineken NA tastes like Heineken regular (if that’s your thing). It’s really been a sea change from the 0.5% nasty near beers era.
In Denmark an alcohol free beer can be up to 0.5%. I heard someone from Carlsberg say that this was one of the reasons that the new alcohol free beers tasted so good.
A question for our american friends. Do the NA beers cost the same as the regular beers? In Ireland the cost is the same. This is despite the NA beers not attracting the heavy duties and taxes that alcohol attracts here.
At the supermarket, basically yes. At restaurants the same or lower.
They are actually some that are really great (and I have had far worse real beer), to the point that people have some reported feeling a bit buzzed after consuming for the first time/first couple of times and wondering if it truly is NA. That fades out and the assumption is that it’s a psychological effect as tasting that close to real beer. Though it does depend on the brand. It’s a great drink for when you really want to have a beer but don’t want the effects.
I doubt it’s much of an issue. IME the alcohol-free beers don’t make a person reek like normal beer does. I expect that’s partially because alcohol helps carry odors further, and creates more gas in your belly, but more than anything because few people are gonna throw down 4-6 NA beers.
NA is much better than it used to be, I would say 80% faithful to regular beer. I don’t think it will ever be 100% the same, as the alcohol creates some mouthfeel characteristics that NA can’t match (though that could just be my formerly alcoholic palate searching for a buzz that isn’t coming).
In South Korea, there’s a barley soft drink called 맥콜 (McCol, means ‘barely cola’). I quite like it, but my wife (who’s Korean) doesn’t. We both describe the taste as “like a sweet beer”. It’s definitely a soft drink, no alcohol content. If you’re lucky, you can find it at an import shop.