I’m curious to know about the experiences of lifelong teetotalers and non-alcoholic beer or wine.
I guess a lot of people who never drink alcohol do so for religious reasons, so does NA beer still seem haram to you? If not, what did you think when trying it?
Do you regularly enjoy these products?
The reason for asking, is that for me, and most beer-drinkers I guess, is that the enjoyment of beer is tied up with the culture around beer and the “merry” feeling of imbibing alcohol.
When I first tried beer, I didn’t like the taste, and for years afterwards I thought I only drank as a kind of social lubricant. It took a long time – and indeed, after a period of going teetotal – to appreciate that I actually did enjoy the taste, quite separate to the effects of the alcohol content.
Nowadays there are lots of good NA beers, so I sometimes enjoy a beer at home when, still, the idea of drinking alcohol alone still seems somewhat odd for me (not to criticize anyone that does this; the “oddness” is in my psychology here).
I gave up drinking entirely a few years ago and I tried non-alcohol(or super low alcohol) beer at that time. Nope, it was so bad(O’Douls and Labatt if you are wondering), I just decided not even worth it one bit. I kind of agree that the taste was never the main thing, it was the relaxing feeling. I might as well have Vernors, which tastes quite good.
I drink sparkling water now for non-water drinks. Uh, I mean non regular water…it’s still water.
I’m a beer drinker who enjoys the taste of it. But if it’s a situation where I don’t want to or can’t drink alcohol, I don’t typically drink N/A beer, because to me it’s like drinking decaffeinated coffee-- why bother?
There are exceptions though. Once I was on a lunch date where I couldn’t or didn’t want to drink- it may have been a work day. We were at a Mexican restaurant, seated outside on a very hot day. And in that case a N/A St. Pauli Girl or two really hit the spot.
I’m a non-drinker and it has never even crossed my mind to try non-alcoholic beer. The whole product category simply has no relevance to me. I do like Welch’s Sparling Grape Juice, though, if that counts as non-alcoholic wine. (And it might not, because they don’t try to make it taste like oak or whatever, like I see people describing wine flavors on TV.)
I stopped drinking about 17 years ago. Had been a pretty heavy beer and gin drinker for a couple of decades. For the last part of that, I was pretty well into comparing different beer styles/brewers - tho the market was NOTHING like it is today.
Since I stopped drinking, I have periodically drunk NA beers. I disagree with the idea that all NAs are crap. O’Douls and Sharps surely are, but O’Douls Amber is drinkable, and Clausthauler dry hopped is (IMO) damned tasty.
But I rarely - if even - buy NA myself. I generally drink it only if I go to someone’s house and they have it, or my one BIL who is a beer drinker will occasionally bring some for me when he comes over. I would be happy to never drink it again for the rest of my life. I’m fine w/ plain tap water.
For me, a MAJOR part of drinking beer was the buzz/drunk. Lacking that, if I want something other than water, I’d just as soon have something like a lemonade or iced tea than a NA beer. Plus, NA beer costs too much and has too many calories for something that doesn’t give you a buzz.
IME NA beer is very useful if a drinker wishes to moderate their intake. Maybe switch between leaded and unleaded beers while drinking. But that really doesn’t address the OP.
Non-alcoholic beer can legally have up to 0.5% alcohol, so there’s a possibility of a scant buzz if you drink enough of it - possibly not a good thing for alcoholics.
I am not a teetotaler (more like an occasional light drinker) but I can’t imaging swigging down something that tastes like beer but has no kick to it. I’ve never liked beer much except that rarely, when you’re hot and thirsty an ice-cold beer hits the spot.
Huh? What religion are you thinking of? The one where it’s part of the passover, or where Jesus made wine and Martin Luther made beer?
I have a couple of religious friends who don’t imbibe, but that’s because one’s an alcoholic… and one grew up being beaten by one.
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I guess I don’t see what the big deal is about having a beer. Not a big deal either way to me.
I’ve tried N/A beers, but I’d rather have a coke, or water.
As a pet peeve, my mother seems to be convinced that if you have one light beer you’re too drunk to do anything, especially drive. If we meet my mom for dinner and I have one, she’s very uncomfortable and keeps bringing up that I shouldn’t drive home.
I have many Muslim friends who don’t drink at all. And a couple that do, as they explained to me “Some people have more religion than others, cheers!”.
Yep O’doul’s amber is pretty good and Clausthauler is very good. Also, St. Pauli Girl. There’s another one I like that begins with a “K”, I think. It’s a dark beer with a blue label. I’m drawing a blank here…
I stopped most drinking about 1.5 years ago, though I will still occasionally have a cold one at a local brewery with the gang every now and again which is perhaps 1/month. Though I really missed the taste and was very dissatisfied with alternatives (water/soda/juice/selzer).
But when I stopped is also when many new NA beers came out that shattered my perception and past experience of NA beers of the past and was the taste I was looking for. Hardly a day goes by without downing 2 of them.
Kaliber. A lot of folk like it - I’ve been underwhelmed.
More recently, a lot of microbreweries have been coming out with all manner of varieties. Wheats, ambers, etc. IMO, if I’m drinking an NA, I’m content to just stick w/ a Clausthaler dry hop. St Pauli and Beck’s are also quite good to my taste.
When I used to drink a lot, it was fine to TRY a beer, and if it didn’t really thrill me, well, I could chase it down with 1, 2, 6 of something else. Nowadays, if I’m only drinking 1-3 NAs at max, it seems more of an effort to choke down something that isn’t exactly my taste.
One of the BIGGEST surprises of sobriety is that I can’t imagine how I used to put down the VOLUME of beer I used to. Now, 3 NAs really fill me up. Whereas I used to often put down a 6-er BEFORE going out drinking. And with the amount I used to drink, I must have spent more time in the john that I realized.
A friend of mine has a brewery. He brews some very good beers. Recently he asked if I’d try an NA beer if he brewed one. I looked at him as if he’d asked if I’d sleep with my sister.
I like the buzz. I’d consider trying a NA beer as a chaser drinking iced vodka.
I avoid alcohol because I don’t believe in chemically altering my mood (except with caffeine). I have never enjoyed the company of people who are under the influence, even at very mild levels, so I avoid in partaking, very intentionally. I have several other reasons too, none of them being religious reasons.
I started trying dealcoholized wine after watching Graham Kerr’s cooking shows. I never really liked drinking it, but it did seem to add some flavor to the food I was cooking.
Later, when I was out at restaurants, I started noticing non-alcoholic beer. I tried them out of curiosity and I grew to like the flavor of some of them. And I always like gassy beverages. So I will have them occasionally, just to change up from water or soda or whatever.
I’v heard this time and time again and it is simply incorrect.
Any buzz would be psychological, not actual.
In order to get the alcohol content of one 12 ounce can of regular beer one would have to drink twelve 12 ounce cans of N/A brew. That’s 144 ounces. The average adult stomach holds less than that. And by the time one drank that much the previous alcohol would already be processed out of the body. The smaller a person is the less their stomach holds. Hence, it is impossible to drink any amount of N/A beer that would even register on a breathalyzer. This is not theorem, it’s been tested.
There is more alcohol present in unpasteurized orange juice. Try that.
