24
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For those with an alcohol problem, are non-alcoholic beverages a wise choice?
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- Authors
- Rachel Tompa, Susan Coppa, Hanae Armitage, Ruthann Richter
- Published
- Feb 27 2024
- Word count
- 1083 words
I think it's good to be wary. I quit drinking just because I have trouble sleeping when I drink and when I go out with friends I'll sometimes have a non-alcoholic beer. And while it scratches a certain itch that seltzer doesn't, it is very clearly not beer and in some ways makes the itch worse.
What do you mean by "it is very clearly not beer"? I drink both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer, and, depending on the kind, it's very hard to tell the difference. Lots of great craft non-alcoholic beers.
In my experience, even the best NA beer I've had is perceptibly different tasting than full alcohol beer. In the same way that even a high quality decaf tastes different than caffeinated coffee.
I can instantly tell if there is alcohol in any drink. Maybe you are not very sensitive to the taste of alcohol? To me at least, it’s very distinctive and separate from the taste of beer or whatever other mix is involved.
Unfortunately I've had family and friend who are addicts; alcohol, benzos, heroin, etc.
Problem drinking could be many things ranging from simply enjoying it too often and needing to substitute it for something healthier, to drinking being part of a seriously disordered way of thinking or coping.
If someone is an addict the conventional wisdom is that they need to establish new norms and routines, and cut out any things or people that will remind them or make them crave their drug of choice. Depending on the addiction, that doesn't necessarily mean cutting cold turkey, but you wouldn't use a substitute to manage cravings; you would use it to manage withdrawal.
There are always exceptions, for example, not everyone is a good fit for things like 12 step programs. But most recovering alcoholics should probably avoid alcohol free beer since the taste could trigger cravings for the feeling of intoxication.
For someone who just wants to cut down on calories or other general health benefits and isn't addicted, then they are a great option of you enjoy the flavor and want something with more complex flavor than soda.
I always thought that mocktails were intended to be used for people that wanted to abstain from drinking while still feeling like they "fit in" at alcohol centric social events.
If that is when mocktails are typically consumed, then it makes sense that it doesn't help people in recovery. A person early into sobriety would probably be likely to relapse if they are in social situations where others are drinking or they are at a bar.
I'm not in recovery or abstaining, but I enjoy mocktails sometime if I am socializing and driving. They taste good in complex interesting ways.
Same. I actually like the taste of beer and spirits, but am not a fan of the health impacts or the drag on my energy levels. The boom of alcohol free beer and cocktails has been great for having variety.
That's so funny to me. I used to have a severe drinking problem, but I never actually liked the taste of alcohol. Beer especially always tasted kind of mildly disgusting to me. What I liked was getting drunk. When I quit drinking, the taste of the drinks was the last thing I missed.
It's funny how different everyone is. I've always liked the strong and bitter flavors that many people find off-putting, so I suppose it makes sense. Medicinally, peaty gasoline flavor you say? Yes please! 😂
Laphroig whiskey, like a punch in the face with peat, cigarette butts, and acrylic paint. Oddly satisfying!
What are your thoughts on Jeppson's Malört?
(I was the odd one out that liked it in my old social circle).
Laphroaig is one of my favorites to sip straight, while I would use Malort much like campari. A negroni or Hemingway with Malort is quite tasty. I don't dislike it straight as a sipper, but think it shines when paired with things that opens up the drink and lets you note more of the flavor profile.
Yeah, your example is what I was trying to say. I didn't mean abstain as in never drink. I meant abstain as in drink less or not at all for that specific occasion.
You can just as well drink water with ice and tell everyone it's vodka.
Or simply say "no" whenever someone offers you a drink. It works if you're an adult -- no one asks for an explanation. Unless you're in a toxic environment, in which case you should probably hang out with other people.
I definitely drank harder in other phases of my life likely at a level that would be considered abuse. Life changes (finishing grad school, friends moving away, having money for other hobbies, fitness goals) have really reduced my alcohol consumption. Non-alcoholic alternatives have also played a bit of a role. There was a span of time where I entirely replaced alcohol beer with non-alcohol beer and I think it was helpful in breaking the association of "kicking back with a beer" and "kicking back with an enjoyable beverage."
Now-a-days I'm solidly on the seltzer water train. I scoffed at the price of brands like Liquid Death for a while but have found that if I have them in the fridge I'm much more likely to grab one of those than a beer. We also buy Waterloo, La Croix, and Topo Chico but what I like about Liquid Death is the size of their can.
So alcohol has been relegated to something else. We tend to go out for dinner on Friday or Saturday and I'll order a beer. Had two after my recent competition, and will have a beer tonight during the Dune 2 premier. Some situations are still challenging. My younger siblings came into town and had never hung out in my town so I wanted to show them the old haunts which led to drinking more than I am used to and feeling poor the next day.
Never really been a drinker but seltzer water is imo (at least in America) the most-underrated beverage in existence. It tastes so good and the fizzy feeling is the best. And it's not unhealthy!
Well, the carbonization is supposed to be bad for your teeth, but it's certainly better than if it has a ton of sugar in it.
I drink flavored seltzers these days but I really don't think it's underrated. I find the added flavor to be very difficult to put up with without some sort of citrus flavor to balance it out. The flavor added kind of reminds me of mineral lime or the taste you get when you have your tongue on copper. I can't drink it with food because even the mild sweetness in vegetables is enough to throw my pallet away from the frame I need to be to enjoy seltzers.
But the main reason why I am saying that they are not underrated is that they seem to be just about everywhere these days. And I'm actually glad about it because it means more choices for unsweetened beverages, which we rather desperately need in the US.
I'd be interested in any research you have found connecting seltzer water and a negative effect on tooth enamel. Back when I was drinking a lot more seltzer than I am today I had heard the same thing. However, every article I found said that while seltzer water is slightly more acidic than regular water, its effect on enamel was very negligible.
Dissolving carbon dioxide in water produces some carbonic acid, which results in a slightly acidic final solution (pH 5-6) with a taste different than plain water. Soda, for comparison, is much more acidic with a pH of 2.5-3.5. Acids will dissolve tooth enamel to some degree, which is why dentists recommend limiting soda, citrus drinks, and the like or at least using a straw to bypass the teeth, plus the issues with sugar and other additives around general dental health.
Wiki says plain seltzer practically won’t do anything to your teeth when consumed daily in normal quantities. Probably just easier for dentists to have blanket “no acid” guidelines than try to explain the nuances of acidity to people, how seltzer is fine, probably ok with a tiny bit of lime, but not with more lime, etc
keep in mind that because of the way pH works, seltzer is 100x less acidic than soda if there's a 2 ph difference
It's just what a dentist had told me ages ago.
When I quit a while ago (fell off the wagon, now back on) I found that non-alcoholic beverages were a definite trigger. I was trying to be good, and was excited to see in the liquor store that there were NA liquors being made now too. The biggest problem was that I was still in a liquor store. Going to a grocery store and getting NA beer may be different, but my temptation to just get the real stuff was so strong, I just fell off quicker than I wanted to. I mean, it was right there.
Now, just sitting in that feeling of “I want and need and want and I should go to the store it’s right there, screw it” actually fades quicker than you think. Meditation, distractions, and food actually help me the most now.
Either way, good luck to you if you’re trying to be sober! This shit ain’t easy.
This is been said kinda already, but I’ll add my $.02 as a long time clean person.
It depends on my intentions.
I used drugs (including alcohol) primarily to feel good, or more precisely, stop feeling bad. I didn’t stop using until a while after using made me feel worse.
When I did finally stop, I stopped and stayed stopped, and it was miraculous. I had no desire.
I am more tempted now than I was in the first decade and a half of being clean. So i always check my intentions when I think about doing using adjacent activities.
I do enjoy a good craft mocktail, it lets me feel fancy, enjoy the social setting, tastes good. But I avoid the fake booze ingredients. It’s too easy to form an improper association and say, hey add a little real vodka this time. And there’s no good reason for me to do that, and a lot of risk that will send an unstoppable train out the station. So, I avoid anything that resembles the flavor of alcohol.
I work for a craft whiskey distillery, and we're constantly talking about societal trends around alcohol. A lot of people at the company participate in dry January, abstain during weekdays, take extended tolerance breaks, substitute NA products, or just drink less when they do drink, so we're seeing the same trends mentioned in the article bearing out at a micro level. NA alternatives are certainly a net positive for societal health, but I agree with other comments here about those with an addiction. If you can't moderate your alcohol intake, then NA alternatives put you in analogous situations that could lead to relapse or overconsumption. Those social/mental/tasting cues are still present. I would be curious to see more data developed on this.
I think that people who are trying to get rid of a consumption habit look at alternatives almost like a shortcut to changing the habit. I don’t think that is a good thing; it may be “better” in some ways but not in others. Artificial sweeteners have a chance of negative side effects, and artificial meat products still are very high in fat and calories. If you need to kick a habit, you probably need to kick the habit at the source; you have to beat the mechanism that is making you crave those things. That takes a lot of work which can be trial and error. Artificial substitutions can help with it, but they need to be treated as a tool rather than the change you need to make.
At the same time, often the consumption habit isn't just about consuming red meat alone in a dark room, it's about the community and culture that comes with it. When it's those social aspects that reinforce the consumption habit, alternatives let you share the culture without continuing the consumption.
Especially when the substitutes let you avoid social judgement for not participating. I can order soda water and lime and it looks like a drink to my companions.
I agree with both you and @MimicSquad wholeheartedly. But at the same time you can't keep putting yourself in that kind of situation. When it comes to drug addiction in particular having friends that take you out to take those drugs is a very detrimental to your progress, especially at the start of your transition journey. You have to learn to strike a balance.
In some areas, mandatory work functions have bartenders though, so it can be nice to get a mocktail instead. I feel like they're a nice way to make people feel included. I always tell my friends I can make them a mocktail because I don't want them to feel like they need to drink to have a good time with me!
I quit cold turkey a year ago; I went on a bit of a bender, a switch flipped in my brain, and I didn't want alcohol anymore. However for me I do enjoy the social aspect of bars so I have been experimenting with n/a beers and cocktails. That said, everyone's journey with sobriety is different. If it is a matter of will power for someone to abstain, then I would caution immediately replacing beer with n/a beer, as it could be too close to the real thing.
On that note, the only n/a beer that fools my brain is Heineken 0.0, many others taste either off, or like bread dough water. Though if you hate the taste of Heineken, you'll hate 0.0 as it is almost undistinguishable from regular (which can make it dangerous). A good friend of mine who is sober by necessity got got at an applebees because they mixed up the bottles and gave him a regular, he didn't even notice till he started to feel weird. Luckily it was just the one.
I’ve been sober since the 90s. Never trusted the idea of NA beers. Too much like the real thing. I drink sparkling water usually. Story time:
When I was in early sobriety I came home from the grocery store with a tub of port wine cheese, put it in the fridge and then got nervous because it had alcohol in it. So, I waited until I could get ahold of my AA sponsor to ask him if it was okay.
His answer said everything: “if you brought it home and tore into it without a care in the world, it would have been fine. But you didn’t. You got concerned enough to wait until you talked to me, so now it’s in your head. Now, you better not.” So, I tossed it.
The moral is- when you’re dealing with addiction, checking your own motives can’t really be trusted. You need the outside view of another addict to help keep your motives clear. The subconscious is tricky like that. Was I setting myself up for relapse? Probably not. I was probably being overly cautious.
But it’s entirely possible that cheese could have been one small first step toward loosing that healthy fear of alcohol that’s kept me sober. Who knows.
The flip side of that coin is that I’ve never batted an eye at using mouthwash with alcohol in it- I never drank it. I know lots of alcoholics that only use the alcohol free stuff.
FWIW, there’s how I do it.