4 ms·

There are a lot of recommendations for real-beer tasting brands in the comments here. But. What if one is a recovering alcoholic or pregnant or want to stop, bu

There are a lot of recommendations for real-beer tasting brands in the comments here. But. What if one is a recovering alcoholic or pregnant or want to stop, but like the taste and feeling of beer? Why call it a marketing trick? If people get some repeated enjoyment from NA beer?

greatgib 5y ago
I seriously never heard of anyone that was addicted to the "taste" of beer so much that they would need an alternative. At the opposite, I know close to no one that is a beer drinker and that would drink an alcohol-free beer. In all cases, it is almost always better to drink something else. Alcohol-free beer are targeting persons that don't normally drink alcohol. It is like if you would say a person loving "burgers" would appreciate to temporarily eat "meat-free" burgers when they can't eat "meat", just to have the "taste" of a burger... Looking at your examples, I don't think that they are correct: if you are pregnant, even alcoholic-free beer is probably still a shitty drink for you. If you are a "recovering alcoholic", you would probably avoid everything that will give you the "brain feeling" and the "habit" of drinking any alcohol. To say that you are "tasty" alternatives, you are probably North American, because alcohol-free might taste like american beers, but at least nothing like tasteful Europeans beers.
- astrange 5y ago
  American beers don't taste like they used to. They're mostly IPAs that taste like eating a shoe.
- touisteur 5y ago
  I'm not American and I'm not sure why you think you can talk for all pregnant women (or maybe pregnant women), or for all recovering alcoholics (what's with the quotes?) or for all beer amateurs. I am giving you an example of why those 2 categories of people might crave the taste and feeling of beer. I suggest you take that anecdata and try and open your mind to other people's tastes. Also, not everyone is a beer snob, and can still like beer. Not everyone has to know the whole gamut of stout to ipa to lager to ale. Some people (I'm guessing most people, judging by the sales of kronenburg and Heineken) just like the general taste of beer. It rings like a discussion with our wine snobs that can't imagine someone liking the refreshing taste of a rosé (most French people I know that like wine also like rosé and yes they don't worry so much about le millésime, la robe, le cépage of their bbq drink)... I can guarantee they enjoy it a lot. Recovering alcoholics might crave the feeling of being refreshed and would probably prefer that drink to a 'water' or coke. What do you know about coping with alcoholism. Do my 10 years dry count? It's hard enough to police oneself without people having opinions on what I should drink... The fact that I can go meet friends, colleagues, business contacts in a pub and not drink while avoiding the shit question is good for recovery. The thing is you can get non alcoholic beer throughout Europe I restaurants and supermarkets (do Poland, Portugal, France and Germany count?) and they're getting better and better every year. As to your point about... burgers? It's getting more and more shunned to get shitfaced for lunch, yes even in France, and maybe you can have the 2 or 3 beers at noon with your meal and still drive (well, no...), work (good luck of anyone smells wine on your breath), etc. No, just because you 'can' drink, should you be only drinking an alcoholic beverage. I have been asking for more NA beers of every small producer I know of and have been making them deliver them to me, across Europe, sometimes across the pond. There are very good NA beers, far tastier and refreshing or interesting than the generic beer.
  - greatgib 5y ago
    Just read this for example: https://www.amethystrecovery.org/can-alcoholics-drink-non-alcoholic-beer/ https://www.amethystrecovery.org/can-alcoholics-drink-non-al... You pretend to represent the ideas of the majority over my comment that would be too general, but you clearly look like to be a special case of a particular fan of NA beer for whatever reason. <<I have been asking for more NA beers of every small producer I know of and have been making them deliver them to me, across Europe>> In Europe, no NA beer tastes anything like a real non-industrial European beer. And by non industrial I mean anything not like kro, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, 1664, ... That are clearly not known for their tastes.
    - touisteur 5y ago
      I pretend nothing of the sort. I was asking what was your point of reference for recovering alcoholic. I have a good one, being one and having done the whole AA and other methods. This AA opinion states several arguments for and against. And talks about competitive drinking? That's your point of reference? Substitutes can help in the social aspect of being a non drinker, and also maybe you can have NA beer without relapsing. I'll take my recovery advice from a doctor or a sponsor, not someone who's found an article on the net. My points stand. You clearly don't know enough about European beers I'll drop this thread. Just try and drink some brewdog punk af or some brooklyn af or some of the delicious Polish AF IPAs I've had. You may want to open your mind to what exists or, please, show your work and cite the ones that you tried and were so bad you can't call them 'beers'.

greatgib 5y ago

I seriously never heard of anyone that was addicted to the "taste" of beer so much that they would need an alternative. At the opposite, I know close to no one that is a beer drinker and that would drink an alcohol-free beer. In all cases, it is almost always better to drink something else. Alcohol-free beer are targeting persons that don't normally drink alcohol. It is like if you would say a person loving "burgers" would appreciate to temporarily eat "meat-free" burgers when they can't eat "meat", just to have the "taste" of a burger... Looking at your examples, I don't think that they are correct: if you are pregnant, even alcoholic-free beer is probably still a shitty drink for you. If you are a "recovering alcoholic", you would probably avoid everything that will give you the "brain feeling" and the "habit" of drinking any alcohol. To say that you are "tasty" alternatives, you are probably North American, because alcohol-free might taste like american beers, but at least nothing like tasteful Europeans beers.

astrange 5y ago
American beers don't taste like they used to. They're mostly IPAs that taste like eating a shoe.
touisteur 5y ago
I'm not American and I'm not sure why you think you can talk for all pregnant women (or maybe pregnant women), or for all recovering alcoholics (what's with the quotes?) or for all beer amateurs. I am giving you an example of why those 2 categories of people might crave the taste and feeling of beer. I suggest you take that anecdata and try and open your mind to other people's tastes. Also, not everyone is a beer snob, and can still like beer. Not everyone has to know the whole gamut of stout to ipa to lager to ale. Some people (I'm guessing most people, judging by the sales of kronenburg and Heineken) just like the general taste of beer. It rings like a discussion with our wine snobs that can't imagine someone liking the refreshing taste of a rosé (most French people I know that like wine also like rosé and yes they don't worry so much about le millésime, la robe, le cépage of their bbq drink)... I can guarantee they enjoy it a lot. Recovering alcoholics might crave the feeling of being refreshed and would probably prefer that drink to a 'water' or coke. What do you know about coping with alcoholism. Do my 10 years dry count? It's hard enough to police oneself without people having opinions on what I should drink... The fact that I can go meet friends, colleagues, business contacts in a pub and not drink while avoiding the shit question is good for recovery. The thing is you can get non alcoholic beer throughout Europe I restaurants and supermarkets (do Poland, Portugal, France and Germany count?) and they're getting better and better every year. As to your point about... burgers? It's getting more and more shunned to get shitfaced for lunch, yes even in France, and maybe you can have the 2 or 3 beers at noon with your meal and still drive (well, no...), work (good luck of anyone smells wine on your breath), etc. No, just because you 'can' drink, should you be only drinking an alcoholic beverage. I have been asking for more NA beers of every small producer I know of and have been making them deliver them to me, across Europe, sometimes across the pond. There are very good NA beers, far tastier and refreshing or interesting than the generic beer.
- greatgib 5y ago
  Just read this for example: https://www.amethystrecovery.org/can-alcoholics-drink-non-alcoholic-beer/ https://www.amethystrecovery.org/can-alcoholics-drink-non-al... You pretend to represent the ideas of the majority over my comment that would be too general, but you clearly look like to be a special case of a particular fan of NA beer for whatever reason. <<I have been asking for more NA beers of every small producer I know of and have been making them deliver them to me, across Europe>> In Europe, no NA beer tastes anything like a real non-industrial European beer. And by non industrial I mean anything not like kro, Carlsberg, Kronenbourg, 1664, ... That are clearly not known for their tastes.
  - touisteur 5y ago
    I pretend nothing of the sort. I was asking what was your point of reference for recovering alcoholic. I have a good one, being one and having done the whole AA and other methods. This AA opinion states several arguments for and against. And talks about competitive drinking? That's your point of reference? Substitutes can help in the social aspect of being a non drinker, and also maybe you can have NA beer without relapsing. I'll take my recovery advice from a doctor or a sponsor, not someone who's found an article on the net. My points stand. You clearly don't know enough about European beers I'll drop this thread. Just try and drink some brewdog punk af or some brooklyn af or some of the delicious Polish AF IPAs I've had. You may want to open your mind to what exists or, please, show your work and cite the ones that you tried and were so bad you can't call them 'beers'.