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I was going to start this thread in January as reading the Dry January thread it appeared that a lot of people weren’t particularly happy with the amounts of alcohol they were drinking. I have waited until the forum performance has settled down (good job STW staff!) to start a conversation and perhaps help others.
To start with, my honest history as described on other threads over the years. I started drinking alcohol at 13, at that time it was perfectly acceptable to go into pubs and if you didn’t cause any trouble you would get served, there was one local pub where on a Friday the back room was full of fifth and sixth formers and also we had regular discos in various locations, organised by fellow pupils with double decker buses for transport. Heavy drinking was the norm with some friends sometimes waking up under a table when disturbed by the cleaner in the morning! A lot of those went on to develop severe problems and a lot died early. I worked in a pub in my spare time from 15 doing the cellar and working behind the bar, sometimes serving teachers..
I then joined the Fire Service at 18 where heavy drinking was expected, helped along by ex-forces personnel, we even had bars on the stations… Over the years I developed a huge capacity for beer drinking!
During lockdown, now well retired, I started brewing my own beer, very successfully, too successfully, and then on St Patrick’s day two years ago I was providing evening transport for my wife and when I got home didn’t have a beer. I stopped drinking at home and limited intake on the few occasions that I went out. On May the 7th last year I had two pints whilst out with my wife for our first date anniversary (1976!) and have had nothing since.
Since I stopped, a bit like a reformed smoker, I notice the insidious way that alcohol is promoted in our society, sometimes deliberately and sometimes just because how ingrained it has become in our society.
Celebration? Have a drink! Bereavement? Have a drink! Bank holiday? Have a drink! Feeling low or had enough with work? Have a drink!
You get the picture, it’s a culture and a crutch reinforced in many ways, on the radio and tv and also by politicians - witness the extended opening hours on VE day, in my view not a positive way to remember the sacrifices made.
I noted in the Dry January thread that people were under peer pressure to carry on drinking from family members, this probably speaks volumes about the problems these people were having too, my wife stopped drinking before me and my friends are understanding and also drastically reduced their intake too. Alcohol free beer has helped me as I love the taste of beer and it has helped with the anticipation. Weirdly I now associate them with the relaxation that I used to get from alcohol. I started losing weight straight away although I have never been that heavy, sleep has always been good but I’m now dreaming a lot more (not always a good thing given the job I did) and I’m generally more positive.
I FEEL FREE! I don’t have to stockpile beer to make sure I don’t run out and I can glide smugly past the piles of alcohol on special offer in the shop's.
Sorry for the long thread (I’ve used paragraphs this time), I hope this can help people, I include some links to articles that have helped me. Take care y’all.
I could have posted a very similar thread myself. You're right that the UK is obsessed with alcohol. It's completely unavoidable.
I've switched to 0% beer and IPA. I'm enjoying working my way through them figuring out what's good and what's not.
It satisfies my urge to sit with a beer in my hand during all the occasions you mentioned above but there are no negative side effects. I feel much better and have no desire to touch the alcoholic version.
Got to keep the masses sedated or they get all revolutionary.
Ironically, given my inability to resist anything else or do anything by halves, alcohol has always been an easy thing to keep within reasonable intake for me. I do love a pint with friends after a bike ride, but I'm not fussed about drinking at home. Like all things, moderation is key.
Your second paragraph I suspect many will relate to. Where my experience differs from yours is that working behind a bar put me off binge drinking. I continued moderate social drinking but then working on a campsite put me off more and I became an occasional social drinker of fine wines. Then I stopped conning myself that a glass of good wine now and then was good for me and stopped.
I tried Guinness Zero for the first time this week. Whilst I'm not a particular fan of Guinness, as folk have said on other threads it is surprisingly good.
I've also developed a taste for Guinness Zero, the problem now is that I'm happy to drink more than I did my homebrew and the double whammy of more volume and high price is costing me more. I'm a habitual drinker, by that I mean I want a drink to hand out of habit, it doesn't need to be alcoholic, but in recent years it often is.
So, what are the other low/no alcoholic options to satisfy my habit? Guinness Zero is good, ideally I'm looking for:
cold drink - not tea etc.
Not sweet.
Not expensive - If it costs more than Guinness, I may as well just stick with that.
Doesn't need to be a beer.
Any suggestions?
I work with some very middle class people who are unable to open a bottle of wine and just have one glass from it. If it's open they have to finish it. I understand the motivation at work but caring for my god-children whilst a good family friend dried out and then relapsed and drank herself to death all in a year.
That was a sobering experience (pun not intended).
Whoops, sorry folks, I'm off to the local micro pub shortly. Not been out to a pub since before Christmas - something to do with breaking my pelvis. We're only going for a couple as MrsF has been stuck in for three weeks with a broken foot - did it just as I was out of crutches.
cold drink - not tea etc.
Not sweet.
Not expensive - If it costs more than Guinness, I may as well just stick with that.
Doesn't need to be a beer.
Any suggestions?
Water?
My Mrs is 8 months pregnant with #2 and other than the odd beer here and there, I don't miss it. It's surprising considering how much of a boozehound I was in my 20's.
I know she is gagging to get a cold glass of white down her throat once babb is out and I'm looking forward to joining her but I've proved to myself that I can live without it... I'd rather smoke a joint these days (well, vape it!).
Guinness Zero is a great lifesaver for having an "adult" drink when you don't want a sweet 'n fizzy drink... I do begrudge paying £6 for it poured out of a can for after a Weds night thrash with the local MTB club tho!
Any suggestions?
I'm quite the fan of not-Vimto Vimto cordials at the moment. They do a citrus one and another which is a bit like Lilt.
Barley Water is another good go-to.
Water?
I shouldn't really have to say this here but, water with a SIS tablet or equivalent thrown into it? It's what I take to bed in a bottle at nights. (Historically I've always taken a glass of water, but the cats would have it over.)
Got to keep the masses sedated or they get all revolutionary.
I'm all up for a bit of anarchic revolution, comrade, but it's not as if the upper classes drink any less than the plebs.
I'm heading in that direction. I have cut right down on the amount I drink at home. Two or three small cans of beer at most over the whole weekend and nothing in the week. I used to have a few beers and/or glasses of red wine every night of the week. My partial abstinence is helped by a sudden and recent inability to drink even a glass of red wine without it making me feel rough the next day.
Cutting down like this happened gradually without me consciously deciding to and it doesn't feel like any great hardship.
However, I have a few weekends away with a group of good mates every year which do involve a lot of social lubrication. I would find it very hard to go to these and not drink. For all the obvious and not entirely valid reasons. Fear of being the odd one out, fear of not enjoying it as much without a few drinks, knowledge that without a beer or two inside me I can feel a bit awkward in social situations. One of these mates confided to me recently that he's considering going teetotal, but shares the same worries! Maybe they all do, but you know blokes - we don't talk about shit like that!
I quit drinking in 2018. Similar to others I have become very aware of how alcohol is presented in society. Mrs 10 and I both stopped, she has alcoholic family members. Some of whom lost their lives or sanity through excessive alcohol consumption. Drunk people are quite dull to talk to so I don't go to pubs these days. Just to places where there is something to do other than drink. Golf, pool hall etc. Occasionally I'll have a 0.0 beer, but mostly now I just have water or unsweetened ice tea.
If you need beer inside you to enjoy yourself with mates perhaps it’s time to find new ones? - That’s perhaps too glib an answer and not serious, as pointed out in the first article above the first drink of alcohol does cut your inhibitions and make socialising easier. After that though it leads to a loss of control, have a sober look around a pub and see the effect it has on some people. Some get louder, some get argumentative, some get morose and some get aggressive. If you want to pack in or cut down then do it quietly, don’t make a big deal, you don’t have to justify it to anyone except yourself.
Have to say I have a similar story, not from such a young age, but slightly older i guess, think I was 15/16 when i started which looking back coincided with my mum getting cancer.
By the time I was 20 I was a functioning alcoholic, unable to not have a drink by midday, "ah its 5 o'clock somewhere", its only a couple with lunch" among many other excuses to just have a beer.
Nights out where id get paralytic drunk just to essentially run away from the situation at home. She passed when i was 20 and i got into an emotionally abusive relationship and my drinking just got worse and worse.
I'm 41 now and hardly drink, I just don't feel the need anymore, I've had to back away from some friendships who normalised the drinking and didn't understand why I didn't want to drink.
I drove to the last wedding we went to and whilst chatting to a mate he turned round and said "I honestly don't know how you aren't drinking, I wouldn't know what to say if I wasn't drunk" which speaks volumes about their mental state.
I feel so much healthier without drinking and i wake up in the morning without headaches or just the general lethargy that comes from having a beer or two.
The 0% beers are getting better, the 0% corona are nice with the bbq.
If you need beer inside you to enjoy yourself with mates perhaps it’s time to find new ones?
I don't NEED it, but it makes it easier, and that's down to my social awkwardness and other character flaws not theirs. So no, I won't be finding new mates. We don't get lairy, morose or fight. We don't get drunk at all. We have a fun couple of days hill walking, mountain biking and shooting the shit in the evenings over nice beer. We are all in our 50s and 60s and have the self control to drink socially and enjoy it without being dicks.
I'd really miss that. I do realise that not everyone has that self control so complete abstinence might be a better option for them. As I say, at all other times I can pretty much do without. So at the moment, I'm happy to be drinking a lot less, but don't yet feel I need or want to give it up completely. That may change in future.
I like Guiness Zero and often have it if I need to ride home afterwards, the price is outrageous given most of beers price it tax, which they presumably don't have to pay.
I packed in proper drinking when the kids came along, 22 years ago. Luckily I find it easy to go out and have just 1 or 2, but even now I'm often switching to low/no alcohol.
Struggle to understand why people would pay so much to feel so rough the next day. Seeing my lad and his friends having a much more occasional relationship with alcohol than we did at their age is interesting. His sister will go out with friends and have enough to get tipsy, but says her older friends have come back from uni with tales of drunken excess that have put her off overdoing it. That may change....
I drank quite a bit from 15 to 50s. Sometimes just a few pints in a week sometimes a lot more. Starting to get bad sleep and tight chest after booze so stopped completely last February.
It's weird how many folk think it's strange and as noted above everything is have a drink. Only now does it seem really strange.
Downside is I'm now designated driver.
Williams bros alcohol free stuff is pretty good and much cheaper than most af beers
https://williamsbrosbrew.com/collections/alcohol-free
Still enjoying my moderate drinking in my mid 60s After all moderate drinkers live longer.
https://snowdon.substack.com/p/the-surprisingly-controversial-benefits
I have the odd 0% beer as well. Peroni is good but pricey. Aldi do a pack of 6 Rheinbacher pilsners for around £3.60.
My brother-in-law and a couple of friends drank themselves to death so I don't deny some people are better not drinking. Maybe I was lucky that in my 20s when a lot of people get into heavy drinking habits I worked shifts where drinking was not an option for half the month. On my weekend off I was more liable to be away outdoors than in the pub.
That article is nearly 10 years out of date, irc. Since then the WHO has declared that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
(click English if it appears in French)
And even the French know the French paradox is bollocks. 🙂
Recently passed the 2 years dry mark. 100% glad I quit. I’ve got so much more time to do stuff, love being present and lucid for what ever comes along and sleep so much better.
Not had a drink for over 3 years now and all the better for it. I was a frequent drinker and it was a habit for me. When I got in from work and I was thirsty, I would usually open a can from the fridge, watching a match then have a beer, sitting out in the garden on a nice night then have a beer, didn’t have a drink last night so I will have one tonight etc etc. I was probably having 2-3 cans most nights but couldn’t tell you when I was last drunk as I was not a binge drinker and didn’t touch spirits (other than the odd, large poured, gin. When at the supermarket I would buy more based on price, buying what was on offer and that was usually the multi pack so there was always a drink in the house. If it was running out I would probably go for more before I started to drink just to be sure I had some in rather than have the last 2 and not be able to drive for more if I wanted it. Often I would be driving/collecting the kids at night but would probably still have a drink when finished later in the evening, as I would think I had earned it, rather than just skipping a night
then I got Covid, along with the wife so had to stay in for 5 days and couldn’t get ant drink. Then I was still not feeling great so went to 2 weeks with no drink, then came my light bulb moment. Why did I drink? No idea really, it’s just what people do isn’t it? so I just stopped. I have never said I won’t ever have another drink and might well do, but for me why would I? Now my thing/habit is tea. I make a nice cuppa with tea leaves when I get in from work, or sit in the garden, or watch a match. I find it quite therapeutic making it from leaves and trying different leaves. I never bothered with alcohol free beer because if I want a beer I would just have one but am a bit worried it may lead to bad habits returning if I am honest. That said I have been enjoying a few alcohol free shandy’s in the hot evenings recently…..what a light weight eh, an alcohol free shandy 🤣
Since then the WHO has declared that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.
Bear in mind that the same WHO also declared that COVID was not airborne. They are not the reliable source of information we think they are.
Bear in mind that the same WHO also declared that COVID was not airborne.
COVID was novel and little understood at the beginning of the pandemic. No one had all, or even any of the answers.
They are not the reliable source of information we think they are.
No one is infallible, who do you think is a more reliable source? To misquote churchill. "WHO are the worst source of international health data, except for all the others". Unless you "do your own research"?
Just joining this thread.
I've not been a heavy drinker for 20 years, but have been a regular drinker. So 2 pints after work on a Friday, 3 or 4 Saturday night, another couple as part of the dog walk on a Sunday, maybe a glass of wine midweek. So no one day of excess, but a good amount of volume and a regularity that I'm not overly comfortable with.
So a couple of weeks ago I decided to stop. Not sure if this is forever, but it is for today and yesterday. I've got a couple of nights out in the coming weeks that normally involve wine that I'll need to navigate and a holiday to Italy which will also need some thought.
So there we are, we'll see how it goes.
It's been nearly 500 days since my last drink and I wish I'd realised how much better life is without booze. I was in denial for a long time about my drinking habits and the effects it was having on my life. It's not always easy but I know this is the right path. I know my daughter is happy to have a sober dad too so I won't go back.
So, what are the other low/no alcoholic options to satisfy my habit? Guinness Zero is good, ideally I'm looking for:
Fizzy water with ice and a healthy squeeze of fresh lime. It has a sort of 'bite', provided by the cold/ice, the fizz and the lime, which sort of replaces the 'bite' of an alcoholic drink. It's a very refreshing and pleasant alternative.
Guinness Zero is the other obvious replacement, I've given up on other non-alcoholic equivalents as I generally didn't enjoy them.
My drinking is very 'middle class alcoholic' as mentioned above, last night I opened a nice bottle of red that somebody bought me for my birthday and ended up putting away 2/3rds of it, sleeping like crap, and now spending the morning fighting cravings for crap food.
That's the biggest issue for me, not my overall alcohol intake (probably not a great deal over the mythical 14 units) but the bad behaviours it promotes, one drink leads to three drinks and then a family sized bag of crisps chased with a share bag of chocolate treats. If quitting or severely limiting booze intake can help eradicate the other habits I'm winning!
I can relate to a lot of what has been said in this thread. I have never had a full-blown problem with alcohol but from personal experience I can see how easy it can be to fall into that trap. Low and no alcohol beers have been a bit of a revelation for me over the past couple of years and I barely drink nowadays.
Excellent @lunge and @Mister-P it’s a year today that I had my last beer. We’re going to a wedding in a pub today and I’m looking forward to it, I’ve not got to make any decisions about how much I drink and can relax. It’s a freedom to be enjoyed- I can also plan with certainty a ride very early tomorrow morning!
but the bad behaviours it promotes, one drink leads to three drinks and then a family sized bag of crisps
Habit of a lifetime for me too.
Habit of a lifetime for my dad also. He has just had a quadruple heart bypass...
I have been mostly sober this year, I have drunk at holidays, or when we have guests round. Its got to the point where I don't look forward to breaking my sobriety, but I do enjoy the drink. However it reinforces my decision, the hangovers don't help (or more, missing the feeling of energy), and my non-existent 'stop' button.
I have lost weight, my fitness has improved massively, and after the times I have drunk, I look forward to the sessions of sobriety. I don't bother with AF beer, they're just expensive, unecessary and often poor substitues, just a glass of water or peppermint tea is adequate.
The strongest urges (e.g. this bank holiday weekend) tend to occu at about 5 / 6pm when I think 'its a BH, I've been working hard in the garden, I deserve a beer', but in fact its the opposite, having a beer is the worst thing you could do, your body deserves a well nourished break. Once your past that initial urge, its done.
Alcohol was always expensive when I was young. My paternal family were all heavy drinkers and I'm surprised my two uncles are still alive.
This meant I didn't drink as much as others in my 20s (was a bit of a cider fiend in my teens). Then in the late 2000's I got fatigue syndrome and gave up alcohol. Luckily people accept that I don't drink.
Recently I've noticed a trend to become teetotal or just have the odd one at the weekend or on special occasions.
Recently I've noticed a trend to become teetotal or just have the odd one at the weekend or on special occasions
Maybe we are getting to an age (I am generalising the audience of STW here) where we realise that we've used more than 50% of our time on this planet and drinking eats into the remaining time too much?
Fizzy water with ice and a healthy squeeze of fresh lime. It has a sort of 'bite', provided by the cold/ice, the fizz and the lime, which sort of replaces the 'bite' of an alcoholic drink. It's a very refreshing and pleasant alternative.
Good call this. Lime cordial (bar lime) with fizzy water, very cold, is also pretty good. Bit of sugar, bit of bite as you put it, and not as expensive as non-alcoholic alcohol.
More like 75% for most of us, Mister-P, you must be one of the youngest regulars on chat. 😉
My go to soft drink is apple cider vinegar in sparkling water. It’s got a real kick and is good for your mitochondria!
My go to soft drink is apple cider vinegar in sparkling water. It’s got a real kick and is good for your mitochondria!
Interrrrrrresting! Have been reading some other benefits of ACV...
It's been a week since I last had a smoke. To my surprise I was averaging 12g of weed a week over the last four months.
Honestly don't feel any different other than my lung capacity has improved.
In other news Munich's best lived brewery, Augustiner, has brought out an alcohol free Helles beer. Lots trace about it, but I think I tastes crap.
I enjoyed the wedding with AF Guinness and Peroni, toasting the bride and groom with water. Had a splendid time! It's now a year today and I don’t intend starting again.
More like 75% for most of us, Mister-P, you must be one of the youngest regulars on chat. 😉
Damn, 63% done already. Kinda wish I hadn't worked that out.
COVID was novel and little understood at the beginning of the pandemic.
Try this for WHO being misguided and trying to control the narrative away from airborne transmission https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00244-7/fulltext
The nub of it is this:
Strong and consistent evidence for a predominantly airborne mode of transmission emerged early in the pandemic4 but was denied or downplayed by WHO and national public health bodies for years.
Not my research but specialists in that field.
After all moderate drinkers live longer.
Wasn't this research proved to be flawed as the non-drinkers group included people who had previously been drinkers?
Well done on being honest about your previous habit, it’s not easy. As previously mentioned around this time last year I retired due to mental health and has been very heavily alcohol dependent. This I have reduced considerably but still drink and still occasionally have a session or a binge.
You’re absolutely spot on with how society promotes alcohol, it partly the reason I haven’t stopped altogether but that said I continue as I do like alcoholic drinks. I limited myself to 3 pints if out 99% of the time and don’t drink every day.
Fizzy water with ice and a healthy squeeze of fresh lime. It has a sort of 'bite', provided by the cold/ice, the fizz and the lime, which sort of replaces the 'bite' of an alcoholic drink. It's a very refreshing and pleasant alternative.
Good call this. Lime cordial (bar lime) with fizzy water, very cold, is also pretty good. Bit of sugar, bit of bite as you put it, and not as expensive as non-alcoholic alcohol.
Robinsons do a Lime & Mint Cordial, that works really well with Soda or Tonic water and feels like you're having something a bit "fancy"
@Drac this thread was intended just to encourage and help as I said, I noticed people on the dry January thread who needed a bit of encouragement and guidance.
To the critical, I posted a selection of links for folk to read for a bit of background, whilst the science may not be perfect, the general consensus is to that alcohol isn’t good for you!
It’s a great thread hopefully it will help a few reduce or stop.
Reporting back in with good news and a couple of small wins for me.
Saturday, sun shining, took the dog to the beer garden. Had 2 0% IPA's and had as good a time as I'd have had drinking "proper" beer. Turns out I still like pubs and still like a sunny beer garden even when there's no booze involved.
Sunday, out for lunch, normally a bottle of wine, sometimes 2. Mrs Lunge had 2 glasses of wine, I had a lime and soda and a 0% beer. Again, had a lovely time, no issues at all.
Both of these were scenarios I'd been concerned about how I'd enjoy sober. Turns out neither were an issue. The next 2 challenge are a holiday in Italy which would normally be very wine heavy, and a trip to a Michelin starred restaurant where the tasting menu would always be accompanied with the tasting wine. Will report back on how those go.
And to the person who suggested a dash of apple cider vinegar in sparkling water, thank you, it's bloody lovely.
We went to see “Warhorse” in Nottingham yesterday afternoon, fantastic! Had some nice food beforehand with a Lucky Saint .5% but it was over £5 for a small tin! The walk from and to the car park wasn’t so pleasant, the smell of vomit, urine and rotting takeaway food near to Rock City was quite something…
Fell off the waggon this weekend, and weirdly glad I did.
Stroll after work Friday, had 2 pints then went home. Had a crap nights sleep, woke up feeling a bit "meh".
Saturday went to the local street food place, again, 2 pints and went home. And again, woke up after a bad nights sleep feeling very "meh".
So I think that's settled it for me. I feel like I needed to remind myself what even a couple of beers does to my sleep and head the next morning. This weekend has done that.
Tha is one of the biggest issues I have with drinking; sleep. I have a hard enough problem staying asleep now as it is, but waking up at 3am either needing to pee (yes, at that age now) or because I have snored myself awake, is just not good.
Weekends and beer are, just now, difficult to avoid, but I have noticed that I am now regularly leaving the socialising early and going to bed after a couple of beers. Even that is enough to make me feel a bit crap the next day. Weekdays are better (I don't drink during the week), but my sleep is still terrible.
Similar to @lunge - i've not had any alcohol in a couple of years. I was at a birthday party this weekend and had a couple of glasses of champagne. Didn't feel great yesterday....it just reinforces the fact as to why i gave it up in the first place! Quite pleasant at the time, but don't miss the feeling the following day whatsoever.
My name's Qwerty and I'm 20 days sober.
Current tipple of choice is Lidls finest lemon iced tea which can easily look like a pint of ale or a small spirit.
I had my first pub beers* in a while on Saturday afternoon. It was warm, atmosphere was good and, more importantly, the pub was selling my favourite beer - DarkNess, so I gave in to temptation. One became two became three, but I extricated myself at that point to go home and eat. Strangely enough, I didn't really suffer any after-effects other than a poorer sleep. I still managed to get up and run 18km though. In a weird way, maybe I'd have been better waking up with a thick head as it might have helped stave off future temptation 😂
* (Other than two cans of Hazy Jane when out for a bivvy with Piemonster I can't recall my last alcoholic drink)
I did dry January and enjoyed it, and for Feb/March I was doing pretty well at drinking in moderation.
I have definitely gone backwards to old habits over the past few weeks though. I need to sort it out.
How’s it going for you all? It’s Sunday morning, any of you thinking it would be better without a hangover?
It is!
Sobriety isn’t a magic solution to the problems that we all have to deal with throughout life but it does make dealing with them easier, my mental state has been so much better in the last year and a bit since I stopped drinking.
Difficult in the holiday period and the warm weather but give it a try, you might be surprised how good you feel and realise that you don’t need alcohol to have fun!
Very similar start to drinking to the original post here. Very poor relationship with alcohol, highlighted by numerous occasions getting absolutely paralytic and being sick so much I haemorrhaged my throat.
However, I caught a viral form of hepatitis from poor drinking water while working on a ship that led to me having to give up drink for 2 years in my late 20s. That broke the dependency for me. The hepatitis still lives on in my liver and rears it's ugly head whenever I get run down, so it has generally kept me away from regular drinking for over 20 years.
Saying that, it took me a long time to get away from the occasional binge when "out out".
I'm now in the place where I rarely drink. Maybe a glass of bubbly on birthdays/anniversary, but that is mostly it.
I have found that nights out with colleagues and friends are frequently "difficult" to get into the swing of things, but that's the price you pay.
It has been so long, I can't point to any health benefits, but I would recommend pushing alcohol consumption down to the point where it isn't regular.
That way, it is super nice when you do have a couple of glasses of whatever and you get that low level buzz/relaxation easily without any real effect the next day.
I am rapidly approaching 18 months sober and have no intention of drinking ever again. I wake up much happier with who I am these days and I am not giving that up.
I'm on amitriptyline for nerve pain and was advised to avoid alcohol, that was about two months ago, I can't say I've noticed any difference not drinking though I didn't drink too much really, a very small glass of whisky each evening. Now I drink slimline tonic water chilled with a drop of apple juice with ginger, trouble is the amitriptyline makes me thirsty so I drink more volume and that often gets me up in the night!
Hot weather makes it compulsory to have a barbecue or visit a beer garden and drink to excess?
It isn’t necessary to have the alcohol part to enjoy it, there are lots of alcohol free drinks available, I picked up some Kronenberg and Thatchers zero today from Tesco to enjoy in the sun (probably shade) even Wimbledon had Stella zero on draught this year.
Drink less and keep yourself safe!
Erdinger alcohol free wheat beer on offer at Tesco, four, 500ml cans for £6.
When on holiday I always used to search out local brews, now I look for local alcohol free brews. I found these in Tesco’s Porthmadog, brewed in Swansea. Very nice they are too!
I went to a family event on Sunday - in my favourite brewery!
I had Erdinger, some good laughs, enjoyed the food immensely, and drove home. I think that I’ve cracked it 😁😁😁
When on holiday I always used to search out local brews, now I look for local alcohol free brews. I found these in Tesco’s Porthmadog, brewed in Swansea. Very nice they are too!
Looks like there's an interesting story there. The address of Drop Bears is that of Tomos Watkins brewery, beer I've enjoyed many times over the years. According the the internet, TW were bought out by Drop Bears a couple of years ago. Not bad for a company that claim to have been developed in a kitchen just before Covid. (Although, when I worked in food development, anything I worked on would have started in my development kitchen, just not a domestic kitchen!)