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A year without beer.

· 4 min read

Each year I challenge myself to give up a single food or beverage for the year. In 2022 I gave up alcohol.

Courtesy of MJ

Here's a breakdown of the challenges I've done up to now:

  • 2016 = 🍕 no pizza
  • 2017 = 🍟 no chips / fries
  • 2018 = ☕ no coffee
  • This year (2022), 🍺 no alcohol

Previous years have been relatively straightforward, one can just not order particular foods or eat at certain restaurants; no questions asked. 2018 was only a little awkward during meetings or "coffee" meetups/mornings; only a couple of comments about drinking tea. None of the previous years have anything on how socially awkward it has been abstaining from alcohol. It is surprising how embedded into normal adult life having a drink is:

  • "Do you want a cigarrette?" ... "No thank you, I don't smoke" ... "Fare enough...
  • "Would you like to dance?" ... "Nah, I don't dance" ... "Ok, (bit boring but) nevermind" ...
  • "Do you want a beer? ... "No thanks, I don't drink" ... "Why, what's wrong with you?!" ...

2022 made for interesting conversations! My challenge was to abstain from alcohol, meaning beer was not entirely off limits thanks to many alcohol-free beers available. I wasn't particularly purist about 0% compared to 0.5% either since bread can have residual alcohols left in from the baking process (as much as 1.9% apparently!). While drinking AF beer all year I kept a record of many here.

Moving forward I would happily drink more AF beer over having a hangover, however pubs and bars really need to work on the range available. 2022 seems to have been a great year for the AF scene, there has been multiple successful crowdfunded raises for AF breweries, and even an AF tasting open nearby Covent Garden.

Bring on 2023 ... bread 🍞.

Highly Rated Alcohol-free beers 👍​

  1. Shipyard Low Tide (0.5%), available at Tesco, Morrison's etc. My fridge staple friday night beer replacement, seriously quaffable beer from the generous 500ml bottle.

  2. Big Drop, Paradise Citra IPA (0.5%), available at supermarkets and online. Just drink this, and any other big drop beer tbh, they're all spot on.

  3. Leffe (0.0%), available i supermarkets. Well substituted flavour for leffe, found that serving it at 2°C is best, though the size of the bottles is frustrating. I wish this was available in a regular leffe bottle!

  4. Brooklyn special effects (0.4%), available in supermarkets and on draught in pubs for those lucky enough to find them. This is indeed full of special effects, great to have as a cold pint.

  5. Big Drop Galactic Milk Stout (0.5%), available online/supermarkets. Possibly one of the best stouts I've had.

  6. Tiny Rebel clwb Tropica, Tropical IPA (0.5%), available at Waitrose. Fresh tropical taste with lingering bitter aftertaste. Great summer IPA.

Alcohol-free beers to avoid 👎​

There were loads in this list, I stopped keeping track tbh, though two noteworthy beers that I personally recommend to avoid, and knock out of the hands of anyone you see about to spoil their week.

  1. M&S Low ALC. Pale Ale (Adnam's brewery), available at M&S Food. A carbonated, malty and brown liquid that tastes just like an over-boiled beer should. Leave this on the shelf and consider hiding this from other potential customers if you ever see it.

  2. St Peter's Ale, Alcohol free. I really hope that this AF ale was invented years ago, and has somehow survived by being mistaken for pre-made ice tea. Seriously this has to be the worst beer I've ever had (including skunked homebrews). I would rather carbonate a cuppa (with the milk).