This one is my favorite, but sadly limited release. I hope it comes back!
Also a big fan of the peach gose and Blonde. Those are not limited, thankfully.
I wasnāt too impressed with the hefe. It was under their older marketing/label, so Iām going to assume it was just a bit beyond its date. Lighter styles can taste really great fresh, but get dull quickly.
They released a Pils this week, so i now have that and some more Hazy Ipa on the way.
Oops, i need to stop ordering more and drink what i have. 20% coupon means i an buying two cases to get the free shipping so i have a bit of a stockpile now.
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Well, more than 3 months have come and gone on top of a mostly drink free December. Down 27 pounds, no more BP or reflux meds. Its gone by fast, and I mostly donāt miss it at all. I knew it was having an increasing effect on sleep quality and anxiety, but it was really hard to realize the extent of that as it happened so gradually. While I had been focused on reducing and avoiding the heavy drinking outings on the weekends for some time, those 2-3 daily drinks during the week were just as much of an issue.
I had a conversation with a close friend on this, someone who moved away that was a good drinking buddy. He seemed sober curious as it seems he is about where I was at a year or two ago, starting to notice having rough Mondays after a long Saturday out drinking. He shared he thought life would be weird to quit as alcohol had been such a regular part of life and social outingsā¦again, a thought I had a year or two ago. I struggled with the idea of quitting, but at the same time was also fairly confident that if I got through a few weeks or more without it, I may never look back.
I wont say the last three months have been easy, but they have not been anywhere near as hard as I thought they would be. To be honest, not having actual alcohol seems like easiest part of it. The hardest part seems to be navigating all the alcohol in society. Joining work happy hours, having ādrinksā with friends, feeling the need to explain my choice not to drink any more. It just feels a bit awkward.
Good NA beer options makes it a lot easier. Partake is a great, hope to see more of what they have to offer. The bar my SO and I go to had 5-6 varieties the last time we were there. A local brewery has added to their lineup a few NA options. Blue Moon NA, Guinness 0 are both goodā¦I think all I really need at this point is for Bells to come out with an NA version of their two hearted ale.
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A friend and I did a side-by-side taste test of regular and 0 Guinness. I thought regular tasted a little smoother, he thought 0 tasted a little smoother, but I bet neither of us could identify which it was if one was given to us blind.
Guinness and Blue Moon (with an orange) are both pretty good versions of the real thing.
Initially, I found a lot of the other NAs watery and disappointing. There is a good chance my tastes have evolved in the last 3 months and the mouthfeel or whatever came with the regular beers is something I have forgotten. Partake might very well be watery such that if it was the first NA that I had, I might have a different view of them. Their Pils is really nice.
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I think my colitis has been doing better with no alcohol for ~11 months now. Itās hard to say, Iāll have a string of a few terrible days and then a few good days and then a bunch of average ones.
But it seems the balance is veering more positively. Just this week I needed to go to a doctorās appointment, didnāt specifically use the restroom (which sometimes would be 2-3 uses) before leaving, didnāt use it upon arriving or leaving the doctor, stopped to pick up food, didnāt use their restroom, drove home. Total time out of the house around 2.5 hours, and I was definitely getting anxiety from the situation but was intentionally pushing myself.
While I always have good and bad days, there have been times my average day would have involved 2-4 bathroom trips in the above story. Often including a gas station and, occasionally, a stop in the woods on the side of the road.
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Clausthaler N/A grapefruit: like a summer shandy, enjoyable for what it is
Clausthaler N/A IPA: Meh. Acceptable.
Athletic Lite: Definitely a light beer, but acceptable for 25 calories. Nothing exciting but will be good after mowing the lawn to come in and crack a cold one.
As the weather warms, Iāve really been enjoying Stella Artois NA.
Bought a Brewdog and Brooklyn NA mix pack a few weeks ago. Both are enjoyable. Brooklyn was better, they advertise < 100 calories while Brewdog seemed like it had a bit of an odd flavor almost like a fake sweetener, but had lower advertised calories. Partake still seems like the best overall in terms of hitting a beer style properly.
Sober Carpenter has also been good for heavier IPA styles.
i have a minor league liver thing. alcohol can make it go bad and it really aggravates the GI tract when it does. Iād think 0 is by far the best way to go.
I just looked up pictures from June 2023 just before I stopped drinkingā¦ and I have zero pictures of myself from then until December, where Iād lost perhaps 30 of my 50 pounds.
The difference just from June to December is startling but then flipping ahead to May 2024 is even more. I go from looking like shit, overweight but also that classic āalcohol bloatā that you can see, eyes somewhat glassy, bad skin. And now I have a slight six-pack, relatively little muscle everywhere but not nothing and whatās there is well-defined, I have rosacea but itās controlled with just one small zit annoying me today, whereas before I had some persistent deep acne, my jawline and overall demeanor are completely different.
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IFYP? 
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lol yep
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I have an NA beer night once a week (should be more but itās a start). Found out that Heineken 0.0 doesnāt last that well (3 months or so). Stella and Samuel Adams still good though.
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I finally finished off my 60 Partake beers. I think theyāre my favorite, because theyāre so low calorie but still pretty decent flavors. Also tried a Stella NA last weekend for the first time, which I liked.
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Iāve had an extremely stressful two months, the good news is Iāve had zero urge to have a drink, and only I think one dream involving drinking.
I donāt think it will ever be a good idea for me to try consuming moderately. I feel like getting through this without even wanting to use alcohol as a crux is a big step for me.
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Went to a camping event with ~40 people and was frequently offered drinks. It helped that my parents were there and while theyāve no idea my issues, they know I donāt drink because it upsets my stomach, which is also true. Having a drink wouldnāt have caused any concern but they would have noted I was unusually drinking. Just sipped a kombucha I bought on the way, and decided to leave for home when it got dark and people were drinking heavily.
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Only you know really know the issues you have had (and your partner, to some extent). I donāt think it matters or should matter to anyone else if you are drinking or not.
Iāll tell people I gave up drinking if it happens to come up. There are plenty of health benefits to quitting, and generally feeling better and having more energy will not be surprising to anyone that drinks regularly. Iāll share an NA beer if they are interested. Maybe someone you talk to is sober curious.
It feels awkward at first. I was golfing at an event with some coworkers. When it came time to stop in at the turn for drinks, I had NA beer. Just said I was curious how I would feel if I switched generally to NA beers and I preferred that. A few others then discussed their own drinking habits. It was no big deal. Everyone had 2-3 beers. There was some bad golf the next hour or so after lunch. I would have been with them a year ago. No one was drunk, but it was a reminder of just that crappy feeling that comes with even 2 drinks once you stop.
Weekend BBQ, just drank NAs. No one said anything, or even knew otherwise. I guess they could have asked what I was drinking, and I would have shared, and it may have felt awkward for a minute, and we all would have moved on after that.
My son came home from his restuarant job absolutely pissed at one of the waitresses. They were slammed (big holiday here) and the waitress made more than a few catastrophic mistakes. Including mixing up a drink order and serving alcohol to someone whoād been dry for 3 months. The patron was distraught.
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It depends on the person. Family donāt know anything. My default explanation is āI pretty much donāt drink anymore because it aggravates my colitis.ā With individuals, I sometimes explicitly disclose my SUD. Iāve had more than a few friends reveal they are on various points of the SUD spectrum ranging from āI decided that binging every other weekend wasnāt sustainableā to more like the experience I lived.
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