I got the Best Day Brewing West Coast IPA - will be breaking into that tonight. 65 Cals. I’m a big fan of WCIPAs
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First sip of the BDB WCIPA was a little skunky - but it quickly improved as I was getting through the glass. Not really a West Coast IPA, it lacked the grassy bitterness that I look for in WCIPAs, but a beer flavored NA nonetheless. Would buy again.
I am on the lookout for Deschutes Black Butte NA. Seems appropriate for the season and I am a fan of porters.
Are you mixing in the NAs to cut back or have you officially joined the club?
There will undoubtedly be a lot of dry Jan sales coming in a couple weeks, but there are some great ones you can find online that aren’t in the stores, and at least in my state, NAs can be shipped to your door just like anything else. I mentioned Go Brewing as a new favorite. I also have some of these as a gift that I am looking forward to enjoying for the holidays:
you didn’t ask me, but for clarity, im always on the cut back side. spacers and less is good for me overall and I know it. survived a weeklong work trip relying on the ubiquity of heineken 0.0 in brand name hotels (which is great progress for the NA crowd). always supporting those seeking true 0 though
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I think a year ago tomorrow might have been the last time I had a real (full abv) beer in a bar. I spent last December contemplating where I wanted to go with drinking. It was just a meet-up with a few coworkers that were in the office before everyone was out for the holidays. I nursed my way through a couple 4-5%s and finished with a pint of Guinness over the course of a couple hours.
At that point I had been experimenting with NAs for almost a month at home since that was really where my habits needed to change. That meet-up was really a big part of my decision to quit entirely. Nothing bad or embarrassing happened, but I recall getting about halfway through my second drink and my mind felt a bit scrambled in a way that I no longer liked. I had cut back quite a bit in the weeks prior to that, so I started my day and showed up at the bar feeling a lot of energy and mental clarity where the alcohol now was more of a detractor than enabler of being social. I guess it took creating some real distance from regular drinking to be able to make those types of observations effectively.
I do go back to that bar regularly since they now have at least a few craft NA options available, and pretty good food. It still feels a bit cheesy ordering them, so looking hoping for a further push of that into the mainstream in 2025, at least as an option for those just looking for the spacers. Tons of great potions out there now.
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New favorite to date - It tastes exactly like a very good czech pils. I wouldn’t be able to tell the ABV vs NA at all.
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had two of those on thanksgiving. BIL did HS in Bitburg and that’s his go-to beer. got some NA and some wA. Solid pills
It happened!
Mixed NA cases from Go Brewing at Costco!
One as a gift to my dad since he has been asking about the ones I have been keeping around my house, and more to share/keep the beer fridge stocked up.
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Nice my Costco has generally only had one of the Athletic Brewing NA 12 packs. They’re OK by not favorite, I keep waiting for them to rotate stock at some point as brands seem to come and go there.
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Keeping my self accountable here.
I over-did it last night. I am not happy with myself today. I don’t need to drink like that.
I do not remember posting the Chrismas tree 2024 thread. I remember that I turned on the lights, took the picture and the lady who offered to take my pix at the tree.
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appreciate the accountability. remember the fine line between accountability and counter-productive negative thoughts. no one “needs” to drink at all, let alone “like that”. but the worst thing (for me) when i over do it is that a “fun” time (and it had better be fun) starts the next day at some negative position. that frustrates me and is what i try to manage to avoid - today can’t ruin tomorrow. everyone is impacted differently and recovers differently.
good luck today.
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This feeling right here was my motivation to stop. I loved to drink. Loved to be buzzed. Kind of hated being wasted, but there were some fun moments in there. But the shame of the hangover was awful.
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Yeah…what tommie said. That’s what I wanted to say.
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I drank the amount I intended last night, definitely in the acceptable/responsible range. Drew it out for a nice long buzz, success as far as what I like. However, I didn’t sleep well, so a nice illustration that even responsible drinking has a cost.
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Being young masks a lot of stuff. Aging even a little and recovery slows down or sleep gets affected more noticeably. Managing to the ok range may not be worth it or worth it very selectively at most. The mythical “sweet spot” gets harder to locate
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Yup, i tried to figure out the line for a year or so and when i realized anything more than a couple drinks had more consequences than I’d like i just went NA.
I fought that idea a long time since it seemed like so much revolved around alcohol that it was hard to imagine a life without it. Good NA beer really filled that void without dealing with the consequences.
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I ubered everywhere. I parked my car in a lot across the street from my Airbnb. I have a receipt for parking there. I get a text at 3:00 am from the parking company to move my car as there will be a farmers market occurring. I ended up being towed.
In the am when I realized my car was gone I thought “did I drive somewhere and forget where I was”? I felt so 
.
I called the non emergency police after I called 6 tow companies. The police hooked me up to the tow company that got my car. $150
I called @Bro on my way home. He helped me be calm.
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That sounds like a bad dream I’ve had several times. Being somewhere completely lost thinking “my room/car/hotel should be right here…” then off to wandering around through increasingly frustrating situations until I wake up.
I am going to do a few months of no drinking, except, two on Saturday. I do get one trade day between January’s Saturday the 11th and Monday the 13th. I have to judge homebrew on the 13th.
Sa-two-beer-day diet!
Found a Heineken 0.0 while on a date. Awful skunky beer! Some people like that skunk tastte. I find it a horrible. It is an off flavor that beer judges DO NOT Tolerate in 99% of beers. Take any beer poured in a pint glass. Put it into the sun. Immediately the skunk taste becomes prominent. At least that is what I notice.
Also signed up for Vshred 90 day fitness app. I will post my guns (start, progress and finish) in this thread
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You must have had an off or out of date bottle. Or could have been something you ate or a skunk brushed up against the bottle. That’s not been my experience at all.