alcohol free drinks

There’s lots of discussion around alcohol free drinks. Some argue that you shouldn’t touch them as they can act as a trigger. If you’re trying to live alcohol free, then why try and imitate a lifestyle that you’re trying to avoid?

In some ways I do get this, however for me alcohol free beer has really helped me through when I’ve been craving a chilled pint of lager. I won’t lie – it’s a relatively poor substitute and there are some truly dreadful alcohol free lagers out there – but it does help.

The alcohol free beers I have tried and subsequently chucked down the sink are:

Heineken 0%

Birra Moretti Zero

Becks Blue

Cobra Zero

For some reason when it comes to alcohol free, the majority of lagers start to taste really yeasty and more malty than the crisp pint of Peroni or Moretti that I want it to imitate.

So my trial and error has led me to Bavaria 0% which is a Dutch lager – or rather a fake lager. I mix it with diet lemonade and make it into a half decent shandy. I am comfortable with Bavaria for another reason. When its states 0% it is in fact 0% unlike Heineken and countless other ‘alcohol free’ lagers that are actually 0.5%. Apparently UK law states that 0.5% is alcohol free but for me there is just an added bit of purity that Bavaria really is ‘alcohol free.

Now to AF wine. I have tried some really awful AF red wines in the past. I was craving a glass of wine in lockdown and having done a bit of research in the last two weeks, I decided to try the M&S Merlot (pictured above). When you open the bottle it really smells of wine and I was worried it would trigger me as I haven’t drunk wine since New Year’s Eve in Barcelona. I took a few sips and it’s actually not too bad (as far as AF wines go). It is quite sweet which is a bit of a no-no for me but if you drink it with a meal it’s not that bad. I’m not sure I would buy repeat bottles but that’s just me. I’ll stick to my Bavaria. BTW, if you’re interested in Bavaria, then I buy it in bulk (24 cans) from Amazon for £12.