AF Beer and Wine?

[caseaday]

I was wondering if you have a perspective on AL free beer and wine. Tonight I wanted to drink something other than juice, soda, or water and decided to get some AF beer to go with my meal and late night tv. It tastes pretty good although it doesn't have any AL in it.

My question relates to whether this is a good replacement or is it a vice that will lead to one, two...then 24 again.

I haven't had any major cravings the past couple of days for getting "high" on alcohol. It was more about having the flavor. Or is my brain playing tricks on me?

6 days AF

[flyinhigh]

AF Beer and Wine?

ive tried some af beer and wine....i love the taste too but i have not found them to be a good replacement. The taste is not right.... I think AF drinks depends on what kind of drinker you WERE. Congrats on day 6!

[MyHeartIsDrenchedInWine]

AF Beer and Wine?

I love AF beer, though wine, not so much.....for wine I prefer a grape juice substitute. I don't know how one could replace hard liquor?????? This seems to be a very personal decision, I suggest you experiment and decide what works for you :h

[lukalee]

AF Beer and Wine?

This is my personal experience with AF beer, and it is a realization I just discovered right now as I was reading your post. I have tried probably a dozen different flavors. I haven't been drinking them very often lately, and I think that is because right now I don't see the point; I drink to get drunk. But yes, I do love the taste of beer, so if drinking one or two will make me happy, I will do just that. But if I find that I go out and get a six pack of AF beer and sit down and drink them all, this is a sign that it is leading me down a negative path. I am then drinking them because I have the desire to get drunk, rather than to make my taste buds happy. I hope this makes sense.

[Croft]

AF Beer and Wine?

I think using AF beer and wine is just fine!

[MyHeartIsDrenchedInWine]

AF Beer and Wine?

Croft,

Have you ever tried a good AF Pinot Grigio? If so, please let me know! I keep trying, but so far no luck : (


Myheart

[Bessie]

AF Beer and Wine?

I am in the 'good replacement' camp on this one. My personal experience of AF wine is that it fills part of a habit. I open the bottle, pour it into a wine glass, it looks the part and I sit down, usually at the PC (no tv) and drink it while I am doing stuff. That was really my pattern with wine. The difference is the alcohol takes over my brain and leads me to drink the whole bottle with the real stuff. With the AF stuff my habit has been satisfied after a couple - 3 at the most. I haven't finished or been tempted to finish a bottle of AF in one sitting. So I think it is a good tool to have in the box. It's not as nice tasting as the real thing but then I drank some pretty crappy wines to get pissed before so not so important.

If you do end up with an AF beer addiction - is that really a problem? Certainly not as big a problem as the real thing. But I doubt you will. Probably you will only have it on those days, as you did yesterday, where you really fancy something more substantial to drink to satisfy your taste buds.

Good luck - you're doing really well with 6 days!

Bessie xx

[Cinders]

AF Beer and Wine?

I am in the "whatever works" camp. I don't like the AF wines but have found a good AF beer substitute great for the bars, etc, as a "fill in" for when I am with a group.

I also kind of like the taste of the AF beer. Even though I don't drink regular beer.

You will find that you don't drink nearly as much of the AF stuff as you do the regular. It is more of a drink than an obsession, unlike like alcohol.

Do what you need to stay AF. That is what really counts.

ps. AAers do not like the AF beer/wine concept. Oh well.

Love,
Cindi
XXXVI

[Guest]

AF Beer and Wine?

ASDA have a very nice grape spritzer I enjoy a glass of some evenings. Very occasionally I may have an AF Becks. I find both tastes very refreshing and a little more grown up than diet coke or orange juice all the time. My favourite drink in a restuarant has to be grapefruit and soda.

[theshark]

AF Beer and Wine?

as someone who mostly drank beer,ive tasted a few a/f beers and the best one i think is san miguel,closely followes by becks a/f

[caseaday]

AF Beer and Wine?

Thanks everyone for your advice! I bought some Becks NA and it is pretty good and also pretty expensive ($6.00) for a six pack. But I think it will help at dinner time and when I am with friends.

[Thankful]

AF Beer and Wine?

Caseaday ~ A question about AF beer was my very first post when I joined MWO. I too got a lot of great responses. There are some members that are not for it simply because it has caused them to want the real thing. And I too agree that it all depends on what stage of alcoholism someone is at and what exactly did they drink in the first place.

I drank beer 99% of the time. I would have wine once in a while and mixed drinks even less. I never, ever drank with the intention of getting drunk. I really just like the taste of beer. And I drank lite beer so O'Douls works for me although there are many who don't like it. I really needed that crutch when I first started. I went from about 4-5 maybe 3 times a week to about 3 total per week. I wouldn't be at 115 days AF without it. But I never took meds and I only started the supps about the second week of March.

I did have a scare about a month ago, when I drank around 5 or 6 (after cutting it down to a few a week) and all of a sudden I started getting a headache and had a very strange foggy feeling. It scared the hell out of me! I felt like crying and started shaking because I was so scared that I was getting a buzz. I just wasn't sure. I don't know if the alcohol was building up (because there are traces of it even though it's AF) or if it was a coincidence and I was reacting to something else. So, I keep it to a limit now. No more than 3 in one sitting.

So that is the good news and the bad from my personal experiences. I'm grateful to have it, but I still feel it's something to be careful with.

Good luck.

Love, Me
:l

[caseaday]

AF Beer and Wine?

Thanks for the detailed information Thankful...it is great hearing from a fellow beer drinker! I am surprised to how many on this site are trying to cut back on the wine vs beer. I will just keep going ODAT. I cut back from averaging 24 beers a day down to zero on Monday of last week so it has been nice having a few NA's over the weekend. It may be a crutch but I am hoping that I will move away from the NA eventually because it is pretty expensive!

[lukalee]

AF Beer and Wine?

Thankful, I found that AF beer made me feel like crap when I was taking Kudzu, but not with regular beer????

[Thankful]

AF Beer and Wine?

Luka, that's interesting because this "scare" coinsides with when I started taking all the supps. I take a multivit, B-complex, Vit C, Calcium, Milk Thistle, Kudzu, L-glut, L-tyrosine, 5htp, fish oil, and occasionally a B-12 and an Iron tablet.

I didn't think I drank enough to get a buzz but it scared me enough to just keep it at a minimum. Could very well have been a reaction to something else.

Thanks for the info.

Love, Me
:l