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Beer? Or Maybe Just Ginger-ish
On finding workable alternatives to the booze
I was inspired to write this opinion piece by fellow sober Medium writer Dave Martin, who found a reportedly fine non-alcoholic beer. We sober folks (30+ years for yours truly) are always on the lookout for something tasty that doesn’t leave us blotto.
Meet my new addiction: ginger beer.
It’s actually not even particularly new any more; I’ve been on ginger beer since pre-pandemic days. I regularly buy it by the case at the discount grocery store just to guard against running out.
For years earlier I stuck with non-alcoholic wine (meh) or beers, which, as Dave Martin can confirm, include the good, the bad and the ugly. In that last category are most of the major U.S. brands, whose non-alcoholic offerings are bland and tasteless enough to drive you to drink. The bad stuff, that is. Some of the European brands though, presumably including Dave’s recommended Guiness Zero (which I never tried) are downright tasty.
Ginger beer, though, won me over.
My brand vote goes to Reed’s, which even comes in a sugar-free. I draw the line at sugar-free, but to each her own. Bundaberg and Fentimans are right up there with Reed’s; Q mixers and Fever-Tree are a little more highbrow. But unlike the…
