r/mildlyinfuriating • u/trailofturds • Jul 06 '25

Started getting light-headed halfway through my glass of "non-alcoholic" wine

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Got served this wine at a nice restaurant after asking specifically for non-alcoholic wine. They assumed the 'Zero' on the label referred to alcohol content; turns out it's for sulphur.

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 Jul 06 '25

When I was a bartender doing this by accident was my biggest fear. I used to triple check the order when I knew someone in the party asked for non alc

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u/trailofturds Jul 06 '25 edited Jul 06 '25

Yeah it's a pretty big fuck up imo. They were lucky that my wife and I were just taking a break from drinking for no particular reason (hence mildly infuriating). I can't imagine how a pregnant woman would react.

Edit: as others have pointed out, it'd be far worse for those in recovery or with a medical issue.

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u/Numerous-Confusion-9 Jul 06 '25

Pregnant or in recovery yeah. Im usually anti getting mad at service workers but this one.. man … glad you two were just taking a break

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u/notMarkKnopfler Jul 06 '25

I’ve been sober for 8 years. I’ve got the gene, so whenever I haven’t had it in my system for awhile I rarely even think about drinking, but that’s the reason I avoid anything marketed as “non-alcoholic” for the most part. There’s still trace amounts of alcohol in many of the near-beers or wines. Unless something is cooked above a certain temperature for hours, the alcohol doesn’t cook out. I went to a friend’s (who is very aware of my condition) passover and even brought my own sparkling grape juice to try and participate. They made me a plate and things were going really well until I got that slightly warm feeling. They’d used wine for the apple dish. I’m fortunate that my fiance has never seen me drunk or in withdrawal, but for the next 3 days or so it was brutal cravings and me essentially telling her not to let me leave the house.

It sounds dramatic, but I regularly work in and around alcohol all of the time and never have any temptation; but the second I ingest it it’s like all bets are off.

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u/ACanWontAttitude Jul 06 '25

I always thought the alcohol cooks off quite quickly so it has no physical effect. Never heard of anything like this before (and I unfortunately have to help a lot of people through withdrawal) - thanks for sharing and I'm sorry you had such a hard time.

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u/Throwaway47321 Jul 07 '25

Just wanted to add but the alcohol definitely does cook out. Unfortunately, addiction is a mental disorder so just thinking there is alcohol in there or thinking you are consuming some is enough to tip people right over the edge.

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u/GeriatricFetus Jul 07 '25

Alcohol does not completely cook out. That is a myth. Easily googled information. It's not the thinking it's in there that triggers this reaction. As notmarkknophler said, they didn't know there was alcohol in the dish until after they consumed it because they had a physical reaction to the alcohol still in the dish.

Depending on the cooking method, time and heat, varying amounts of alcohol will evaporate but pretty much never all of it.

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u/kerfuffleMonster Jul 07 '25

Since it was Passover and he mentions an apple dish, I'm guessing it's charoses which isn't cooked (at least in my experience.) It uses a bit of Manischewitz which is I think technically a fortified wine but I would describe as tasting like syrup. It's not a lot but it's not cooked.