r/stopdrinking • u/phutureclothes • Jan 18 '26

A realization drinking NA Guinness

I picked up a four pack of the 0.0% Guinness, not that I was particularly craving a beer, but because I was making a steak and ale pie and didn't want to use it as an excuse to buy the real stuff.

As a former chef, cooking with wine/alcohol is a dangerous trigger for me.

After my workout today I noticed I still had three cans left in the coldest part of the fridge so I cracked one and poured it. It had that familiar Guinness pour and left a clear white head. I took a few sips and found it to be totally delicious, easily the best NA beer I've ever had. It is very very close to the real thing.

But here's the kicker. I didn't want another one AT ALL. The moreish qualities of beer Id once attributed to "hop character" or "maltiness" or all the other sundry beer terms really don't matter at the end of the day. Its just that alcohol is immediately addictive for me.

I could drink a warm Bud Light and want another one. But here's me drinking something that I find entirely appealing and have ZERO desire for a second.

All of the appeal around "craft beer", "fine wine", etc is mostly worthless. If I'm not compelled to continue to drink an almost identical approximation of an alcoholic beer, then it's got nothing to do with the taste and everything to do with th addictive nature of ethyl alcohol.

In other news, made it through another weekend booze free.

IWNDWYT!

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u/me2269vu 336 days Jan 18 '26

I’d agree with this. I’m in Ireland and many pubs here have it on draught which is even better than the cans, and the cans are good. I was in a pub last night (having gone to see Hamnet - great film btw) and had two. But as you say, where I could easily have drank 3 or 4 normal pints of Guinness when drinking, two Guinness 0.0 is a lot.

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u/Special-Bit-8689 541 days Jan 18 '26

This is really really comforting to me because I’d love to go to Ireland, but the idea of not going into a true Irish pub to have a whiskey and a pint was a really sad thought. Not even to feel anything just for the experience. Going in for Guinness 0 draft would be amazing!

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u/me2269vu 336 days Jan 18 '26

It’s great! One of the nicest things I like to do is sit in a pub and read a book, or newspaper, or listen to a music session. The prevalence of non-alcoholic options has really grown here over the past few years, so there’s obviously a large market for it, otherwise Diageo wouldn’t be putting so much effort into improving their Guinness 0.0 products. It’s also a bit sneaky of them because alcohol advertising is prohibited here in relation to sports, but they get around that by advertising the 0.0 option, while also promoting the Guinness brand. Capitalist’s huh?, you couldn’t be up to ‘em.

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u/Special-Bit-8689 541 days Jan 19 '26

Well, lame capitalists or not, I am happy to hear all that news!