Non alcoholic beer is for non alcoholics.
You are making a distinction between “alcoholics” and people with serious drinking problems that may or may not be helpful depending on the person. By AA descriptions, I am not an alcoholic because I was able to make a personal decision to quit drinking and stick with it. Since I didn’t need the program, and wasn’t “helpless” by their definition, I am not an alcoholic. Fine. I still can’t drink again and don’t want to.
While I would agree that for many problem drinkers Non Alcoholic beverages (<0.5%) could be a problem, but this hasn’t been the case for me (yet- I probably have one or two of these every other month in environments where I would have previously drank ten bourbon and diet cokes, when I can’t avoid the event).
YMMV.
Absolutely. It does contain a small amount of alcohol. It’s not just the alcohol that needs to be refrained from, but the action of drinking something with a similar taste in the familiar bottle (or glass, in my case). I had a completely alcohol-free glass of white wine when I first quit drinking and I sipped, held the glass, etc. just like I did when drinking alcoholic wine. This may seem trivial to non alkies but the thoughts and actions of simply drinking from a wine glass or bottle can have such an impact. I never did this again. Looking at this glass of white non-alcoholic wine in front of me could have been a big trigger and, as we know, a slip can occur long before the drink. I knew someone years ago who kept buying cases of near beer and drank it like water so he could get to the alcohol but not consider it a slip because it said “non alcoholic” on the label.
Al-Anon is for people who didn’t have the guts to be alcoholics!
“Non alcoholic beer is for non alcoholics.”
That is the type of hard core AA which I learned, and fully ascribe to.
Non alcoholic beer is NOT non alcoholic. It is low in alcohol; a foolish and unnecessary risk, for any ex-problem drinker, that values their sobriety and new better way of life.
Any amount of alcohol can start the “craving” which is described in The Doctor’s Opinion, in the book.
Why risk it?