Due to health issues I've tried to cut down my drinking over the past couple of years. The surprising thing about the NA beer world is that, IMO, the best tasting beers are the ones based on widely available lagers from companies like Molson that I wouldn't normally drink the alcoholic variety of, e.g. Heineken, Corona, Stella. The ones trying to be craft beers are uniformly bad to my tastes.
I have noticed the same.
To many of the “craft” NA products tastes like hop tea. Even from the craft brands, it seems like the more generic tasting beers generally actually taste like beer.
In my late twenties and quit drinking late last year. My life satisfaction has gone up significantly, and most importantly, the brain fog I was struggling with for years now is almost completely gone. I still go out late, and sadly haven’t managed to quit the nicotine habit, but for alcohol I highly recommend.
Are there any viable alternatives to alcohol? There's a lot of times when what I want is effectively the opposite of a coffee: something to drink that is somewhat calming without having as strong of an effect or the negative health effects of alcohol.
There are ketone drinks, basically what you’re describing
https://patient.info/news-and-features/ketone-drinks-a-buzzy...
weed dude
There are definitely people who find weed as comforting and as innocuous as a cocktail. I have never been one of those people, and I have given it the old college try.
For my body chemistry and or psychological makeup, alcohol is like a carousel that can be fun to ride for a couple drinks. It's starts with a pleasant 'whoosh' and then eventually I feel a bit tired and go home.
THC, on the other hand, is like a Gravitron ride – more forceful and longer-lasting than expected and requiring all of my energy just to get through. If I'm a little high, you can easily tell by the way I struggle to carry a conversation. When I let myself get stoned, it was game over and I just held on while I waited for the ride to end.
I used to feel a but jealous but with the hindsight of decades I think I'm better off for not having the weed gene.
I'm a fan of weed but for me it's more something that I use when I have something I want to be introspective about or open my mind to new ideas. E.g. I find it makes it easier for me to "get" genres of music or art that I previously struggled to connect with.
Unfortunately though, I find that it's a bit too much for me to use regularly. In particular, the day after I find that I often have a bit of a "hangover" where it feels like I used up too much of my emotional/creative juice. Not sure if that makes sense?
Interesting how carefully carefully she omits any mention of health, like right now we sell an addictive carcinogen, and we welcome the opportunity to grow revenue with less negative global impact to human health