Me personally i cant drink NA beer. As far as theyve come in taste(and some of them really taste good) it triggers something in me that makes me want the real thing. If you can handle the triggers or if it doeant make you cave then i say go for it
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That seems to be a common view. AF drinks do taste much like the alcohol versions. That is why I must also stay away from them due to triggering thoughts of relapse. More power to those who can responsibly drink them on their sober journey.
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Wow 6 years is an incredible effort! I aim to get there OODAT, with 2 weeks currently behind me. With such an amazing sober streak, you mustāve gathered and tweaked some tools and skills along the way to stay sober. It seems avoiding AF drinks is one of them. I get that some people can drink AF drinks for the taste, to blend in or to keep their hands busy. Personally, I am not so inclined. Like yourself, it would send me straight for the hard stuff and I would end up in a drunken, relapsed mess. Iāve worked so hard to reach 2 weeks and I wouldnāt want to lose this momentum as a result of AF drinks.
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As a winemaker son, I tried NA white wine one day, to see how it tasted. This one, at least, didnāt taste like wine at all. More like a strange grape mocktail. I disliked it a lot, and Iām better off without this crap 
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Alcohol free drinks arenāt for me. Personally I donāt have any interest in them and would rather have a soft drink! Interesting reading everyones thoughts towards this.
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That sounds like the kind of disgusting with a silver lining to it. I havenāt tried AF wine, but accidentally tried a AF beer at a party once. It tasted so much like itās alcohol version, I didnāt notice until it was pointed out to me by the person whose beer it was. Today, it would be too dangerous for me to drink them, as I would think I may as well drink the real thing and enjoy myself instead.
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I agree. I would prefer a ginger beer over AF beer. My decision to abstain from AF drinks is more for self preservation than anything else. I know the temptation to switch to alcoholic drinks would be more than I could handle. So, like yourself, Iāll stick to a sparkling water or soft drink instead.
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Yeah the NA beers Iāve tried tasted the same as the alcoholic versions. After drinking one, I felt a little buzz. As a result this one my only try.
Anyway, I never drank for the taste of it
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Interesting that you mentioned feeling a buzz from an AF beer. I wonder how that occurred? Drinking for the taste was never my jam either. It was for effect. Drink hard and fast to get drunk.
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I have no idea! I know there is a little amount of alcohol in most NA beers, but enough for a little buzz? Maybe itās a brain answer to an old stimulus
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Like being conditioned to react to the stimulus of beer in any form. It seems a natural response after the brain training that has occurred over time.
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I know I would be far to tempted by it and for me its just not worth it. I only drank to get drunk and at times didnāt even enjoy the taste of alcohol. A glass of coke or water or even cup of tea is now my choice of drink!
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Ooooh I love a good cuppa! Iām more of a tea than coffee drinker. Definitely enjoy water the most, as Iām not much of a sweet tooth. Iām sweet enough 
My own experience with alcohol free beer FWIW:
When I first stopped drinking (about 5 months ago now) I would drink alcohol free beer pretty much like I drank real beerāguzzling it quickly and drinking about five or six at once. But the quantity has gradually reduced over time, and I now drink one or two on most evenings. This happened naturally without any effort or intention on my part.
It was definitely a kind of crutch at firstāto try to satisfy my cravings, but now I seem to drink them in much the same way as a non-alcoholic might drink real beer.
I like them. We have zero calorie ones here in Japan* that donāt taste amazing, but they are OK, and relatively cheap.
*Edited to add:
Actually, this might be amusing for some membersāwe even have zero calorie/zero alcohol beers that contain polyphenols and claim to provide some kind of metabolic support for fat-loss, and one that came out recently with GABA in it that is supposed to improve your memory. Whoād have thought that drinking beer could help you to get slim and stay mentally sharpā¦?! The opposite of real beer!
Iām pretty skeptical about those claims personally, howeverā¦ 
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Itās interesting to see the natural reduction in AF beer consumption that you experienced. It seems like some brain rewiring may have occurred. Going from old behaviours to the stimulus of beer, to creating new ones. Iām happy for you to be able to enjoy them in the way you do now.
Iām astounded at the lengths beer businesses will go to keep a solid consumer base. Weight loss and brain enhancement?! Soon weāll see them in the veggie section as a healthy alternative. 
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Thanks! Yeah, at first it definitely was a ācomforterā kind of thingālike sucking on a dummy. 
The sad thing is that, skeptical as I am, I still buy them, because, well, you never knowā¦
So, I guess I am what you could term a āgullible skeptic,ā which is about as oxymoronic as āweight loss beer.ā 
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I indulged in AF beer when I went sober last year but I found that it kept me in some old patterns. Iāve since abstained and I feel better for it. Each to their own, but for me if I need to change my mindset it means I want to avoid it.
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The pacifying effect that they originally had seems to have subsided for you. In a good way. If I wasnāt so afraid to relapse, as sceptical as I am about AF beer marketing, I would likely try them too. Iām just not in a place where I could confidently do that without risking sobriety. If they create a beer that makes you sober, the could call it Oxymoron.
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Changing an addiction mindset takes repetition of new patterns to break old ones. A literal rewiring of neural pathways in the brain. In your example, abstinence is the method you have chosen to achieve this challenging change. It seems like your choice to abstain has come with positive results which builds momentum. Thanks to the neuroplasticity of the brain, even an old dog like myself can learn some new tricks. It was a relief for me to explore the research behind this, as I thought my 30+ years of addiction had left my brain with no hope for recovery. The brain truly is a marvel!
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You do get them most places in south Africa. Price the same are regular beer which I find strange as governments should try push the anti alcohol movement.
Whatever rocks your boat and if temptation is raised by drinking them defs stay clear.
I my case they donāt in the least
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