Alcohol-Free Guinness - Really?

Teenage Drinking

Even when in my early teens I found most beers and lagers as appetizing as cigarettes and wine as attractive as drinking vinegar.

Then in the mid-eighties, I contracted ITP which you can read about below but was essentially that my blood stopped clotting resulting in heavy internal and external bleeding

Being Introduced To Guinness

While I was recovering in Preston Royal Infirmary it was suggested that I start drinking Guinness as it contains a lot of iron. The only other alcohol that I actually enjoyed was Southern Comfort but that is a spirit rather than a beer.

Unbelievably I grew to enjoy Guinness, and subsequently mist porters. It actually has taste and body and is an enjoyable drink.

Overindulgence in this probably contributed to my liver going into cirrhosis around 2012 but I had given up drinking around 2004. This didn’t stop people trying to make me drink, just one will be OK, it won’t do you any harm.

Giving Up Alcohol

I stood fast and just had the odd Guinness, maybe once a year. I have certainly never missed drinking, but I still enjoy going for a drink, I just go for a Diet Coke or Pepsi or a soda water.

So to the point of this, I went for a pre-operation session at the hospital and a month the questions I was asked was “Do You Drink?” to which I replied, “No, apart from the odd Guinness maybe once a year”.

Guinness Without Alcohol

The specialist seeing me said that her father was a Guinness lover, and had been at hers but driving, so she got some alcohol-free Guinness from Sainsbury’s and he gave in the thumbs up, not as much body as normal Guinness but still very nice.

Now I have never seen the point of alcohol-free beer and wines as I don’t like the taste in general, and, seriously the alcoholic effect was the only reason to drink. All lager tastes like I would imagine urine to taste and wine tastes like vinegar but alcohol is a good social disinhibitor, so if you remove that, there is absolutely no reason to actually drink.

Guinness Is Good For You So They Say

As I have said I do like the taste of Guinness, well most porters, have a very full rounded flavour that offsets the sharp almost chemical bitterness of most lagers and beers (that is how I feel about them, you may obviously disagree).

So I thought I would track down some to see what it was like, Tesco and Aldi didn’t have any but eventually tracked down some at Morrisons, and purchased four cans which I brought home and put in the fridge. I am wondering whether this is still classed as an adult drink and requires the over 25 test in the supermarket. I will try if I buy any more.

My First Alcohol Free Guinness

So the first test drink happened last night, straight from the can and accompanying an Aloo Chol evening meal, and it tasted just like Guinness. That might not sound like praise but it is. It is very pleasant and I certainly enjoyed it and wouldn’t say no if offered another one.

One slightly paranoid thought is that if someone gave me a normal Guinness then I would not actually know the difference, but because I am careful when I am not in control I don’t expect this to ever become an issue.

A Guinness Conclusion

I have been more than pleasantly surprised with the alcohol-free Guinness and while I am not going overboard with it, it will be a pleasant way of improving the iron in my blood in an enjoyable way