Near Beer

 

Water is nice, but it can get boring.  I like the taste and fizz of a Coke, but I don’t like the sugar rush I get.  I like the taste and fizz of a beer, but I don’t always want the alcohol rush.  Funny thing, beer and coke have about the same number of calories, but I don’t get a sugar rush from beer.  I looked at the labels and coke has 39 grams of sugar.  Beer has 0.  Same carbohydrates, same calories, but no sugar in beer.

 

So, what to drink during the day?  Near beer.  There are lots of no-alcohol beers, like O’Doul’s, Beck’s and St. Pauli Girl.  No-alcohol beer doesn’t really mean no alcohol though, it means low alcohol.  They have about a 0.5% alcohol content, so they probably wouldn’t be a good choice for alcoholics trying to avoid alcohol altogether.  It would take ten near beers to get the equivalent alcohol as one regular beer though, so I think I’m okay with that.

 

So that’s it, my preferred lunchtime drink, even when we’re traveling.  My challenge though, is not to drink conspicuously, like in the middle of town, or when there is a police car next to us on the highway.  Better to not get pulled over at all, than to get caught drinking from a beer bottle while driving, then have to explain that I’m drinking and driving responsibly.  Can’t tell a near beer from a real beer at a distance.