Choad’s Choice: Great N/A Beer of the Month (October)

In 2022, after a series of mostly non-invasive tests (mostly), my doctor looked at me and, "Stop drinking and lose some weight".

You mean...be sober AND less fat? How will I ever Choad again?

Welp, I figured out how to keep Choading despite being less Choad. I've lost over 30 pounds as of this writing and seem to have found a happy medium between my love of food and my acceptance of living.

What was missing? Beer. I like beer. It makes me a jolly good fellow. But it also contributed to making me really fat.

I had taste-tested a few N/A beers over the years (probably semi-consciously knowing that I'll be switching someday) and never found one that I liked. The biggest problem was my love of dark-like-my-soul brews like porters and stouts, and decent N/A versions were hard to come by. Most were packed with sugar to make up for the lack of alcohol.

So for a full year I simply abstained from any beer, save for the occasional O'Doul's with a shot of lemon juice to make it drinkable. I'd read about Guinness somehow making a non-alcoholic version of their signature draught, called Guinness Zero.

Unfortunately, the initial batch shipped to the United States had to be recalled. So I had to wait.

And wait.

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Finally I asked my Facebook friends if they'd seen Guinness Zero anywhere. A friend left a comment about where he'd seen it, and how great it was for breakfast (allegedly).

I bee-lined to said establishment and found the fabled Guinness Zero in the cooler. I got home, cracked one open, poured it into a pint glass, watched the lovely rolling nitrogen froth (just like a real Guinness!), and took a sip.

It was Guinness!

The thing about Guinness draught: it has a low ABV (alcohol by volume), so removing (most of) the alcohol isn't as big of a change as it would be for most dark beers.

If you're looking for a tasty dark beer without the buzz, give Guinness Zero a try!