Rise of the Sober

Just climbing a volcano like it’s NBD. Because I’m hard AF.

Welcome, one and all! Happy New Year! I hope the new decade is treating you well. I have a good feeling about 2020. Even numbers are tidy and I’m going to be 38, so I’ve written a list of 38 adventures I want to have in 2020. Probs more achievable than trying to have 2,020 adventures.

And I’m bloody sober! Since May 12th 2019, thank you very much. Which has led to me finding out that AF not only stands for As Fuck, which I already over-use because so many sentences lend themselves well to the dropping of an AF. I’m vegan AF. I’m funny AF (according to me). I’m grey AF (sob). But, it also means Alcohol-Free! As in, can I have an AF beer, please? As in, I’m AF AF!

I gave up drinking because I was sick of feeling foggy. I preferred it when I felt bouncy and optimum, which only occured the days after I had not had a drink. In order to feel bouncy and optimum all the time, I had to stop doing the thing that made me feel foggy. Logical, but took me all these years to figure out.

I wrote about it for Top Sante magazine and I’m pretty blooming proud of the article, which is here:

And now, here are some AF tipples I’ve been enjoying. Mostly beer, because I like beer mostly.

But before we get on to the beers, let’s talk about Sipling. Just look how #lifestyle being sober can be!

Glorious! But what’s inside these dreamy bottles? Spiced Rum & Cola, Bellini, Gin & Tonic - but, not! Serve cool over ice and feel fancy. Here’s the whole family:

I love the boom in AF, stylish soft drinks. It makes me feel seen and heard. In my local pub the other night, I opened the menu to see they’d designed a range of drinks for ‘Des’. You know Des, the designated driver. And they’ve got a great vegan menu. If you’re ever in rural Wiltshire, call me, I’ll take you there.

This one is probs my fave simply because of the labelling. From classic IPAs to a rich, dark stout, Nirvana Brewery have created a beautiful range of alcohol free craft beer. Try the Twisted Buchabeer, a traditional pale ale blended with green tea kombucha. Sour yet smooth, soft and refreshing.

£22.50 for 12. 0.5% ABV nirvanabrewery.com

This bad boy comes in asethetically pleasing glass bottles. Vegan friendly, it’s a punchy pilsner malt with fresh hallertau hops and their own bespoke yeast. There’s talk of ‘step mash’ and ‘bottom fermentation’ on the label, which sounds exciting even though I don’t know what this means. What I do understand, and like, is '… to finally reward those who aren’t drinking with the drink they deserve.’ I’ll drink to that!

Buy online at luckysaint.co/ £25 for 12 0.5%ABV
Also in Sainsbury’s at £1.80/bottle.

Choice! Abundant choice! Whether you like the taste of IPA, Pale Ale or Pils, Infinite Session (great name) have a beer for you. And on the label, they’ve made use of the witty ways AF can mean one of two things, as delighted in above. The IPA is ‘hoppy AF’ and has notes of citrus. Someone asked me recently why people who don’t drink bother drinking AF drinks. Well my friend, this is why. We want the taste, we just don’t want the hangover.
Infinite Session is available in cans or glass bottles from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, M&S and Amazon. Find out more at infinitesession.com

Brewed in Suffolk, St Peter’s Without is available organic and at 0% (the others are all 0.5%) or sweet elderberry & raspberry, which tastes like summer. Oh summer, how I miss thee!

The organic brew has a zingy, biscuity flavour and there would be no points for describing the elderberry and raspberry one as tasting like elderberry and raspberries now would there? But, it’s true.

Always nice to see the now-familiar vegan logo on the back label of anything. Oh the years I spent scrutinising the label of wines and beers looking for some kind of vegan stamp. Four years, that’s how many. Too many. St Peter’s Without shows off the iconic vegan logo clear as day. And the beer’s good to boot!

SO MUCH AF CHOICE! One need never go thirsty, or feel like one is missing out, because one has a great variety of vegan friendly, hangover-free beer on which to sip. And then when one goes to bed, one has had all the fun of the fair, without the fuzzy head, stayin-in-bed, dread.

ReviewsKim WillisJanuary 7, 2020Sober, sober curious, AF, Alcohol-Free, Adventures, vegan beer, vegan drinks