About a week after trying the Fever Tree ginger ale, I found their ginger beer in the Holiday Inn bar in central Newcastle.
This one’s much tastier than the ale, with a nice sweet ‘n’ sour tang. There’s a lot of spice in its bubbles, which means I can’t put my head near it without coughing when it’s freshly poured, but after a few minutes I can drink it without a problem. It just needs to ‘sit’ for a while!
Most of today was taken up with running the Inverness Half Marathon. It was freezing and wet in Inverness, and it took forever to get warm again after the run! At least it wasn’t snowing, which was my fear when Geth and I first booked to enter the race.
After a long hot shower, the rest of the day involved eating a lot and trying a lot of new booze alternatives, which I will review at some point!
A less active day tomorrow.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Arcadia – The Flame
Geri Halliwell – Lift Me Up
Duran Duran – Rio
Irene Cara – Flashdance (What A Feeling)
Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton – Say Something
Terence Trent D’Arby – Sign Your Name
It’s been a fairly relaxed day – I got a bit more editing done on my book draft (so nearly there now!) and have been looking into online resources to help with sobriety and mental health (I mentioned this in my two-month sobriety update yesterday).
Now looking forward to a chilled-out evening of reading before the usual hectic Thursday tomorrow.
Today’s earworm playlist:
Ava Max – Sweet But Psycho
Duran Duran – Hold Back The Rain
The Power Station – Communication
Duran Duran – A View To A Kill
It’s yet another ginger beer! We first found these in the Pret A Manger at Leeds train station, and Geth has been bringing them back for me from town ever since.
This one is gorgeously sweet – probably the sweetest of the ginger beers I’ve tried so far. It does make me cough a bit with its spiciness, but it’s a lovely taste overall.
Two months sober today. This is easily the longest period of time I’ve spent without a drop of alcohol since…well, probably since I was a small child. It’s been a strange month since my last sobriety update.
Early sobriety is a bit of a confusing rollercoaster, and I’ve found that if I don’t keep myself busy, I spend a lot of time reflecting and just turning things over in my brain. I also spend a lot of time thinking about drink, which is why I’ve been trying so hard to keep my brain occupied by getting on with work. Unfortunately, spending every waking hour working has been playing havoc with my stress levels, and so this week I’ve had to dial it back so I can try and relax in the evenings. I’ve not been very successful so far, but it has meant my brain’s not still racing when I go to bed, which is probably a good thing.
Sleep-wise, I’m not getting the bizarre vivid dreams every single night anymore, but they are still showing up occasionally. On the whole, though, I’m sleeping better than I ever have in my life. I go to bed at half past ten, read for half an hour or so, drop off as soon as my head hits the pillow, and tend to wake up naturally about ten minutes before my alarm goes off at seven. I only ever feel tired in a kind of satisfying way, after going for a long run.
I’ve reviewed a few more booze alternatives over the last month:
I’m still finding them a good alternative for that Friday ‘celebratory’ feeling, but the novelty of trying different things is starting to wear off a bit. I’ve found the second month to be tougher than the first in terms of cravings for alcohol, strangely.
On the whole, I’m finding it a bit difficult with everything churning over in my brain all the time, which is also making the process feel kind of insular and lonely. As such, I’m currently finding various strategies for feeling a bit less like I’m on my own with this thing – I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts on the subject, I’ve put a few recommended books on my Amazon wishlist, and I’m tentatively exploring online and offline community options. All of this is going to be a real focus over the next month, along with my mental health in general.
I want to say a huge ‘thanks’ to everyone who has got in touch over the last couple of months with messages of support, helpful suggestions, and links to resources. I appreciate it more than I can express.
Fever Tree is one of those companies that makes both a ginger ale and a ginger beer. The ginger beer review is not far off, but the first one I tried was the ale, which was on the menu when Geth and I went to Livin’ Italy in Leeds last month.
It had a nice taste, but it was a little weak for my liking, which I’m finding has been the case with the ales. A pleasant option though.
Another flavour of Fentimans that I found on the supermarket shelf!
I’ve never really liked cherry cola that much, I have to say. Even if it is the drink of choice for the brand-censored ‘Lola’ in the classic Kinks song (one of the reasons I prefer the uncensored original). However, I’ve got my usual ‘collect the set’ mentality when it comes to Fentimans, so I thought I’d give it a go.
And the verdict is…nope, still don’t like cherry cola. Can’t win ’em all!
There are what seems like hundreds of different flavours of Fentimans, and I am on a mission to try them all. I picked Rose Lemonade off the supermarket shelf ahead of any of the others, though, because it was pink. So very pink and pretty.
It tastes like Turkish Delight in a bottle. OMG.
I already know this is going to be a real favourite when I’ve settled down with my drinks selection and stopped feeling the need to try something new every weekend!
Over the last month and a bit, I’ve tried quite a few ginger beers and ales, and I’ve discovered that there are two things I prefer in this particular subgroup of beverages:
Britvic Ginger Beer, I have found, fits both criteria beautifully.
I first tried this one in the bar at the Red Lion in Newburgh, where we were staying for Jen’s 30th birthday a few weeks ago. There was a bit of confusion, because the bar had both Britvic Ginger Beer and Britvic Ginger Ale, but according to the barman it was definitely the ginger beer that I had. Anyway, it was delicious, and so when we were in Leeds last Saturday night, I was delighted when Geth returned from the hotel bar with another bottle so that I could try it again.
It was still the tastiest of ginger beers, so I will continue to look out for it wherever I go!
When I discovered the booze alternative shelf of the booze aisle in Sainsbury’s the other week (it’s a magic shelf that only becomes visible after you get sober), I couldn’t believe my luck to find that there were not one but TWO alcohol-free ciders on offer. One of them was the sickly sweet Kopparberg Pear that I already knew about (I drank a fair few of those during the time I gave up alcohol for Lent in 2010), but the other, to my great joy, was an Old Mout, one of my very favourite brands of cider.
Could this really be as good as it seemed? Could I really stay sober and still drink something that tasted like cider?
Well, yes and no.
On that first sip, it felt like I was onto a winner. It didn’t taste exactly like its alcoholic counterpart, but it was close enough, and the sweet berry flavour was nice even though the alcoholic tang was missing. But as I drank more of the bottle, it just started to feel really sad and empty, and I found myself drinking faster and faster, my brain getting more and more confused at the lack of buzz, and it made me really, really anxious and actually quite shaky.
And when I finally finished the drink, I didn’t just want another, like what had happened with San Miguel 0.0.
Instead, I desperately, desperately wanted a ‘real’ Old Mout.
So, not a safe drink for me, then. It’s a shame, as I find the taste so delicious…but, well, there’s a reason for that, and that reason is that my brain associates it with getting drunk. One to avoid, sadly.