Okay. I have an
experiment for you:
I know, I know, it's NA, but it's half the calories and tastes pretty damned good! I buy a lot of it (Trader Joe's), because it tastes almost like real-ish beer, and I can drink a case of the stuff and still pass a breathalyzer!
Seriously, I love beer. However, during my
Working Out - And Suffering diet I've had to cut some of the beer (you'd be surprised how much responsibility the stuff has in the creation of the ol' "beer gut"
), and it bugs me to lose that. But! Clausthaler has been something of a godsend, since I can drink 2 of them for every one of the real stuff (calorie-wise). AND! I can have one real beer and then a couple NA's, or vice versa, or even two real beers and 4 or 5 Clausthalers if I really want to "cut loose" which I like to do Friday evening at home — since I have an
actual bar in my house
.
Hell, grab yourself a 24oz mug and dump 2 frosty ones in there and you'll even feel like you're drinking great beer!
The stuff is growing on me, and I'm reaching the point where I would almost* rather drink it. They have a few flavors, and I keep two of them around (original and dry-hopped—I like the dry-hopped, which is richer and more full-bodied). If our local Trader Joe's carried more varieties I would try all of them. The citrus flavors probably have a bit more of an IPA thing to them, which would be nice. Otherwise, they're a bit more along the lines of a European lager, which is OK. The closest real-world beer I could compare it to would be something like Heineken, which is pretty good beer.
* Whereby "almost" means "maybe some day when hell freezes over). 