Having been to a few social evenings during my year without beer I think I can happily say that I have found a great alternative to beer and wine. Last night my wife and I were at a dinner party – a great opportunity to catch up with friends whilst enjoying a tasty meal and a few drinks. We took two bottles with us last night, a nice red for Mrs M and some homemade non-alcoholic “rose” for me.

I’ve been playing with various freshly extracted juices as wine alternatives and find that apple, grapes and a few berries mixed with sparkling mineral water is a delicious way to make a fresh, non-alcoholic “rose”.

Anyway, last night we ended talking a little about my year without beer and this  lead the conversion on to “drinking stories”. I think we all have a few of these we can tell.

One of the friends at last night’s party told us about a particular Christmas morning when he was in his late teens/early twenties. His family had been to Church on Christmas morning and then when his mum went home to prepare the Christmas dinner the rest of the family called in to the local pub. A festive ale called “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reinbeer” was the order of the day and he and his brother enjoyed a few pints before heading home. His brother maybe drank a little more than a few and so when arriving home went for a quick nap before dinner was served. When his brother woke he came down stairs to find the family at the dinner table. He was, however, a little confused. The family were just starting to tuck in to their food, but it looked more like left overs than Christmas dinner. His brother had to turn the TV on and check the date before believing that he slept through Christmas and had arrived at the table for the family’s Boxing day meal!

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Year Without Beer

I am spending 2012 completely sober, living an alcohol free life throughout the year to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Cancer Research UK. Please support my Year Without Beer by donating to one of these fantastic causes:

• To donate to Cancer Research UK please click here to visit my just giving page or donate by text – send AYWB66 and the amount to 70070. For example, texting “AYWB66 £5″ will donate £5.
• To donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust please click here to visit my just giving page or donate by text – send AYWB55 and the amount to 70070. For example, texting “AYWB55 £5″ will donate £5.