Stop it, that's my thing!
I had a thought this afternoon about the recent explosion of non-alcoholic beers on the market:
As much as I appreciate the explosion of new NA beers on the market, it's starting to feel overwhelming (to me). And now other people around me are trying more different ones than I am and maybe this is petty but I feel like "hey, this is my thing, let me have it."
And since I have a lot of time on my hands at work today, I thought I'd expand on that.
It's overwhelming
Most people are well aware of the many, many different types of craft beer that are out there, all over the world. If you live in a big enough city there's probably an indie brewery within 15 minutes of your house (in fact, there are two within walking distance from where I live!). There is nearly endless choice and sometimes that's a bad thing. It can be hard to choose, and maybe eventually you just pick what you like and stick with it (which is totally fine). I used to be a craft beer enthusiast, but then I stopped drinking almost 5 years ago and I stopped being a craft beer enthusiast.
Around the time I quit drinking, non-alcoholic beer had not quite had its moment in the sun yet (in Canada at least). There was a new upstart in Partake which had just gotten into grocery stores, but most of the stuff available was cheap imitations from the Big Breweries and weren't very good. I think the best "corporate" NA beer at that time was probably Heineken 0.0 - which is still very good.
Five years later and we are in what I would call a non-alcoholic revolution. More and more people are backing down on their alcohol consumption and are interested in non-alcoholic versions of their favourite drinks. First it was NA beer, but now there are more and more "mocktails" being sold in stores. I recently tried a mojito from Atypique - I quite liked that one. I was never a cocktail drinker though, so it's hard for me to judge how close flavour is in those ones. Except the rum & colas, none of them seem to get that one right. But I digress.
There are so many non-alcoholic beer options available now. Most big breweries have something at the very least acceptable (Sleeman Zero +), others very good (Heineken 0.0, Guiness Zero); there are even more independent options like Partake, Athletic Brewing Company, Libra, Sober Carpenter...lots. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by the choice. There's too much! I can't keep up with it all, and part of it is because you still need to order the "good stuff" online for delivery. Most choices aren't available in physical stores. Because there are so many more options online and I don't have the disposable income to try them all, I know I will miss out on some that I want to try, and then there are so many others I'll probably miss entirely because I'm not paying attention.
I think I'm feeling "FOMO" which is leading to this feeling of being overwhelmed. There's no stopping it though, I don't think this is a fad that will quiet down in a few years. I don't see it becoming as big as the craft brewery scene but I know we are at the tip of the iceberg.
It's my thing! Let me have it.
This one is partly on me; I've been singing the praises of non-alcoholic beers for a while now, telling everyone I know that this stuff is actually pretty good, give it a chance!
But now there are people around me trying NA beer (mostly, one of my brothers) telling me about all these new flavours...stop it. This is my thing. You still drink and enjoy craft beer. Let me have this thing to myself, please.
Is it unreasonable to feel selfish about this? I feel like I don't have something "to myself" anymore, now. I feel like I no longer have a "unique identifier", that maybe I need to re-invent myself a little bit. But I don't want to do that, I don't want to find something new.
While I know everyone's feelings are valid (which includes my own!), I can't help but feeling silly about thinking this way. But maybe there is something within me already that can become "my thing", or maybe I can learn to share.
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