What Happens When Something You Enjoy is Taken Away?
A thought popped into my head as I poured a new non-alcoholic IPA (Athletic Brewing Company’s Run Wild IPA) into an old Innis & Gunn beer glass: I used to be “known” as a beer lover. If you weren’t sure what to buy for me, the easiest choice would be to find some craft beer somewhere, or at least some sort of gift card to buy one. But I haven’t had an alcoholic beer since November 30, 2019 – almost a year now.
At first that was because I wanted to lose some weight in December of that year, so thought I’d drop the calorie-heavy drinks for the month to help along with that. It’s not like I drank a lot of beer all the time, but every little bit helps. In early December though I was given new medication to start to treat my seizures, and was instructed very clearly NOT to mix alcohol with these pills. Apparently, the effects of alcohol are greatly increased by this medication (something I learned is common with drugs designed to target the brain).
This forced a real shift for me. I thought maybe I would get to the 3-months seizure-free mark and then I’d try a beer, which would have been April, but I didn’t quite get there. Eventually I would get to 6+ months seizure free, and my neurologist told me that it would be okay if I had alcohol in moderation. To be honest though, I’m not ready to drink just yet, and I’m not sure if I want to. I’ve already not drank anything for almost a year, so why stop the streak? I’ve found a lot of other drinks that I enjoy to take the place of alcohol (including many new options for non-alcoholic beer).
But that’s not why I’m writing – I want to know what happens when something I enjoy is taken away from me; such as enjoying craft beer. I missed the different flavours of craft beer just a little bit tonight when I reached for the Innis & Gunn glass. I’ll be surprised if there’s ever a whiskey-infused non-alcoholic beer out there, but I’m going to guess it’s never happening. I’m lucky enough as it is that I’ve found varieties of IPA, Pale Ale, Red, Whites – and others – but I’m not going to push my luck wishing for something comparable to the vast flavours of craft beer.
This is probably the first time in many months that I’ve actually thought about alcoholic beer and missed it. Until tonight, I haven’t felt an emptiness that can only be filled by my hobby of finding a cool new flavour to try from the brewery down the street (and there really is a brewery down the street from our house). That feeling was very brief though – I don’t feel it anymore.
So what happened? I guess I still have the same hobby – I’m finding new non-alcoholic beers to try. I’m surprised there are so many. Just this week I had a shipment come in of three different styles of beer from two different brewers, and there are still many other brewers I haven’t tried yet. Part of what I enjoyed about the craft beer scene were all the different colours of the labels and the logos. The first non-alcoholic beer I found was a little lacking in that department (Partake). I’m getting that now, though. Sober Carpenter has a pretty neat looking series of cans; and Athletic Brewing Company looks really awesome. I would put their can designs on a t-shirt and wear it.
Even though the alcoholic part of the craft beer hobby was taken away, I was able to take a slight turn and replace it with a different, and probably safer hobby. Personally I think that’s really cool. From what I can tell, more and more non-alcoholic options show up all the time. They’re very big in the USA, and it’s slowly catching on in Canada. Interestingly, most of the new beers I’ve heard about are out west – I only know of two in Eastern Canada for sure (Sober Carpenter and Partake).
I guess I realize now that the thing I enjoyed wasn’t really taken away from me after all, it simply changed and became something else. I wonder if this happens with other things we enjoy – do we ever outright lose the things we enjoy, or do they just become something different? Something I need to think about.
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