Starting Dry January A Few Days Late And The Price Of Non-Acoholic Beer.

I often have conversations with people I know about the price of a pint or alcohol.  So why don't we have one on here?

I have decided to have a bit of a dry/dryish January and save a few shillings or Euros even.

Supermarket beer is still relatively cheap compared to pub beer prices.  You can stay in your scruffs and you don't get cold but you never get to socialise apart from social media and on here and maybe an odd chat with someone  other than your immediate  family.  Well that's rural living for you in winter.

 One can buy 8 cans of Guinness for 17.20 Euros including your deposit for the "Return" scheme we have here in Ireland.  

You would pay 5.50 at least for a pint in a pub.  Times that by 8 and you will see why I choose to drink at home.

It looked like the "Black Stuff".  It was a lot milder taste but it wasn't bad.  Have you tried it?  Would I drink it again?  Maybe.  I wouldn't pay for a pint of it on draught in a pub though.

I very rarely drink in pubs in Ireland say at a very rare rock concert or maybe if we visit some where like Dingle in the summer. 

When it's nice to quench one's thirst sat outside at a pub at a beer table with a couple of pints of lager or Guinness.  I tend to sup (drink) lager in summer and stout during winter.

I never thought the day would come when ordinary people could not afford to go out for a gargle or pints.  

Plus taxis here are fifteen Euros each way and that is if you can get one on a weekend night?

I would rather have a good drink of real ales or cider in the West of  England or Kent  when it's a prog rock festival and visiting famous literary connections like Dorset.

I always seek out a very well known pub chain who offer food and drink at incredibly reasonable prices.  Like 2.72 for a pint of real ale or a Dorset cider.

I also seek out English and Irish bars when I go on sun holidays to places like Tenerife or the Algarve.  Draught beer and wine is so inexpensive over there.  

We do go in Portuguese bars too and we go in Lidl and the prices are far different than England or Ireland Lidl prices.   Isn't that the story of the Euro? 

Alcohol duty is the big difference  in other countries and  the hospitality tax in cafes and pubs is 13 percent in Ireland when it could be 9 percent.  What is it in Blighty or across the pond?

Any way I have decided to cut back on my home drinking.  I'm not giving up.  I am just cutting down.

So I had a look at zero alcohol in the supermarkets.  Have you tried it?

Discount supermarket price for four cans of Guinness.  It's 9 Euros fifty for cans of the real "black stuff".

Then we have pub prices for Porter or Guinness.  Speaking to people I know who go out drinking Guinness. I am informed that a pint of Guinness is around 5.50 and a pint of Guinness is only 40 Cents less.  

I know the government levy is 55 Cents on a pint but how can they charge so much for a pint of non-alcoholic beer?  Apparently Guinness 00 is expensive because the manufacturers claim they brew it twice.  Once to make it and twice to remove the alcohol?🤔

It is hardly an incentive for people to socialise and drive home is it? Especially when you can buy four pints of the stuff in cans for 6.99

How much is non alcoholic beer where you live?

What do you think of non-alcoholic beer?   Would you rather have a "nice cup of tea" or a glass/bottle of 🍷?  

We have tried non-alcoholic wine and I could not believe it had no alcohol in it.

Anyone else thinking of giving up the slurp or having a dry January or even February?  

What would you drink instead of alcohol?