My big news for this post is that I've sort-of-kinda started drinking again...but it's not what you think. Last weekend, Kandy, Makenna, and I went out for Father's Day and we stopped at Zupan's Market to get some ingredients for Kandy's wonderful homemade, stone-cooked pizza at home. She always makes the best food and is truly a gourmet when it comes to trying new things. And thinking of new things, I decided to look for some swaggering alternatives to beer and wine, as I used to enjoy them with Kandy's excellent pizza...yum!
So, while at Zupan's, I inquired with the wine guy about non-alcoholic wines and he was very helpful in pointing out that they only had two, a white and a sparkling white. Now one would have to have Kandy's pizza over the past 15 years to understand that almost any red varietal wine perfectly pares with her first-class, exquisitely prepared perfection of roundness and taste. Not to mention that I'm a huge , full-bodied, bold red lover, and a huge fan of Kandy's pizza.
Thanks to Zupan's, and the makers of Guinness beer, we purchased a six-pack of Kaliber, a non-alcoholic beer with full body and unique taste. Kandy said it was kind of like drinking a soda. The idea of non-alcoholic (N/A) beer and wine hit me like a light-bulb moment from out of the blue. Then I thought, why didn't i think of that before. Perhaps it might have been because O'doul's and all the other available N/A beers really sucked, not to mention that it took a ton of it to get you buzzed--just kidding!
Once the N/A beer option sunk in my sober mind, I started asking, "hey, what about top rated, N/A wines?" Let's take a look at what Google says about N/A wine ratings. So searching the internet turned out to be easier than finding good N/A wines at your local supermarket, although, Fred Meyer had a 'fre' Merlot, 2010 (I guess you don't have to let grape juice age or breathe for that matter) and I got it to try. It was like drinking the Merlot Grape version of Welches (no relationship, thank you) and not overly sweet, yet, well, hum, "Grapey."
No post would be complete without a mention of how supportive my friends and family have been in this year-long journey. Kandy knows that drinking at home isn't a temptation for me, and she could easily open a bottle of red anytime she liked, but we both know that she wouldn't drink it all and the bottle would go bad after a few days. Thus, our wine collection is aging well in the hall closet , insulated at around 60-65 degrees F. "There are a few 2007 and 2008 reds that are going to taste quite nice on January 1st," I said to Kandy.
The other night, as we've been trying to do in these fine, SUMMERISH evenings, we attempted to drive to the top of Larch Mountain for a picnic dinner, just the three of us. However, the gate to the top was still closed from winter and we settled for a roadside picnic at the Women's Forum overlook near Crown Point in the Gorge. It was a good affair and now I know about N/A wines that we can chill for the occasion as needed.
How does drinking N/A beverages make me feel? Well, the other day, my fish lady at Fred Meyer said, "isn't that kind of cheating?" I professed that the drink had less than 1% of 1% of alcohol in it and that I felt it was okay to drink. Then it made me think of why people drink and how many of them would stop drinking if alcohol was removed from their beverages. I'm sure the real addicts of alcohol would either enter recovery or simply find another vice to focus as their addiction source. I know when I stopped drinking last year, I started playing video games more often to pass the time, to vegg-out, and escape.
The brain is a complicated organ, yet it simply works with chemicals and electricity to function. The nature of humanness is to be happy, and some of us need certain stimulants to get by. I don't think I needed Alcohol to function at any point in my life, but it sure seemed like I might have a problem at times. For sure, when things got stressful for me, the last thing I thought about was drinking. To me, drinking was social, fun activity to be shared with happy people, not a way to drown out my problems and to feel better. My journey in this forest for one year is about discovering the real me, outside of the influence of alcohol. I owe it to myself to experience this time to reveal an inner character I had always hoped would emerge from the micro-brew lover, full-bodied red connoisseur that resided in my 205 lb full scale body suit that surrounds my spirit, or the essence of the real me. And so far, I'm liking what I see.
Until next time, cheers (N/A that is).
Don
