As Tasty AF

Although it's hard to recall now with any great certainty, but I think in general I drink more alcohol here in New Zealand that I used to when I was in the UK. Not necessarily in volume, but probably more regularly. It's not that I've been keeping a record or anything, but alcohol is served at many more occasions than it ever was back in Blighty. And so by extension, I must be drinking more often. Or maybe I'm just being precious and, as usual, thinking too much.

I was really surprised, when not long after I started work, there was a late afternoon client meeting in the office and, as well as the usual snacks and finger food, bottles of wine started to appear. And not just one or two but several and of different varieties. Maybe this is common place in some other industries, but in my experience not in engineering, and certainly not during the working day.

And then there is office drinks. In the company I work for, every second Friday the beer and wine fridge is opened at 5pm - yes there is a beer and wine fridge in the office kitchen area - and staff can come down and enjoy some beer, wine and food with the rest of the team. This practice is fairly commonplace in New Zealand and generally it's a lovely thing to do but there have been stories when things have gone a little too far. For example, after one such event several years ago, an employee decided to drive home after drinking more than their fair share and crashed their vehicle into a tree. No problem they thought, I'll just leave it here and come back in the morning and get it. Unfortunately for them, they were so unaware of their surroundings, that they didn't realise that they had barely driven 100m from the office and the tree they had crashed into was actually on the grounds of the adjacent primary school. Oh, and it if that wasn't enough, the car a company parking pass attached to the windscreen. This was not, I hasten to add, at our company but that of a competitor. 

In December 2014 the drink driving laws in New Zealand were tightened up - this resulted in numerous awareness campaigns being broadcast and in some cases, bars displaying posters advising how many beers you could have per hour and remain within the legal limit. I'm sure they thought this was being responsible but I have my doubts about their effectiveness. 

That's not to say that there wasn't an alcohol influence in the UK. I remember many occasions early in my career when we would go to the pub on a Friday lunchtime and wander....actually make that stagger....back in to the office sometime around 3pm. But that was back in the good old days in the early 90s when it didn't really matter. Or did it? Nah, who cares if some of the designs prepared were fuelled by lunchtime drinking...actually thinking about it, that might explain some of the horrendous road junction designs that have been built. The general UK population was in no danger from me anyway - I tended to doze through the rest of Friday afternoons and so did very little work. What can I say, I was young and very easily led and you absolutely didn't leave the pub until the boss did!

On the whole though, New Zealand doesn't seem to have a binge drinking issue, random issues on a Friday evening aside, it's just that it's more readily available. And hence why I think I imbibe on a more frequent basis. I'm not saying that I have an issue or anything, but it is something of which I have become increasingly more aware. One part of me thinks so what, it's not like I'm putting beer on my cereals or anything - although I did try that once as a hangover cure after a particular heavy New Year's Eve in Edinburgh - but there is a small niggle at the back of my mind that makes me wonder.....

If the prevalence of alcohol wasn't enough, New Zealand's beer is much stronger than average. Take our local bar as an example, the weakest beer they have on tap is Guinness at 4.2% and it's about as Irish as me - it's brewed just down the road at the Lion Brewery. Most of the other beers served at our local start at around 5% and increase in strength to a syrupy 9%. And most are very deceptive and certainly don't taste as strong as they are. This might be due to the fact that New Zealand beer is typically served at throat numbingly cold temperatures - even the glasses are kept in the fridge to make sure it arrives at your table as cold as it was when it left the tap. It's just the way we like it, or at least that's what I've been told. But make no mistake, mistake a heady brew for a session beer and you'll soon be wondering why your legs won't carry you in the direction you want to go....when you eventually get up from the table that is. 

There is one blessing, a safety net if you like, and this is that it is illegal for any pub licensee to serve to inebriated people, and that extends to the entire group. So, if one person in the group drinks past their limit, the whole group won't get served. Further at large events, such as sporting events and concerts, there is another level of control - the volume that can be served to an individual is managed on an hour by hour basis. How does that work? Well initially they may be no limits, or the limits are very generous - say four drinks per person. But if there is a hint that some in the crowd might be getting too tipsy, then the grip is tightened and the tap is turned off a little - so the limit might become one drink per person. And so the flow of alcohol fluctuates as the evening progresses. This did lead to an odd situation when we attended a concert at a local vineyard only to find that the distribution of wine to the crowd had been turned off. Imagine a vineyard not being able to sell it's own wine to the punters. They were lucky there wasn't a riot!

So why am I telling you all this? Well because I was conscious that I may be drinking more than I should, I've been experimenting with Alcohol Free (AF) beer, and I have to say that it's been an eye opener. I wasn't expecting much - my experience with AF beer from the past has been less that satisfactory. In fact water was more palatable than the AF beers I have tried in the past. There was more beer flavour in the beer bottle sweets we used to each as kids. But surely, things have moved on I thought? I found a company in New Zealand that specialised is such things and ordered a box of 30 different types of AF beers and, as this was one of my projects, naturally I had to create a spreadsheet to track the beers that I was trying and score them.

I am pleased to report that all 30 beers were a vast improvement on AF beers from the past - they all had flavour and actually tasted like beer. Some were even better, had a lovely bitterness and I swear that on a blind tasting it would be hard to discern the difference between an AF version and a normal beer. 

Since I started this experiment, I have also noticed that supermarkets usually have a shelf or two dedicated to AF products and it has even appeared in some bars on tap.  In fact the tap beers are so good that I have had to check that I have been given the correct one.  Don't worry, I haven't gone all puritanical and given up on regular beer, but it is nice to have the option from time to time.

So without further ado, here are my top five AF beers. Yes and they are all as tasty AF!

Brewery	Name	Comments
Good George	VR NonAlc Hazy IPA	Wow - had to ask the server to make sure it was the AF version. Got it on draft from Good George bar
De Haalve Man	Bruges Sport Zot	Smells like a Belgian beer, tastes like a Belgian beer so must be a Belgian beer. Remarkable that this is AF
Drop Bear Beer	Tropical IPA	Wonderful! Tastes just like the real thing. Nice and crisp taste with good hoppyness.
UNLTD	IPA	Lovely sharp bitter taste - crisp on the tongue. Very refreshing.  Fruity with a long, hoppy finish. Delicious.
Weihenstephaner	Hefe weissbier	When the Germans get in on the act you know it must be a good thing.

Tasty AF? You bet!