How to appreciate low ABV beer again?

Take a break from drinking for a week or two, then start back with something low ABV and lighter on flavor.

 

Supported. Only 40% ABV or more was good enough for me (whisky). Then I quit for one month. After that NA beers have been working wonders.

 

Find something to focus on with the lower ABV beers. For example, join in here: Irish Dry Stout Tasting March 24th.

 

Make yourself a list of your 10 or 20 favorite low-ABV beers. Start by sorting your BA beer list by ABV and pick out the top scored beers that you can get now. Then go get singles of them if you can, and re-acquaint yourself. Then decide which to stock up on.

 

I actively seek out sub-5% beers because on the weekends I like to have 5 or 6 beers per night. Hangovers are not something I wish to endure in my 40s, and those 8%+ beers are no doubt taxing your body inside and out.

Try eliminating doubles from your repertoire. For one, it'll get you out of the IPA/Stout trap in sounds like you're in, and you may also find that you are spending less

 

I just don't have the tolerance that I use to. If I drink anything more than 3 DIPAs (or that alcohol level in any other style) in an evening I will completely destroy the prospect of being productive the next day. So if I want to get together with friends and drink over the course of the evening I have no choice but to drink low alcohol beer. Also, one plus of living in a state where you cant get draft beer over 4.0% abv, the breweries here are really good at making a diverse array of great low alcohol beer. My favorite beer made in our state right now is a 4% abv american lager from a brewery called Fisher.

 

Personally I've never had that problem, although I was once fond of malty beers for a few years. Still, I appreciated everything, and still do.

But you bring up something that I think is happening to a lot of people, especially newer, younger drinkers. When you start with all IPAs and big beers I can imagine it might seem boring to drink something like a Munich helles. Additionally, they have so many more choices than some of us older guys used to have. It'll be interesting to see where things go.

 

Open beer, pour into glass? Mix it up some on a regular basis. I like wine and whiskey as well.

 

No, it's not "hard".

In fact, I find it very easy to walk out of such establishments with my wallet never leaving my pocket.

 

To me, low abv beer is to drink many in a sitting. As you drink, and taste buds adapt and perseptions change, sometimes the same beer youve been drinking will in some way change. Thats what i like about it. For example. The more yards brawler i drink, the more subtleties in the malt and yeast i get to find.

 

Would agree on the whole, and specifically about Brawler. When I'm 3 or 4 deep I find a deeper appreciation for it.

 

A few things that all pointed in the direction of lower ABV beers, some you or others have pointed out already.

1) Lose the FOMO. There are so many different great beers being made all the time. You can't try them all. Stop worrying about it and open up your drinking "schedule" to less hyped styles.
2) Health considerations, excess weight/calories, stress on the liver, etc. I'm also mildly lactose intolerant, so lactose additions aren't doing me any favors.
3) Hangovers suck. Even a mild headache, dry mouth, or just a poor night's sleep that doesn't necessarily slow me down is just annoying. I'm an adult, I got shit to do the next day.
4) Drinking low-ABV beers made me more aware of the unpleasantly hot, fusel flavor of alcohol in many of those 8%+ booze bombs, which created a feedback loop in favor of lower ABVs.
5) Cost. You spend far less money on beer when you're not buying $20 4-pack cans of the latest haze craze or bombers of barrel-aged stouts.
6) I wanted to be more knowledgeable of beer overall, taste more beer styles, learn historical aspects of beer, subtleties, different countries, etc. Some of the classics are classic for good reasons, some others maybe not so much... but you can't know that if you're always chasing the next hyped thing.
7) I realized that many of the hyped beers are one-time releases, or a unique ingredient that piques my curiosity, but wouldn't choose to drink again. If I'm ticking beers that I probably won't be able to or willing to drink again, then what's the point? It's ticking for the sake of ticking. This realization greatly reduces FOMO (see #1).

 

This happened to me big time and the weight control was an issue as well...the stubborn pounds would just not budge no matter what I did. I quit drinking for a month and it did wonders and that also reset my palate. When I came back around I started with Lagers/Pilsners and what got me into craft beer in the first place, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, IPAs tasted like IPAs again and the lupulin shift had calmed down.

I realized yesterday I have been swinging back towards high ABV beers again and knocking them back with no issue so I am going to be cutting back again and I have made it a point to buy nothing but lower ABV beers for when I am in the mood.

 

I have no difficulty in ignoring them entirely.

 

I see you are nowhere near to where I live, but my answer if you were would be to try the beers from Suarez Family Brewers. All low ABV beers that are masterfully made and full of flavor. He specializes in Pilsners, Farmhouse styles, and session hoppy pale ales.

So, my answer (unhelpful as it may be) is to seek out low ABV beers that are full of flavor and well made, because they definitely do exist, and you won't feel like you are giving up anything. Good luck.

 

Whenever I see a topic like this I think of Brawler. I wish it was available here.

 

When I go low ABV, it's usually in a sour. You still get tons of character at around 6%.

 

I'm on a no beer during the week run, only had one this weekend. No beer takes quite right at this point.