by Anura Guruge

Very nice & satisfying THOUGH NOT (I repeat ‘NOT’) ZERO calorie. Click to ENLARGE.

Yes, ZERO calorie per the label (if it is to be trusted). Click to ENLARGE.

Some of those who know me might find this difficult to believe, but I have not always been a ‘dipso‘. If anything, by British standards, & especially those of the late 1960s & 1970s, I started consuming alcohol very late in my life! I did not start drinking alcohol, in any form or format, until I had turned 20. In those days, if my memory is true, an adult could buy you a drink at a pub when you were 14. At 18 nearly everyone I knew & associated with drank, bar I. [And, for totally different reasons, I also refused to touch (or even go near) drugs. That was a blessing. Wow, can you picture I on drugs. That would have been scary — mainly to I.]

Anywho ….

Pre-dipso, I (living in the U.K. (of course)) drank ginger beer. And it used to be good ginger beer.

Once I moved onto alcohol I still drank ginger beer, but not to the same extent as before.

Then in 1985 I came to the U.S.

Don’t know what happened. Maybe ginger beer was not as readily available. I started drinking ‘Schweppes’ & ‘Canada Dry’ ginger ale — often with liberal helpings of whiskey (in some form).

I have continued to drink Ginger Ale — albeit Diet. It is the ONLY soda I drink.

Then last Sunday, Father’s Day, after our hikes in the North Country I was still thirsty. These days, with COVID-19, I no longer stop to get coffee. Stopped at a Hannaford & I saw some CRAFT ginger beer. Bought a bottle. WOW. WOW. It was good. Kick like a mule. Who needed alcohol. Then the wife pointed out that I was on a SUGAR HIGH.

Ahhh!

Some 38.5g of CARBS. Sacré Bleu. Wow. No wonder it felt so good. Given my near obesity I can’t afford to imbibe that many carbs. That is nearly my entire quota for a day.

So, I looked around for DIET ginger beer. They do make it, though, one brand, ‘Bundaberg‘, which is good, is NOT totally sugar-free. Reduced sugar, but sugar nonetheless. I will have to give it a miss. I am fat enough already. I need to lose 20lbs, NOT gain another 20lbs.

I tried the ‘Goslings‘ too. Not as good. Definitely flatter. Not as zesty. But, NO sugar.

I will let you. Even at 0 calories I will only drink one a day. My weight is an issue. SMILE.

Related posts:
Search ‘Wine’.

by Anura Guruge