Thoughts On Alcoholism
In the last month or so, I’ve done something that I’ve never done before in my life.
I’ve drunk perhaps half a bottle of beer when I’ve got up. Admittedly, I’d left the bottle half finished by my computer.
It was good.
In the 1960s, I could drink a lot of beer. I just seemed to need it.
About that time, I decided I needed to drink large amounts of fluids and swapped to tea and Coke.
My doctor understands my needs for fluids and the practice nurse has the same problem. The nurse puts it down to leaky skin, which he has.
I actually love walking in the rain, so that might help explain it. We all live by the laws of physics.
My father warned me off alcohol in a practical way, by giving me halves of Adnams down at Felixstowe Conservative Club, whilst we played snooker, when I was about fourteen.
My father drank a lot of fluids, but I never saw him drunk and most doctors would say he was a sensible drinker. Like me, he also drank a lot of tea!
He had a reason to control his drinking! His father had died from complications of being an alcoholic at 40, when my father was about twenty.
My grandfather had lived just around the corner from where I live now and my father had once told me, he had drunk large amounts of beer and had moved on to whisky.
Around 1900, there was very little to drink except beer, so did my grandfather’s need for fluids mean that he turned to what was available?
Now I like a good beer and know of its properties to slake a thirst when you’re dry. I’ve worked in foundries in the 1960s and beer was always available.
So is there a type of person, who needs a lot of fluids and if beer is available they turn to it. In some cases does this lead to alcoholism.
As to myself, I must have gluten-free beer and because I’m on Warfarin, I must keep my alcohol consumption down.
So I now drink a gluten-free beer, that is just 0.25 of a unit and tastes like real beer from Marks and Spencer.
But then it is real beer, as it is brewed in Southwold by Adnams.
My life has come full circle.
Pizza Again Last Night
It’s not often, I’ve ate pizza two nights running, but last night I went to Pizzesco after Cielo di Berlino in Berlin.
Both were gluten-free and washed done with Lammsbrau gluten-free beer.
If you give Pizza Express 7 out of 10, then Berlin would be 8 and Munich 9 or 10.
The only trouble with Pizzesco is that it gets busier every time I go.
Sainsbury’s Now Sell Celias!
I took this picture in the Angel branch of Sainsbury’s.
I only buy the odd bottle these days, as the Adnams Southwold Pale Ale 0.5%, which is available in Marks and Spencer is more to my taste.
Chilled Marks and Spencer’s 0.5% Southwold Pale Ale
I took this picture of Marks and Spencer’s 0.5% Southwold Pale Ale in the fridge of their store on Finsbury Pavement in the City of London.
Not that it needed to be cooled today, as it was real bass monkey weather.
Two Units Of Adnams Beer
This picture shows eight bottles of Marks and Spencer’s 0.5% Southwold Pale Ale, which is brewed by Adnams.
Astonishingly, there are just 2 units of alcohol, which cost just £12.80 in total.
But even more astonishingly, the beer has a good taste for a low-alcohol beer.
The Finest Low-Alcohol Gluten-Free Beer In The World
In some ways this is an open letter to Archie Norman and Jonathan Adnams, who are respectively chairman of Marks and Spencer and Adnams Brewery.
Adnams brew Southwold Pale Ale 0.5% for Marks and Spencer.
I have three medical conditions.
- I am coeliac, which means I must avoid gluten.
- I’ve had a stroke and am on Warfarin, which means I can’t drink too much alcohol.
- I have a need to drink lots of fluids and I find beer is best.
So I need a low-alcohol and gluten-free beer, that has all the thirst-quenching properties of beer.
I should say that my grandfather had the same need to drink a lot and he eventually turned into a serious alcoholic and died at the age of just forty.
I am now seventy and started drinking halves of Adnams at fourteen in Felixstowe Conservative Club, whilst playing snooker with my father. Since a stroke seven years ago, I’ve probably never drunk more than ten units of alcohol in a week.
The Southwold Pale Ale 0.5% satisfies my need for a low-alcohol beer and it has a quality taste, that I very much like.
When I was diagnosed as a coeliac twenty years ago, one of the problems was finding a decent gluten-free beer. So I had a discussion with a brewer at Adnams and he said that their beers could be gluten-free.
But I never tried one!
However, after testing a few bottles of Southwold Pale Ale 0.5% , I was convinced that the beer was low enough in gluten not to have any ill-effects on my body.
But then surely, a low-alcohol beer must be made with less barley to create the low-alcohol level!
I think Southwold Pale Ale 0.5% is a superb beer.
Don’t just take my word for it!
In the reviews on the Marks and Spencer web site, these are some of the titles.
- Favourite Low Alcohol Option
- Best Low Alc Beer I’ve Tried Yet
- Excellent Low Alcohol Pale Ale
Two other reviewers complain about the availability of the product.
Research shows that as many as one-in-fifty of the population of the UK could be coeliac.
Conclusion
Improving the availability of this product could be good for all concerned.
Then
A Low-Alcohol Beer With Flavour
I was buying my usual gluten-free IPA in Marks and Spencer in Islington, when I saw this beer next to it.
This beer is just 0.25 units for a half litre bottle.
It also has flavour, as it is brewed by Adnams.
But the amazing thing was I had no adverse to the beer despite being coeliac, although I’ve never claimed to be a serious one.
The Spanish Like Their Beer
I took these pictures in Spain
I actually drunk four or possibly five different varieties of gluten-free beer in my week in the country.
I was also surprised to see gluten-free Brewdog and beer from St. Peter’s in El Cortes Ingles.
The Beer In Spain Makes Up For The Lack Of Rain
Before I was diagnosed as a coeliac, I used to like my beer. For a few years afterwards, I could drink bottles of Guinness from Park Royal, but like the brewery they are now history.
But in this trip to Spain, I have drunk four different gluten-free beers and as I post this, I’m seinking a bottle of Estrella Damm Daura and very reasonable it is too!
I used to get it from Waitrose, but her upstairs got it replaced with the aptly named Celia.
One day, I intend to share a bed with a Celia, whilst we drink appropriately bamed bottles.
I’ll add that to my bucket list!
By the way Cecelias need not apply!
I
Gluten-Free Eating In Las Palmas
Spain is not a difficult place to be gluten-free.
The Hotel
In the hotel, I only are breakfast, which usually consisted of fruit juice, eggs, ham, cheese and coffee.
There was no gluten-free bread, as you can get in most three or four stars hotels these days.
But that I can do without.
Snacks
I did take about ten EatNakd bars and M&S Honeycomb Crisps, but Ialso found some Spanish bars, that were labelled Gluten-Free in large letters.
They would have done at a pinch.
I also had a couple of good salads.
Balalaika
I ate in this restaurant on Monday night.
The restaurant had the best allergy-friendly menu, I’ve ever found. Not from a point of the food, but from the way the information was presented.
For gluten-free food, I just avoided any item with a large red dot, with a gluten sign in the middle.
Kitchen Lovers
I ate here on the Tuesday night.
Kitchen Lovers
I’d been pointed to the restaurant by Lonely Planet’s guide to the Canary Islands (p 74)
It’s all, they say it is.
I didn’t book, but then November wasn’t busy in Las Palmas.
It was one of the best restaurants, I’ve eaten at in Spain. You have to remember that C and myself tried quite a few.
I paid 33 euros for two courses and a glass of wine.
I could spend that in say Carluccios in Leeds!
Restaurante Molinet
I ate here on Wednesday night after seeing the gluten-free sign on the facia.
It is a restaurant to watch, as it had mixed reviews, so it could go either way.
But at least it serves gluten-free San Miguel lager.
I wish them lots of success.
Tailpiece
If you have to be gluten-free like me, you won’t starve in Las Palmas.
