Five Tips for Mindful Drinking

Five Tips for Mindful Drinking

Posted by Chelsea Finnigan on

Beer is everywhere. There’s always opportunity and temptation to hit a beer festival, share pints with friends, or open new bottle you’ve been hoarding away in your beer cellar (aka your Grandma’s basement). Yes, I know, #beerproblems. But when you taste, write and talk about beer every single day, it’s good to have some rules to live by. So behold — our TOP 5 TIPS for enjoying beer mindfully:

1. Imbibe with friends.

Crack open your big bottles, or soaring ABV beers with friends. It can be very tempting to polish off a 500ml bottle on your own because you can’t re-cork it. Instead, share a bottle over dinner (we even split 330 ml bottles of 5% ABV beers with our hubbies) and stop there.

2. Achieve beer balance.

Make a healthy entree to counter the calories in your beer. Vegetable centric-dishes like stir-frys, fresh bowls and salads are easy to make and delicious. Try a lentil and bean salad with an English Pale Ale or a spicy arugula salad topped with salmon with an IPA. Want more tips? We’ve made pairing beer with salad a cinch with this handy chart.

3. If you don’t like it, DUMP IT.

We’re all for not wasting good food, but if you don’t like a beer you don’t need to finish it. It may seem wrong to dump half a can down the drain, but if you don’t truly enjoy it, what’s the point? Whether it’s a little “dusty” (oxidized) or just not your jam, say goodbye to that mediocre bottle and don’t look back. And if you just can’t dump it? Save it for cooking, the Beeroness has stellar recipes.

4. Sip and savour.

Save the chugging for your next kegger. Get your sensory on a la one of our beer heroes, Randy Mosher, and smell, look, taste, and admire the finish. Slowly savouring ensures you’ll drink less and enjoy it more. To read our beer tasting tips, click here.

5. Drink a beer everyday.

This tip comes courtesy of nutritionist and foodie, Abbey Sharp, check out her blog for recipes and healthy lifestyle advice. Research suggests that moderate regular beer drinking (1-2 beers/day) is linked to a lower risk of weight gain, but larger amounts don’t confer additional benefits. In other words, enjoy small amounts of beer most days rather than “saving” your beer allowance for the weekend.

Originally Published on www.CraftBeerTastings.com

Crystal Luxmore is a Certified Cicerone, Prud'homme Beer Sommelier, Beer Judge and journalist. She is responsible for many of the tasting notes and food pairings on our site. She actively runs team building workshops and networking events around beer including non-alcoholic beer. Please contact her at info@craftbeertastings.com to arrange your beer tasting event!