Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Near-beer bust
Nonalcoholic drinking and driving
Hey Matt!
I’m an alcoholic and I’ve recently cut down my consumption to the point that I’m not hammered all day every day. Well, I’ve converted to nonalcoholic beer for the daytime — ’cause I love beer — but I noticed that they have a 0.5% ABV. That means it would roughly take ten N.A. to equal 1 regular beer. Well, my question is, can I just be driving around in my car drinking N.A. all day and if so would the cops bust me at some point? Could I get a D.U.I?
— Waitin’ till dark to drink real beer
I’d say don’t do it. Here’s why: If a cop sees you cruising around, sipping from a brown bottle with a long neck, he might want to pull you over just to see what’s going on. The explanation, “Oh, no, it’s nonalcoholic beer!” might not explain you out of trouble, either, since many uncreative boozers have tried pouring out O’Doul’s and replacing it with legit beer.
What a great way to drink on the sly...said nobody, ever!
Anyway, the cop is going to think that’s what’s up, and he’ll probably want to give you a breathalyzer test. You’ll pass it because it’s basically impossible to drink enough 0.5% beer to get intoxicated. Your body can process alcohol faster than you can take it in at that concentration, not to mention the fact that ten N.A. beers is close to a gallon of fluid, which is hard to drink in the first place without rupturing like an overfilled water balloon. You couldn’t be cited for violating an “open container” law, either, since California abides by federal regulations that define an “alcoholic beverage” as having “not less than one half of one percent alcohol by volume.” Well, you could be cited since the cops can write you a ticket for anything, but you would be very likely to get out of it in court. When all is said and done, you’re stuck sitting on the side of the road with an irritated cop who probably feels like you’re flaunting the law in front of him. Cops don’t like that. Doing stuff that cops don’t like is generally a Bad Idea. And, you have to ask yourself, is near-beer worth all that hassle?
Here's something you might be interested in.
Near-beer bust
Nonalcoholic drinking and driving
Near-beer bust
Nonalcoholic drinking and driving
Hey Matt!
I’m an alcoholic and I’ve recently cut down my consumption to the point that I’m not hammered all day every day. Well, I’ve converted to nonalcoholic beer for the daytime — ’cause I love beer — but I noticed that they have a 0.5% ABV. That means it would roughly take ten N.A. to equal 1 regular beer. Well, my question is, can I just be driving around in my car drinking N.A. all day and if so would the cops bust me at some point? Could I get a D.U.I?
— Waitin’ till dark to drink real beer
I’d say don’t do it. Here’s why: If a cop sees you cruising around, sipping from a brown bottle with a long neck, he might want to pull you over just to see what’s going on. The explanation, “Oh, no, it’s nonalcoholic beer!” might not explain you out of trouble, either, since many uncreative boozers have tried pouring out O’Doul’s and replacing it with legit beer.
What a great way to drink on the sly...said nobody, ever!
Anyway, the cop is going to think that’s what’s up, and he’ll probably want to give you a breathalyzer test. You’ll pass it because it’s basically impossible to drink enough 0.5% beer to get intoxicated. Your body can process alcohol faster than you can take it in at that concentration, not to mention the fact that ten N.A. beers is close to a gallon of fluid, which is hard to drink in the first place without rupturing like an overfilled water balloon. You couldn’t be cited for violating an “open container” law, either, since California abides by federal regulations that define an “alcoholic beverage” as having “not less than one half of one percent alcohol by volume.” Well, you could be cited since the cops can write you a ticket for anything, but you would be very likely to get out of it in court. When all is said and done, you’re stuck sitting on the side of the road with an irritated cop who probably feels like you’re flaunting the law in front of him. Cops don’t like that. Doing stuff that cops don’t like is generally a Bad Idea. And, you have to ask yourself, is near-beer worth all that hassle?
Comments