'I'm halfway through no beer for a year - I've come to an incredible realisation'

There is a brilliant video doing the rounds on social media of young Limerick farmer Fintan Walsh lamenting the end of drinking culture in Ireland. It’s hilarious and I’ve dropped it below for any of you who missed it. It’s been six months since I’ve had a drink after embarking on a no beer for a year challenge, but boys, Fintan nearly broke me.

He says “gone are the days of going for a pint in the local; sitting up there, leaning against the barstool, ordering a pint and drinking away.” He takes aim at hyrox culture in Ireland, saying, “in are the days of going for an iced coffee, protein balls and talking about your f**king hyrox times,” adding, “go away with the hyrox, it’s high stools, lads, and a pint of Heineken, or a nice pint of Guinness.”

He is having a laugh but he is right in that we’ve fallen into two extremes; if we’re not drinking, we’re turning over tyres, pulling out of rowing machines and running endless sprints before posting about them on Instagram and TikTok. Being off the drink, maybe I should be flying to Portugal and running up mountains, but I still found myself more drawn to Fintan’s description of a creamy pint than the muscle-burning alternative.

He sets the scene: “Jesus, lads, do you remember the days, you go into a pub there and it’s lovely and warm, just perfectly warm. The fire’s lighting, you can hear it crackling, there’s a smell of turf around the place. There’s a band playing in the corner, not too loud, just enough to get you going, your feet are moving and they’re moving towards the bar. You get a drink there, one shlug and it just feels like it evaporates into you.” Beautiful. If that’s not modern-day Irish poetry, lads, I don’t know what is!

READ MORE: 'I'm three months into 'no beer for a year' - I've noticed one big lifestyle change'

One comment read: “I don’t drink anymore but listening to this man I nearly found myself sitting on a high stool with a creamy pint of the good stuff.” I could have written that response myself but I realised I longed for the scene he was setting more than anything; I’d be just as happy with a pint of Guinness 0.0 beside the crackling turf fire. I might be the butt of Fintan’s next video just for saying that; it’s not very cool in Ireland to be on the dry but that was my first thought.

Nowhere in the world does hospitality like Ireland. There’s not one corner of the earth cosier than an old Irish pub with a fire going and a creamy, cold pint of Guinness in front of you, and the twang of an old fiddle playing an Irish tune carrying over the clinking of glasses. That setting is the key to what Fintan is describing. Have you ever had a nice pint from a plastic cup on a cold step at a rainy festival? I know you haven’t, so don’t lie.

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I went for dinner recently to my favourite Guinness pub, Furey’s Bar in Moyvalley, Co Meath. It is the quintessential Irish pub, just as described above, and they pull a fine pint of the black stuff. It’s one place I used to refuse to be the designated driver for; I simply had to have a few pints every time I went. But I had a Guinness 0.0 this time and, maybe miraculously, I got the same feeling. It was the atmosphere, the staff, the grub, the place itself, that made the experience. The alcohol itself added nothing to it when I thought about it. I’d never have realised this if I hadn’t given up the drink.

All that being said, I’m not getting a pioneer pin and six months into no beer for a year, I can safely say, contrary to Christy Moore’s famous song Delirium Tremens, I will definitely drink again. I think the challenge, which I now have no doubt I will complete, has changed my mindset.

It hasn’t turned me into an anti-craic, holier than thou exercise merchant, but it has broken the link in my head between certain social occasions and ‘the drink.’ I don’t mean just weddings; but that big match, a concert, a gloomy Thursday night when you feel you deserve one, all of those occasions, big and small, were once synonymous with having a pint. I have to say the 0.0 alternatives have made it easier but even buying those in the shopping has turned from a weekly thing early on in the year to a monthly thing now. I still have a few cans of Guinness 0.0 in the fridge from Man United’s ill-fated Europa League final against Spurs a month ago.

READ MORE: I've challenged myself to 'no beer for a year' for 2025 - there's one big reason

I’ll drink again because it’s sociable and certainly relaxes you, relieves stress and all of those things. I won’t drink every week or even every month of the year, and I suppose that’s the beauty and the result of extending Dry January into the rest of 2025. So cheers to Fintan and the creamy pints; someone get the hyrox crowd a Heineken Zero!

He sets the scene: “Jesus, lads, do you remember the days, you go into a pub there and it’s lovely and warm, just perfectly warm. The fire’s lighting, you can hear it crackling, there’s a smell of turf around the place. There’s a band playing in the corner, not too loud, just enough to get you going, your feet are moving and they’re moving towards the bar. You get a drink there, one shlug and it just feels like it evaporates into you.” Beautiful. If that’s not modern-day Irish poetry, lads, I don’t know what is!

One comment read: “I don’t drink anymore but listening to this man I nearly found myself sitting on a high stool with a creamy pint of the good stuff.” I could have written that response myself but I realised I longed for the scene he was setting more than anything; I’d be just as happy with a pint of Guinness 0.0 beside the crackling turf fire. I might be the butt of Fintan’s next video just for saying that; it’s not very cool in Ireland to be on the dry but that was my first thought.

Nowhere in the world does hospitality like Ireland. There’s not one corner of the earth cosier than an old Irish pub with a fire going and a creamy, cold pint of Guinness in front of you, and the twang of an old fiddle playing an Irish tune carrying over the clinking of glasses. That setting is the key to what Fintan is describing. Have you ever had a nice pint from a plastic cup on a cold step at a rainy festival? I know you haven’t, so don’t lie.

I went for dinner recently to my favourite Guinness pub, Furey’s Bar in Moyvalley, Co Meath. It is the quintessential Irish pub, just as described above, and they pull a fine pint of the black stuff. It’s one place I used to refuse to be the designated driver for; I simply had to have a few pints every time I went. But I had a Guinness 0.0 this time and, maybe miraculously, I got the same feeling. It was the atmosphere, the staff, the grub, the place itself, that made the experience. The alcohol itself added nothing to it when I thought about it. I’d never have realised this if I hadn’t given up the drink.

All that being said, I’m not getting a pioneer pin and six months into no beer for a year, I can safely say, contrary to Christy Moore’s famous song Delirium Tremens, I will definitely drink again. I think the challenge, which I now have no doubt I will complete, has changed my mindset.

It hasn’t turned me into an anti-craic, holier than thou exercise merchant, but it has broken the link in my head between certain social occasions and ‘the drink.’ I don’t mean just weddings; but that big match, a concert, a gloomy Thursday night when you feel you deserve one, all of those occasions, big and small, were once synonymous with having a pint. I have to say the 0.0 alternatives have made it easier but even buying those in the shopping has turned from a weekly thing early on in the year to a monthly thing now. I still have a few cans of Guinness 0.0 in the fridge from Man United’s ill-fated Europa League final against Spurs a month ago.

READ MORE: 'I'm doing no beer for a year but it's very expensive to stay sober in Ireland'

I’ll drink again because it’s sociable and certainly relaxes you, relieves stress and all of those things. I won’t drink every week or even every month of the year, and I suppose that’s the beauty and the result of extending Dry January into the rest of 2025. So cheers to Fintan and the creamy pints; someone get the hyrox crowd a Heineken Zero!