The Unexpected Inspiration That Drove Charlie Sheen to Perfect His Nonalcoholic Beer: 'We Weren’t Going to Settle'

Famous actor Charlie Sheen has an incredibly busy fall. In the span of a few weeks, his memoir, The Book of Sheen, was published, a two-part Netflix documentary about him, which was aptly titled aka Charlie Sheen began streaming, and he launched his non-alcoholic beer brand Wild AF Cold Gold.

“It was nuts,” he says. “I would focus on the one that was right in front of me until I couldn’t and then just shift my sights to the next responsibility. It’s a lot to take on one of those and bring it to fruition. I’m not really sure how I pulled it off.

I recently caught up with Sheen about his new beer venture, as well as his personal drinking philosophies.

Have you always been a big beer drinker?

The short answer to that would be: Yes, I’ve always loved beer. Didn’t have a ton of experience in the non-alc space. When I was drinking drinking, beer was more like the meal between the spirits. I never really drank beer to get hammered. I just drank it to make it to the next bottle of tequila or whiskey…but never gin. I drew the line at gin! I was never a beer snob, [but] I would never drink light beer. I thought that the caloric reduction should take place with food and that beer was a treat and should be enjoyed to its fullest.

Is Wild AF Cold Gold your ideal profile for a beer?

That’s a great question. My beer—not coincidentally—by design is my ideal profile. And that was because not really understanding a lot about the chemistry or the mixology of it all, I had to just go on preference, flavor, and the feedback from my taste buds. 

Obviously, with the name of the brand, there's an organic baseball tie-in, you know. And what’s the beer that people want to drink either at the stadium or on their couch watching the game? And I’m not saying it’s exclusive just to baseball. I think it covers the four majors, you know. Perhaps even the other football. That’s what drove me. 

I don’t know how many taste testings and recipe meetings we went through, but we weren’t going to settle. And there was that one moment where it really clicked for all of us, where we were like, Wow, okay, I think we’re here. That was an exciting moment. 

What do you taste when you drink it?

This will sound totally cliche, but it takes me back to a simpler time. And I don’t really know how to dig into that. I’m hoping that people will not just think of me fondly when they’re drinking it, but also just arrive at a similar headspace when they crack one open. 

Given that “cold” is in the name of your beer, do you like to drink it ice cold or just cold enough?

I think just cold because I don’t want to be restricted at the velocity at which I can consume something for fear of, you know, brain freeze. I’m not the guy that’s going to pull a frosted mug out of the freezer.

Have you ever worked as a bartender?

I’ve never been a bartender. Obviously, I spent more time than should have been allowed on the other side of that bar. I did a cameo for a buddy of mine years ago as a bartender in a short film he was doing. And the good thing about it was there’s always some activity you can incorporate just to cover the dialogue. A bartender always has something he has to be doing and it’s not always just taking orders. It’s just maintaining the space, you know. So I found that interesting, and it was nice to be in the therapist’s chair, not on the other side of the couch. 

What’s your all-time favorite fictional drinker or fictional bartender?

I thought Peter O’Toole delivered one of the great performances in My Favorite Year. Dudley Moore as Arthur was one of the great drinking performances of all time.

As far as bartenders, I've got to go with Lloyd from The Shining. When Nicholson walks in and says “hair of the dog that bit me, Lloyd.” Maybe not the friendliest bartender in the coziest of environments.

If you could have one of your beers with someone dead or alive, who would it be?

Well, it’s interesting, because if I pull somebody from the past, when non-alc beer didn’t exist, does it beg the question that I don’t tell them right off the bat? That I don’t tell Babe Ruth he’s about to consume a non-alcoholic beer. Do I let him discover it, like, three or four in, then he mentions to me, ‘Hey, kid, this stuff is a little weak.’ But, yeah, I think my beer with Ruth after a game. I don’t know if that could be topped.

Related: Eli Manning Reveals the 3 NFL Legends He’d Share His New Knob Creek Bourbon With

Are you a fan of non-alcoholic cocktails?

No. I haven’t tasted a single one that I would choose to revisit. Because they’re trying so hard to impersonate something and it’s such a bad knockoff—whereas with the technology of NA beer, it’s actual beer. It doesn’t have to pretend to be beer.

There is, of course, a big connection between sports and beer. What’s your favorite stadium food and beer combo?

Hot dogs and peanuts for sure. Just keep it simple. Keep it old school. Plus, I have a more unique situation than most at a ballpark. First of all, I spend most of the game staring at my hands because I’m signing [autographs] the whole game. Then I always have to worry there might be, you know, one of the 100 cameras at the game trained on me. That creates a category of food I don’t go near at a ballpark: Nachos are at the top of that list.

Related: William H. Macy Argues There's a Right Way to Drink Whiskey: 'Some People Run Afoul'

Do you have a secret fantasy of going to a stadium and eating a plate of messy nachos?

It would be amazing to go to a ballpark with food freedom. It would be incredible. But I think that ship sailed decades ago.

If we're drinking your beer in a dive bar, what song are you going to put on the jukebox?

The obvious one, and I would hope somebody who’s not me plays it just for the moment: "Wild Thing." And, more traditionally, I think anything from Zeppelin to Springsteen to The Doors. I think The Doors’ song "LA Woman" partners nicely with Wild AF.

Are you insistent about drinking your beer out of a glass?

Not super picky. I prefer it poured. But if it’s a 16-ounce Dixie cup that’s fine. I’m not really one of those guys who's finicky about that stuff.