During a cycle Beer will most often trigger an episode, but during the remission periods, I can drink beer no problem. I often drink a beer near the end of a cycle to see if its truly over. In recent years I have started brewing my own beer, not kits, but Grain to Glass, (I have a micro brewery in my basement) I have found that my own beers do not trigger the episodes during a cycle as much as store bought ones. My home beer only has Grain, Hops, Yeast, no additives and I keg it, so its draft beer. I don't know what differences the store bought beer might have. Anyway, I use cluster cycles to take a break from drinking for a few weeks or months, its probably not a bad thing.