Taking a break from alcohol
 

I have decided to have a dry January. Usually I have 1-2 glasses of wine most nights. On the plus side, I've noticed I've been sleeping better and my digestive system seems to be happier.

But I really miss my wine. What are some nonalcoholic drinks you like to have? I always have a water bottle with me, and I've been drinking lots of sparkling grapefruit-flavored water (the "flavor adjacent" kind like La Croix). I just read an article in 1843 about the advent of low/no alcohol cocktails. Ordinarily I'd laugh and make a martini or a negroni but it doesn't sound bad now...

Kombucha is my go to when I’m not drinking alcohol. Low-ish in calories and probiotic. Lots of flavor choices. I brew my own but it’s in every grocery store.

I went 17 years between drinks at one point and was drinking non-alcoholic beer. I don’t recommend it. I’ve never tried non-alcoholic wine but I’ve been warned not to.

If you're not fussy about wine, there's nonalcoholic wine. One label is Sutter Home, available in the usual California grape varietals. IIRC it's a bit over $5 per bottle and is probably about equivalent in quality to about the same priced wine with alcohol. It might work if you want the taste of a (cheap) wine with a casual meal. For some people, nonalcoholic wine and nonalcoholic beer might not be advisable.

Sparkling water.
Enjoy your sobriety :-)

My Noma Restaurant guide to fermentation book arrived. They veritably GUSH over the possibilities of kombucha and how it can transform drinks. They use it when putting together their Non-alcoholic pairing choices for their menus and confide that there are clients who order the non-alcoholic selection to drink with their meals alongside the alcoholic choices.

For gfunkdave I’d recommend elderflower cordial to give a little interest to sparkling water. Add it to carbonated water alone, with a little apple juice, with a bit of crushed cucumber or with lemon juice, or any combination of these.

Personally, I’m finding that some of the liquids that emerge from my salt brine lacto-fermentation projects are pretty nice mixed with sparkling water or no-cal lemonade, they taste a bit like isotonic drinks but without all the sugar. Am thinking of getting some fresh lychees to lacto ferment to see if I can recreate my favourite soft drink in Japan (Kirin’s Sekai Kitchen Salty Lychee drink)

I also drink kombucha when drinking less, it has a nice bite, lowish calories and I find it pretty satisfying.

I've been taking a general break since the start of covid.... often the lineups at the liquor store have been long, so it's a sufficient barrier to entry for me.

My wife is back on a low carb diet so we've cut out wine for at least the next week or so (though the wines we drink are supposed to contain less than 5g/l of residual sugar). I must say the tap water, chilled or otherwise, is now rather pleasantly palatable since I installed a chloramine filter a few weeks back. Water here is rain fall surface water collected in a reservoir so no ground or river water.

Yeah since the start of covid, I've had much more water, especially tap water. I probably should've done this long ago, but better late than never I guess.

Some German (dry) wines are labeled as being for diabetics. I don't know what the standard is, but it can be a quick way to find a dry or low calorie wine.

BTW, alcohol free beer is common in Germany. You especially see it in restaurants at autobahn rest stops. It seems to be made by the large breweries--no craft beer.

You know, I tried kombucha once or twice many years ago, pronounced it disgusting, and never looked back. Maybe I’ll give it another try. Will also look for elderflower cordial - where might I find it? Liquor store? Whole Foods?

I almost exclusively drink tap water (ours is from Sebago Lake, the second-clearest lake in North America) but will also fill from the filter in the fridge if I want it a little colder...though, this time of year it’s plenty cold from the tap!

Very uninterested in alcohol-free beer or wine. :)

Kombucha tastes like swamp water.
I have seen (and bought) an elderflower /lemon drink at Cost Plus World Market. It was good (although high in sugar). I had to buy it to drink while watching the Royal Wedding of Harry & Meghan because they were serving some kind of elderflower cocktail. ;) It comes in a tall bottle like wine. I think I may have seen it at Whole Foods too but not sure.
It was this one.
https://www.belvoirfruitfarms.com/ou...r-presse-75cl/

this is a very good brand, a little goes a long way with the elderflower variety and they have other lovely flavours too
https://www.belvoirfruitfarms.com/where-to-buy/

I haven’t yet tried kombucha, and that’s because I’m willing to accept that the commercially available kinds are nothing like what can be achieved at home with a little know how. If the most famous fine dining restaurant in the world is willing to stick its neck out to sing its praises, I am going along with the idea that they’ve figured something out. It’s on my “to do” list for this year, but it IS a project. Elderflower cordial requires no know-how or access to a home enthusiast with good taste to unlock its delicious secrets!

What is the difference between that and just grape juice like Welch's? They have different varieties and sparkling ones as well. We are not really alcohol drinkers, probably have had one or two a year, but most of our celebrations we do have a glass or two of Welch's sparkling red grape juice.

I had kombucha for the first time in 2019 at an airline lounge. It was in a chilled (branded) glass bottle. I didn't dislike it... but it definitely took me a bit to "acquire" a taste for it, I guess you could say.

Here's a few suggestions from me...

Almdudler (Austria's National Drink) available at World Market Almdudler

Several of the beverages at IKEA are also great. I usually pick up a few cans of the ciders (both pear and apple) but the concentrates are good as well. IKEA Beverages

I also like the Ito En bottled teas. I don't like sweet tea and these are all unsweetened. You can find them in Whole Foods. I get excited when I can find the 2L bottles. Ito En

Generally, I'm drinking either San Pellegrino or Poland Spring sparkling waters. Plain old water just doesn't do it for me.

A friend of mine was in a similar situation to yours and this is what she came up with for her nonalcoholic cocktail. Simply Limeade, sparkling water/club soda & a wedge of lime. She invited us over one afternoon and served us this drink on her porch. I really enjoyed it enough to go buy the Simply Limeade and make it when we want a change.

The tast of non alcoholic beer changes quite a bit between brands, you could try several and see what you like.
Otherwise you could try to make your own water kefir
https://www.culturesforhealth.com/le...questions-faq/
I think it's a bit less involved than making kombucha and you can try different fruits/juices in the secondary fermentation; it's quite fun actually!

See the post directly before yours.

Btw, it defeats the theme of this thread but the elderflower stuff is very good mixed with proseco. I am going to try it with vodka too.

Sorry!
I was looking to see if my preferred brand “Bottle Green” was available in the USA and only when searching realised that the other commonly found British brand (Belvoir farms) had made it there. Then there was the hunt to find a US link, could have saved some bother if I’d clocked on to you already having done so!
Since I’m on a mission to make palatable kombucha this year (probably starting with coffee) I must have leant back from your post describing it as tasting like swamp water (which is what I’d always assumed it would be like if I got it from a shelf).

If you haven’t already, do try it with apple juice/apple cider - a match made in heaven!

I assume that you are referring to the elderflower stuff and not the kombucha (aka swamp water).
Btw...for those not trying to sober up, the alcoholic version of elderflower is https://mtmb.stgermain.fr/ and it is wonderful but pricey. I was just looking in my pantry & found something that I forgot I had & solves the sugar problem. I can't remember what if it is any good but I think I got it at Marshall's. https://www.skinnymixes.com/collecti...erflower-syrup

There’s a French option sold in the U.K. that solves the same sugar problem: Teisseire Fleur De Sureau Le 0%. Definitely one of the more successful no cal syrups
https://www.teisseire.com/en-gb/uk/o...0/elderflower/

HI, I’m in mid twenties from Czech Republic where beer is like water in another countries. German would excuse but those are amateurs when drinking beer.

Ive got same issue..or is it, really? Sometimes I have dry day but mostly not, it’s a beer or three, in summer I don’t go under 5. Because this is normal. When biking 80 km a day, those 5 or 8 are going missing.

in winter it’s tough. I’m lazy and don’t exercise that much in these months. And I am champagne addict but thankfully to its price is just one bottle a week if no special occasion.

When travel I drink a lot. I have extra time in lounges or longer layovers to try out some nice lounges to enjoy glass or two and if the lounge sucks, also three or four.

my point? I excercise a lot so the calories go missing. But if you like it, you can’t stop it.

cheers

I’m drinking Leffe 0.0 and Guinness 0.0 for beers. The German 0% Weisse beers are also good. For soft drinks I’m going for flavoured slimline tonic mainly as it’s virtually calorie free and the flavours aren’t too intense.

Admittedly, during covid, I have unintentionally replaced alcohol with THC... for me, the effects are very similar but I don't have a hangover the next day.

big fun. I’ve sort of done similar but even pre pandemic that was Tuesday for me. Or any day ending in “y”

For some reason I'm not really drawn to it per se... I mean yeah it's nice and fun... I don't get that stoned feeling though which is what I'm trying to get.
But, for me, nothing beats a nice Scotch and burger. :)

Decent coffee would be my first one. After that I tend to go with some kind of sparkling beverage (mostly simply sparkling water but sometimes coke zero) and then make it more interest with bitters and citrus (lemon, lime, orange). You can kind of play around with some combinations to find new tastes that aren't completely boring. The other one I don't mind in the evening is ginger tea, especially a korean brand which has real ginger in it which sadly i've only been able to source in Korea and I've just run out. This thread does have me thinking that maybe I should start trying some different aromatic bitters in some other teas, might be interesting and might be a complete disaster.

Have you tried cold brewing tea in sparkling water?
Say for instance you like jasmine tea, or Earl Grey bergamot, perhaps a smoky Lapsang Souchong; take a teaspoon or two of the leaves and drop them into a bottle of Perrier (or similar) the night before, put the top on and CAREFULLY invert the bottle to let the leaves swirl and then just allow to steep in the fridge. Next day, pour enough water for a glass through a tea strainer and you have a delightful new drink. Easy to do and endless flavours to eek out and explore.

My suggestion is to go to sleep and wake up in February.

I would have gladly done this during most of 2020 (and wake up in 2021... maybe Jan or Feb)!

Re Elderflower cordial, I find the Bottle Green version is very widely available and is ok. I went off the whole thing while my children were in school as that was invariably what was served to parents at all gatherings and I grew so that I couldn't face the sweetness - but I'm over that now.

It is probably better cut with some sparkling water (if you are on the wagon). Otherwise, I stand by my recommendation of Proseco with it. Maybe vodka too.

I’m similarly attempting a dry January. I don’t drink a whole lot - I’ve been averaging a bottle of wine per week or ~6 beers per week depending on my taste.

Navarro vineyard makes fancy non-alcoholic wine, I’m actually tempted to grab some, there are also a few types of non-alcoholic ciders that are good.

Otherwise, it’s filtered tap water for me or sparkling water if I’m feeling something different.

Well, I looked for elderflower cordial at Whole Foods yesterday and didn't find it.

So instead I went to the pot store and bought some gummies. I don't much care for pot usually but one 5mg gummy was rather pleasant. My parents scoffed and said that's a barely-even-there amount, but they're old hippies. :)

It probably won't be in the booze section. Did you ask a staffer? Or maybe you need to go to a bigger WF. Do you not have a World Market near you? LOL about your parents....enjoy the gummies and good idea to start small. You can always take more but you can't take less.

I did ask. I don’t think she knew what I wanted because she took me to the vitamins/supplements aisle. I combed through the juice aisle and booze section.

No World Markets near here, and this is the only Whole Foods for maybe 60-70 miles. I like the limeade and club soda idea...will get some limeade next time.

I received a sampler of apertifs as a birthday gift last month. They are very nice and, for me, if I have one just before dinner, an apertif enhances the flavor of food. They say they stimulate the appetite, but that's not a problem for me ( :) ).
They came from a company called Haus.
https://drink.haus/

Bummer. Maybe try Target. Or maybe just give up!