I’ve never been one to shun alcohol completely when Dry January rolls around. Knowing me, I’d be white-knuckling the booze cupboard and opening bottles with my teeth come February 1st.
That’s why I’ve take to ‘zebra striping’, the practice of alternating between an alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink when you’re out and about.
Unlike Dry January, which involves jumping on the wagon only to get straight back off it 31 days later, zebra striping is something you can adopt as a drinking rule throughout the year. It’s ideal for the sober-curious among us, dipping your toe in the water rather than raw-dogging the booze-free lifestyle all in one go.
Zebra striping reduces your overall alcohol intake by half, also saving you a considerable amount of money when you think of the price of a pint these days. In fact, 25% of the UK population is already doing it on a regular basis, and impressively this includes 78% of 18 to 24-year-olds. Talk about being wise beyond your years.
But if this method doesn’t appeal, or you want to really ease yourself in to the change, you could always give the bookending method a try.
As the name suggests, bookending involves swapping booze for a non-alcoholic drink when it comes to your first and last drink of the evening. Sounds a bit more doable, eh?
Whether you’re zebra striping, bookending, going low or no, there are some wonderful lighter options to have on your radar. But don’t worry, although low-alcohol drinks are notoriously hard to get right, I’d never include any clangers.
Here are some of my top picks:
Gratien and Meyer Festillant Sparkling Sans Alcool 0%, £4.50, The Wine Society
The Wine Society’s prices have always been reasonable, but £4.50 for one of the most authentic sparklers around had me triple-checking their website to make sure I wasn’t imagining things. I’m still on their web page now, to be honest. Made by the producers of the Wine Society’s best crémant, the grapes are grown in Gascony, fermented once and the alcohol removed by a process called ‘vacuum distillation’ to retain its delicate fruit flavours.
Thomson and Scott Noughty Alcohol Free Sparkling Rose £9.50 0.5%, Waitrose Cellar
This pink drink is made from southern Spanish Tempranillo grapes, which in itself is an unusual feature for a sparkling. It does a decent job as a convincing alcohol replacement, with yeasty, red berry aromatics. The grapes are pressed and fermented in stainless steel tanks, before being dealcoholised via vacuum distillation. This method involves reducing the pressure inside the distillation chamber to lower the boiling point of the alcohol. Doing this at a cooler temperature keeps the flavours, which are all desperately needed to fill the gap the alcohol has left behind.
Real Dry Dragon Sparkling Tea 0%, £12 (£9.50 mix 6), Majestic
Sparkling tea is a great option if you’re not seeking like-for-like wine mimicry. Made from pan-roasted and fermented green tea from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in China. Not only that, but it originates from eighteen tea bushes that were given special imperial status by the Qianlong Emperor during the Qing dynasty. Very fancy, zesty and nutty.
Sunny with a Chance of Flowers Chardonnay 9%, £14.99, Drinkwell.com
Drinkwell is a great website for finding wines with fewer calories, sugar, and additives. They specifically seek out ‘cleaner’ wines and even have their own slightly lower-alcohol brand, ‘Traces’, which I would heartily recommend. Aside from having a great brand name, this is a lower-alcohol wine for those going ‘low’ rather than ‘no’. It’s creamy and citrussy withgood texture and freshness.
Tread Softly Everything Except Rosé 0.5%, £9.50, Positive Drinks Co
Tread Softly (shouldn’t it be ‘Tread Lightly’?), is an Australian brand that delivers superbly minimalist-packaged wines that are certified sustainably produced. They are another high-end wine company that uses the forgiving vacuum distillation method, hence they state ‘alcohol gently removed’ on the label. That’s exactly how they safeguard all the redcurrant and cranberry flavours in this lovely rosé.
Plus & Minus Shiraz 0%, £10, Positive Drinks Co
A range of Australian wines, designed to deliver more antioxidants and less alcohol. How so? They add grape skin extract (GSE) during the winemaking process, which is rich in naturally occurring antioxidants. The grapes they use to make the wine come from premium, dry-grown South Australian vineyards, giving this wine chocolate, vanilla and blackberry flavours with a hint of allspice.
Citizen Spritz Bitter Orange, £2.50 per can, Drydrinker.com
I’m a sucker for supporting new, independent British brands, and this is one of them. These guys focus on flavour balancing, vibrant, natural ingredients with a warming tingle that mimics the kick of alcohol. They come in cans or in 500ml spritzer mix bottles and are perfect for those looking to start their Zebra-Striping journey. This one is made to be lightly reminiscent of an Italian aperitivo, and it does the job nicely.
Session Spirit Made with London Dry Gin 25%, £25.15 (save £1.85), Master of Malt
Regular gin sits around 40% abv, so this bridges the gap between the full-strength spirit and non-alcoholic options, which can be a mixed bag. It’s been diluted down with water (as regular gin is) after the distillation process, retaining its texture and botanical flavours. Incidentally, 25% is the lowest strength gin can go before those start to disappear. They checked…
Rapscallion Soda ‘Sharp as a Tack’ Dry Lime & Burnt Lemon 250ml £2.50/can, The Wine Society
What literally started out in a kitchen sink, in Scotland, is now a mainstay in restaurants, hotels and high-end retail. It’s all about fresh ingredients, minimal additives and ramping up the carbonation to amplify the flavours. There are two options to choose from – one is made from fresh lime juice, lime rind and kaffir lime leaf, described by Rapscallion as like biting into a lime, minus the tequila chaser. The other, from fresh lemon juice, charred lemon zest and coriander seed, for a juicy, tart and slightly earthy sip.
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