I tried a different alcohol free drink every day of Dry January
There’s change in the air this Dry January. Pubs are tired of the idea that the annual event needs to be miserable; one venue is even throwing a ‘death to Dry January’ party to show that alcohol free can be fun.
But there’s another movement too: producers are more keen than ever to express how their liquids taste better than ever. No longer is alcohol free just about mimicking booze; new products are showing there are whole new flavour profiles to explore.
More and more Brits continue to reduce their drinking as the health benefits become more widely understood and the idea of alcohol free becomes more culturally accepted.
To celebrate some of these new products, our Deputy Life&Style Editor is trying a different alcohol free drink every day throughout January. Here he writes his (honest) feelings about each drink, with the list being updated every day this month. Happy Dry January!
31 ways to go alcohol free but still have a great drink
1 January: Adnams Ghost Ship Pale Ale
A solid pale ale. This drink has a decent crisp finish, and is light and tasty. As ever with alcohol free beer, you could do with more body to the liquid, but this Pale has a pretty grown-up palette. I could see myself cracking through three of these before I got bored.
2 January: New London Light Aegean Sky aperitif
Really citrus-forward and with a huge, bright bouquet of floral notes. Orange, sage, habanero and ginger “open a door into new flavour,” says the bottle. This drink is best thought of as an interesting new liquid rather than a replacement for gin. The brand suggests this’d go well with a light tonic. The power of citrus to replace that alcoholic kick!
3 January: Gordon’s Premium Pink
Fizzy sweets on the nose with the sweetness carrying through to the tongue, this Gordon’s pink gin replacement won’t convince hardened drinkers if they’re looking to trick their minds into thinking they’re drinking the harder stuff. It’ll also put off anyone who doesn’t like the thought of a Haribo Tangfastic on their tongue. But fans of the alcoholic Gordon’s pink gin aren’t likely to mind that.
4 January: Tanqueray
This has a much drier flavour and is very juniper-forward, providing more of that kick you’d get from a boozy gin. I can imagine it being great with a decent tonic and a fairly large wedge of lemon. Not as complex as some of the indie brands, but a decent effort nonetheless.
5 January: Tanqueray Sevilla
Flavoured gins are naturally divisive; purists would say a good gin would have the botanicals required within it rather than needing one brash flavour to come forward. Like in the alcoholic version, the main thing here is the sevilla orange, which dominates the palette, and colour, of this liquid. That naturally has a bitterness, and there’s a fairly decent botanical body, though alcohol free connoisseurs will tire quickly.
6 January: Lyre’s American malt
A triumph! If, like me, you’ve spent far too long drinking the wonky stuff, this whisky replacement has the fire and fury of the real thing. A minute after my last sip it felt like the ethanol on the back of my throat could ignite. This drink has body and complexity and a moreish caramel-forward flavour that I’d return to. This’d sort me out after a long day in the office. Great stuff.
7 January: The Pathfinder Hemp & Root
10/10 to The Pathfinder for their bottle design. We need more alcohol free drinks with solid wooden tops (very luxe). This feels like opening an expensive bottle of booze. I also like the Pathfinders brand messaging; the bottle reads “Immediate relief for malaise and ennui, cold feet and hot tempers, weak knees and low spirits.” A strong start. With distilled hemp, you can feel a sense of calm (let’s call it that) after drinking. It’s one of a cohort of ‘mood enhancing’ drinks that suggests we can find the effects of alcohol without needing to drink booze. This is particularly sweet, but ginger, sage and saffron disrupt the cane sugar to create something like harmony. It isn’t quite harmony, but it’s close to it. A great effort.
8: January: Captain Morgan’s Spiced Gold
The nose and taste of this alcohol free version is pretty close to the alcoholic original. Captain Morgan’s has a nicely light sweetness that is rectified here. It’s not easy to note specific flavour profiles, but then again, who really ever does that when they drink Captain Morgan’s? It just tastes like Captain Morgan’s and that’s what you want: Out of the major brands, this is the best one so far.
9 January: Smiling Wolf Functional Aperitivo
“A wolf in aperitivo’s clothing” is an amazing way to sell this alcohol free aperitivo because it is absolutely giving the energy of a dominant wild animal. Hugely satisfying, this has the lip-smack and boldly bitter orange notes of any full-strength aperitivo. Bellissimo!
10 January: Tea Saaicho Darjeeling
Tea is absolutely the ingredient we should be using more of in alcohol free drinks moving forward. High quality tea leaves like the ones procured by Saicho, in this case grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, have a naturally dry complexity that just sings as an alcohol alternative. There’s the tannic quality (tea has tannins like red wine) and a sweetness that is never cloying. A brilliant product and a sign of what’s to come more broadly from across the industry.
11 January: Sandford’s Orchards Red Zero
This has the pleasant tang of apple you’ll recognise from the original Sandford’s cider, and tastes like the sort of thing you could sink five or six of over a long summer’s night. I’m a big fan of Sandford’s alcoholic products and this is an encouraging sign of how the cider market is thoughtfully evolving alongside the non-alc movement.
12 January: Bolle Rose
Congratulations to Bolle for somehow getting the rights to ‘bolle’, the term du jour of the Ab Fab ladies and an abbrevation of Bollinger, the lauded champagne brand. It’s a fun kick-off point to this red-berry-forward rose that’ll put off fans of a drier fizz. If you’re into strawberry and red fruits, here’s a decent bouquet that’s veering very much towards the sweet side of things.
13 January: Lyre’s Classico
This is a lovely bottle of fizz. Very fruit forward, with elderflower and grape on the nose and tongue, it has a champagne-consistency to its bubbles that makes this bottle totally luxurious to drink. A proper celebration drink – and one of the best alcohol free fizzes.
14 January: Not Guilty Pinot Grigio
Wine is the hardest alcoholic product to make alcohol free and also taste great. This white takes like a fermented drink like kombucha, with a similar fizzy tartness. Let’s be clear: this isn’t going to serve you a glass of pinot grigio like you’d expect. It is more a pleasantly tart white liquid that shows our alcohol free repertoire is far more interesting than just mimicking booze. But is it white wine? Hmm. Maybe, but just a little bit.
This list is being updated every day throughout January