The best alcohol free drinks

If I remember rightly I said in a previous post that I would give a run down of my favourite alcohol free drinks......and there's another upside - I actually remember I said it! 

After 2 pregnancies (during which I felt hugely deprived of my favourite tipples) and then 8 weeks of recent sobriety I have tried a few now. It still haunts me today that on finding out I was pregnant with our second child on 1st December my initial thoughts were "Well that's buggered up Christmas - how am I going to get through it without a drink". I cannot believe that alcohol overshadowed what should have been such a happy occasion. Even more so I cannot believe it's taken me another 3 and a half years to finally admit to myself how big a problem alcohol was for me and how it was affecting my life. Anyway, I digress - this is supposed to be a helpful article on the best alcohol free drinks.

At this point I should say that there is a school of thought that having alcohol free substitutes may tempt you more easily back into the real thing, but personally I have found the opposite. Sitting drinking a sparkling water at the end of a stressful day just doesn't cut it for me but a decent A/F G&T in a nice glass with a slice of lime is just enough to kill off the cravings. Whatever you choose to drink though I would say make a bit of an effort. It's amazing how much better it feels mentally to have something in a nice wine or gin glass rather than the same high ball tumbler you've been drinking water from all day! Add some ice and fruit and make it feel special - you deserve it :-)

During my 2 pregnancies there was very little choice of alcohol free drinks. Some (mostly pretty vile) A/F wine and Becks Blue was about the choice. In my second pregnancy, Seedlip (an alcohol free spirit) had just come onto the market but as I wasn't really a G&T drinker at the time I didn't pay much attention to it. Now however there is a pretty decent choice of options - as you can see from my new "gin cabinet". So here's my favourites:

A/F Spirits:

1. Atopia - definitely my favourite not just because of the pretty bottle. Technically it's not alcohol free as it has 0.5% alcohol but I'm willing to go with that!

2. Caleno - a close second and very enjoyable

3. Amplify - only just found this one this week in Tesco and it's gone straight into the top 3

4. Everleaf - a little different from the above 3 as it's orange based and more like an Aperol spritz. Very enjoyable on a summers evening.

5. Cedars - I personally like the Classic but they have 3 different flavours depending on your taste.

The key to all of the above is a decent mixer. I'm sure I sound like a the Fever Tree advert (well I guess I do work in Marketing!) but it is such a large % of a drink that the tonic can make or break it. My personal favourite is Fever Tree Light but try a few and see what you like - there's a whole range out there.

A/F wine:

When I was pregnant I tried pretty much every A/F wine I could find. As I jetted off on holiday 3 weeks after finding out I was pregnant (it was also Christmas so double whammy of sober holiday & Christmas) my suitcase was full of bottles of Eisberg alcohol free rose wine. I had found that by far the most palatable especially when mixed with soda and it was the only way I could see me getting through the holiday. I look back now and just feel very sad that it overshadowed what should have been such happy times - not to mention made my suitcase ludicrously heavy! I would still say Eisberg wines are a good option - they do a red and a white as well as the rose, but my top tip with wines is to go for sparkling. My personal favourite is Bees Knees - available in both white and rose, both equally nice, but there various other sparkling options which on the whole are (in my opinion) far better than their non-fizzy equivalents!

A/F beer:

I am absolutely not a beer drinker. I can count on one hand how many beers I drink in a year - and then it's only a weakish lager on a particularly hot day or on holiday. That being said my husband is something of a beer connoisseur so I have enlisted his help on this section. Even as a non-beer drinker I do enjoy the occasional Becks Blue and it's certainly an easy thing to take along to a friends BBQ or similar (when we finally get to do that kind of thing again given the current Coronavirus lockdown). I am reliably advised by my husband though that his top 3 A/F beers are:

1. Brewdog Nanny State
2. Heineken 0%
3. Brewdog Punk AF

I can't tell you any more about them I'm afraid but I'm sure they are great for people who like beer!

A/F Cider:

Finally I wanted to give a shout out to Stowford Press Low Alcohol Cider. At 0.5% I still categorise it as A/F even though it's not technically free but it's very nice and not unlike the real thing. Otherwise there are various Kopparberg A/F options - I previously found them a little too sweet but writing this has inspired me to give them another try - will let you know if I like them!

I hope the above is helpful to someone - whether that's to find something to help cut down mid week drinking or if you're embracing full on sobriety like me (for whatever the reason). I'd love to hear your recommendations too.

So until next time.....

SMB xx

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