Half-term might not be the ideal time to talk to you about alcohol-free drinking – having had kids myself, I am no stranger to the feeling of gagging for a drink once you’ve finally got the little sods into bed – but if bitter experience taught you that a nightly bevvy or three wasn’t the greatest of ideas during lockdown, you may be up for having an alcohol “circuit break”, as I suppose we must now call it. Particularly seeing as it’s – groan – Sober October.
And goodness me, aren’t there a lot of options now? Alcohol-free is possibly the most dynamic sector of the drinks market right now, with no discernible downturn during the last six challenging months. As I’ve said before, however, I do balk at the cost of many of these products, which are frequently on a par with their full-strength equivalents but aren’t liable for the same level of tax.
Why is this the case, I asked Geyan Surendran, development scientist for Three Spirit. In a nutshell, he says, it’s all down to expensive and often rare botanicals, and expensive hi-tech processes. Couldn’t they just use flavour labs as other drink manufacturers do? Well, we want to be as natural as possible, is the response to that, and fair enough.
The fact is that none of us has to buy these products, but cheaper alternatives don’t always hack it. Aldi, for example, has produced an alcohol-free spirit called Water for its Elements series that costs £9.99 and does exactly what it says on the tin - ie, it tastes of water, albeit slightly clove-y water, until you add tonic, at which point it tastes of tonic. The New London Light below and my other regular favourite Pentire are two to three times as expensive, but they are a great deal nicer. Are they worth it, though? Well, I’d say yes, especially if you’ve given up alcohol for good or even for any significant period.
The demand is clearly there, though, judging by the number of sites now devoted to alcohol-free drinking. New ones on my radar are noughtpercent.co.uk, alcoholfree.co.uk and goodstuffdrinks.com, but you can find a longer list on the Club Soda website, which has also negotiated a number of producer discounts.
It’s good to see conventional drinks shops jumping on the bandwagon, too. I owe my discovery of Cloudwater’s really delicious mango soda (below) to an enterprising bottle shop in Huddersfield called O’Briens that took the trouble to let me know about what it was selling. (Lesson for other small indies: just get in touch!)
Five AF drinks that will make you happy not to drink
NLL (New London Light)
£27.50 Salcombe Gin. Distilleries tend to make the best alcohol-free spirits, and this fresh, citrussy “gin” from Salcombe Distilling Co is no exception.
Livener
£24.99 (for 50cl) Three Spirit. Warming (even though you drink it cold with tonic), berry-flavoured autumnal drink with a nice touch of chilli. A bit like a cold mulled wine.
Mango & Citra Sour Cloudwater Soda
£2.75 (440ml) Hop Burns & Black, £3.25 O’Briens Bottle Shop. I adore this clever hybrid of a soft drink and an alcohol-free beer, which has a gorgeous taste of alfonso mango. Would be great with Indian food.
Alcohol-free Smashed Cider
£22.50 (12 x 330ml) Drynks Store, £22.68 Good Stuff Drinks. Not as sweet as many alcohol-free ciders (a plus, in my book), and recognisably, enjoyably cidery. I prefer it to their beers.
Lyre’s American Malt
£19.99 (700ml) Distillers Direct, £20.95 Master of Malt. Impressive imitation of a bourbon, though best as a boulevardier with equal amounts of Lyre’s Aperitif Rosso and Italian Orange, though obviously that bumps up the cost.
• For more by Fiona Beckett, go to matchingfoodandwine.com
