If you’ve had to regretfully quit/ decrease booze in perimenopause, what are your grown-up ‘treat’ drink alternatives?

[DelinquentSnails]

I’m currently sitting on the sofa with a hangover, having had a sleepless night as various teens in sporty attire wander past with judgy eyes. After a mere two glasses of Malbec last night. Nowadays, I can have a glass of lightish white wine twice a week, but anything more leads to physical misery and existential angst.

I’ve never been a huge drinker, but love good wine and detest very sweet drinks. I can’t touch artificial sweeteners. I love non alcoholic beer and drink that in preference to normal beer, with a bbq or curry.

Any tips for lovely, non alcoholic tipples I can put in a posh glass with ice and lemon for a treat?

Sentía - if you lean into it then it does give a bit of a booze buzz. In a nice glass with some ice, there are three choices and Beers.

https://sentiaspirits.com/

100% give it a try. I have a subscription, it def helps on non booze days. I prefer the red one.

Ice cold kombucha in a wine glass. Has slightly vinegary flavour which I like, not at all sweet and great for digestion.

Hip Pop kombucha is alright, comes in lots of different flavours, if you put it in a nice glass with ice it feels less like a can of pop. I bought a slab last dry Jan - along with Trip - and I looked forward to the Hip Pop more than the Trips, which had zero CBD effect on me (it also comes in non CBD cans by the way).

Fever tree Mediterranean tonic tastes 'grown up' too.

And I do like a splash of lime cordial with 0% lager to change it up a bit.

Correction- Fever tree Aromatic tastes grown up, not Mediterranean! Though that's nice too.

Goodrays CBD, or if I’m in the pub 0% Peronni or Heineken.
DH is a huge 0% Guinness fan.

Not to detract from your admirable wish to go alcohol free, but I have found certain wines (grapes) give me a horrendous hangover whereas others are fine, and it is worth spending the extra on an organic wine. It is sometimes the additives that I react to rather than the alcohol.

Fevertree ginger ale
Sparkling elderflower
Low alcohol cider

I’ve been trying to cut down on drinking a bit recently - I have never drunk much but got into the habit of having a glass of something most days over the holidays so having a reboot.

I find the non alcoholic fizzy wines a bit sweet and don’t quite hit the spot as just feel like pop. The alcohol free gin is ok with tonic, but only a slight step up from tonic on its own for me, which given the price leaves me a bit disappointed. The best thing I’ve found is Rochester ginger drunk with tonic - the original green ginger drink. You can get it from Holland and Barrett, etc. it’s about £4-5 so more than cordials but not as much as the alcohol free gins. Somehow because it has a heat from the ginger it feels like it has the hit of alcohol and is a bit more sophisticated / complex taste wise than the cbd drinks (which I don’t mind, but I think are expensive and basically a soft drink).

I like Goodrays too, the elderflower & yuzu is delicious. I think it relaxes me a bit, if you’re sensitive to medication you might find it slightly relaxing in your body, but zero psychoactive effects.

Also a cheaper alternative to some of these drinks is a dash of angostura bitters in sparkling water, lemonade, fresh lime, orange etc. Gives it that more ‘grown up’ bitters flavour and feels a bit more special than soda. Bitters do have alcohol but you’re only using drops so it’s negligible.

I like Hip Pop, and Botivo - I have this with tonic water and it's very like white vermouth. I also make ginger switchel, which is super easy and cheap:

• 50g fresh ginger
• 1 litre water
• 120ml cider vinegar (I use the live one with a 'mother')
• 100-150g sweetener of choice (sugar, honey, maple syrup)
• 1tbsp lemon juice

Scrub the ginger, then bring to a boil with the water. Allow to cool then decant into a sterilised bottle along with the rest of the ingredients and keep refrigerated. I strain it after about 5 days, by which time it's pretty fiery. Serve on its own or with sparkling water.

That sounds delish.

‘Adds to UK basket for next trip’.

Since we all agree on the crazy pricing and are drinking it anyway. If you like aperol, these are lovely and they come from the best wine destination in South Africa. You can buy them online in the UK.
The bottles are small but in a beautiful glass with some ice they are delish. Save for summer.

shop.thenewtinsomerset.com/uk/p/386/bitterlekker?origin=product-listing

Mineral water

Belvoir rose cordial with sparkling water and a squeeze of lemon. Or M&S full fat lemonade.
I tried making my own ginger bug, which failed miserably but I now have a jar of home made ginger cordial. I like it with hot water and a spoon of honey. I was getting a sniffle and swear that it drove it away!(I know it didn't)

Crodino is the best aperol alternative I’ve found. You can get it in Sainsbury’s or on Amazon.

im also really enjoying Corona cero.

I meant to.say, we were in Oz last year and a really common drink is lemon lime and bitters. Im on the hunt for angostura bitters now (small town, crap supermarket)

Fevertree tonics, trip cans ( I don’t think they cause any psychedelic effects but are nice tasting) very occasionally the odd alchohol free beer.

This is actually how I make an alcohol free alternative to pimms. Lemonade with a splash of balsamic vinegar.

Roses lime juice cordial.

Adnams Smidgin. The cost is terrifying but it’s really good.

Crawston press rhubarb sparkling water about 1.50 a can but that’s cheaper than a couple of glasses of wine

I like Trip drinks too - but the Goodrays CBD are better, they have about 3 times as much CBD and for me they ‘work’ better. They don’t get you high, but I definitely sleep much better if I have one in the evening. They’ve stopped the 3am wake ups, can’t get back to sleep thing.

OP are you drinking your two glasses of wine late in the evening? I am fine with wine as long as it’s basically out of my system by the time I get to sleep.

I was just scrolling through to see if anyone had mentioned this one yet - I second it! Paired with a nozecco and topped up with soda or lemonade depending on your preference, it really does feel like an aperol spritz.

Ginger cordial and fizzy water. Or kombucha.

I find Trip really realy sweet, I can't drink them for the artificial taste.

I enjoy Aqua Libra, its a flavoured sparkling water but there's no added sweetners so it tastes almost sharp/bitter. In a nice glass with ice, the mint and cucumber flavour feels like a proper drink.