Nice Non Alcoholic Drinks

[TeuchterTraveller]

DH is working over Christmas and New Year and won't be able to have any alcoholic drinks. Looking for recommendations for really nice alcohol-free beer and wines (do they exist?) he can have with Christmas Dinner, on Hogmanay etc please.

I'd like to treat him to something special as he gets fed up with endless cans of juice.

Sanbitter made by Pellegrino is nice as an alcohol free aperitif, with a taste similar to Campari.

Brewdog do two alcohol free ales; Nanny state and Punk IPA alcohol free.
There are other alcohol free ales, Adnams ghost ship being the nicest in my opinion.
Most supermarkets do their own version of alcohol free wine and you can also get alcohol free prosecco called Nosecco.
Aldi do a white and a rose alcohol free fizz.
Heineken, Budweiser and Becks lager all do low alcohol/alcohol free versions. So do some other brands.
Erdinger do a nice alcohol free wheat beer.
Gordon's do a very low alcohol 0.5% gin and tonic. They are lovely and very refreshing.

Acorn Aperitifs which are now stocked in Waitrose www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/corn-dry-non-alcoholic-aperitif-floral-crisp/811413-700780-700781 There are a few different drinks in their range but I’ve only tried this one and the bitter one.
Free Damm is good too if he likes lager. www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/alcohol-free/free-damm-premium-quality-non-alcoholic-lager-beer-6-x-33cl-7962482-p

Seedlip non alcoholic 'gin' there's a couple of different versions, I've yet to try a bad one. Add a decent tonic and ice and you'll not feel left out.

Sainsburys Czech alcohol free lager is the best fake lager. Brewdog Nanny State a good ale type.
Don't bother with fake red wine, all vile.

This one is quite nice (Pizza Express used to have it in there til they swapped to Peroni's own version). Nanny State is also nice.

I would suggest that you try some of these in advance to make sure your husband likes them and isn't stuck with something he hates on Christmas day. Personally, I think nanny state is the nicest of alcohol free beers, and torres natureo rose is nicest of the wines. Seedlip fake gin is quite nice too. They all cost at least as much as alcoholic equivalents though!

@CatLadyInTraining no they don't. They are cheaper. Nanny state is £4.50
For 4 cans and punk IPA is £6 for 4 cans.
I regularly do it with binge drinkers to show them how much money they can save.

I do agree with tasting them though. Some are awful.

I've just seen that Beer Hawk has a non-alcoholic beer selection for this month. Might be worth a look?

Brilliant suggestions, thank you! Will definitely look into that gin too.

I might get a selection, he has 2 weeks over the festive period to sample them!

Rawson's retreat red is the only non alcoholic wine worth drinking.

I like the heineken alcohol free beer best. Kopparberg do some nice alcohol free ciders, pear is my favourite.

Seedlip gin is nice.

I love sanbitter and crodino which are italian non alcoholic aperitifs a bit like aperol.

I've had a couple of bouts of stopping drinking, so have tried a lot of AF options.

Lager - My favourites are Erdinger Alkholfrei (comes in 500ml bottles), also Heineken 0% and Peroni Libera. All of these are readily available in Tesco. Claushaler is my absolute favourite but difficult to get hold of, I think Ocado is the only place at the moment.

Wine - I personally find the non alcoholic wines terrible, but Aldi does a good alcohol free fizz called 'Zero Point Zero'. It's £3 a bottle and quite dry rather than sickly sweet. Not sure if it's stocked all year round, but certainly will closer to Christmas. Definitely a good option for Christmas day etc.

If you drink G+T, Seedlip have just started doing a ready mixed G+T in cans - our big Tescos had them. I'd been a bit reluctant to buy a whole bottle of Seedlip - these are a good way to try it.

Another option for gin drinkers is Belvoir Botanical juniper & tonic pressé. At £2:39 for 750ml, it's worth trying as an economical alternative.

Heineken 00 is nice as is plain tonic with ice and lime (better than a g+t imo)

My DH loves Nanny State by brew dog. Cheapest in Tesco's