Non alcoholic grown up drinks

[Twizbe]

Shamelessly asking for opinions here. I am a non drinker and I write a blog.

In a couple of weeks I'm doing a post reviewing non alcoholic grown up festive drinks.

Question for other non drinkers here,

Should I include dealcholised products or not?

For those of you who don't drink due to religious or recovery reasons, can you drink dealcoholised products?

So far I've stuck to non alcoholic products in my tasting.

Pressed too soon. Thank you for your help on this.

I spent a good hour the other day thinking about whether to include dealcoholised or not

What would happen if you covered dealcoholised drinks separately? Then the "great I'm driving" crowd can fill their boots but those who want to avoid them entirely can skip that bit.

I could totally include them and clearly sign post.

I suppose I'm trying to work out two things

1. how do I feel about drinking them and do they fit into my reasons for not drinking
2. is it a cheat if I want to showcase grown up non alcoholic drinks

I barely drink (in my 40s) as alcohol gives me a chronic headache.

Drank lots in my 20s!

I'd happily read about non alcoholic cocktails/beers. However, I can appreciate that might not be good for alcoholics in recovery so maybe sign post them separately.

Definitely include ginger flavoured drinks, my favourite!

I’m in the early days of not drinking but hoping to keep it up through Christmas.

By dealcoholised do you mean the 0% “spirits” and such like? I’d love to know more about them. I still have the taste for spirits so would love to know which AF ones will hold up in a cocktail or with a mixer. I bought the 0% Gordon’s and it tasted like gripe water. No kick to it at all. They’re the same price as the full alcohol versions so expensive mistakes to make.

Id love to be able to sip something that tastes like a Negroni, or a gin and tonic. And an alcohol free Baileys type drink would really help me feel like I’m not missing out this Christmas.

So I think I’d be interested in reading about as many types of alcohol free drinks as possible!

I second the Baileys idea

I really like Sober Starts Today book by (I think) Lisa Paris (sorry if I got that wrong). It's got some fantastic alternative mocktails and festive drinks. Got me through my first Xmas and is still a go-to.

Also I'm really liking the Lyre spirits alternatives.

Dealcoholised is usually wine replacements. They are made as normal and the the ethanol removed. They are sold as no alcohol but can be up to 0.5%.

From Google it seems to be a grey area in terms of recovery.

I don't drink because I don't so in some ways it would be ok for me, but something doesn't sit right.

I will look into a baileys alternative (though I'm not a huge fan of the real thing lol)

I've found a couple of good gins and tonics to go with.

These a new spirit called acorn that I need to look into a bit more too.

I've got a mulled wine to try too.

I’d rather hear about non alcoholic drinks that are not a dupe of a drink.
Bonus points if they are not sugar loaded!

I am with you on the sugar part. I try to avoid sugary drinks.

Ditto!
(I do drink, but don’t fancy hangovers with young kids, or forking out loads for pretend alcohol!)

Most of us non drinkers ( but not forever ) seem to veer towards plain, flavoured tonic or fizzy water. I like M&S non alcoholic Rose which tastes like wine that’s had ice in and been left at the side of the party all night. But it does taste vaguely wine like.
Non of my long term non drinking friends seem too bothered about what they drink. My husband likes a ginger beer even though he hates ginger food.

I’m desperate to try Crodino after someone recommended it. And there’s a bigger bottle of similar Italian aperitivo stuff on Amazon.

I drink kombucha if I want an ‘alcoholic’ taste but Ty to get sugar free. As a special treat I like an alcohol free cocktail if I’m out, but to be honest the sugar content puts me off.
I generally drink soda water as it’s easy and not full of sugar.
If I was reading your blog I’d rather non alcoholic drinks not de-alcoholic drinks. It’s far more exciting finding a new drink rather than a replacement drink.

Personally I’d avoid dealcholised drinks, the good ones that actually taste like beer and wine are far to risky for recovering alcoholics. Also it can cause confusion with some people, my friends DH was supposed to be sober driver at an event and ordered the advertised 0% beer but didn’t realised that there were 2 versions one with alcohol and one without, by the time he realised he had been drinking the wrong one he was too far over the limit.

Id definitely like to hear about less sugary drinks too. I just end up drinking soda water most of the time.

AFAIK people who don't drink for religious reasons couldn't drink de-alcoholised drinks
But the beers are far better than they used to be (don't know about the wines)
the main problem as people have said with non alcoholic drinks is that they are too sweet, especially with food.

I’m a non drinker and would have no interest in reading about dealcoholised drinks. I don’t want to drink alcohol so why would I want something that tastes like it. I think it’s like offering a vegetarian a non meat sausage roll!

I’d like to know of sugar free soft drinks. I usually drink soda water which I like but I would love an alcohol sugar free ‘dry white wine’.
Lots of diabetics would like this I think.

not just sugar free, not sickly sweet either

This is super helpful thank you.

It fits with my thoughts so far.

I mostly drink water, tea or coffee. I like to have something a bit 'special' for Xmas and am looking around to see what that is.

I've done a good search for non alcoholic baileys and there's lots of options. Not sure if I can review them though. They rely on a LOT of milk which I don't drink either lol.

But I will for sure go hunting for some good festive alternatives.

I found a very nice sparkling fermented tea in Waitrose that was nice.

Alcohol free beers
Appletizer
Shlor

I'd just focus on grown up soft drinks options

so many soft drinks are overly sweet and so when I find one that's not I treasure it. The alcohol free beers are much of a muchness, the wines mostly blergh and the gin and tonics are pretty good but really expensive for what you get.

I'm a big fan of the Sparklingly Sober range, especially the Nomosa which has a massive kick to it.

I love Fentimans fizzy drinks as a special treat

I don't know if it's allowed but I would love you to link to your blog when it's published please.

I'm a non drinker and really hate dealcoholised drinks. Alcoholic drinks are not usually that nice in taste and the only reason people seem to enjoy them is because it gets them drunk!

I prefer Fentimans, Shloer or (if I'm rich) Luscombe drinks. There's a rhubarb crush that's amazing with ice.

I prefer going to bed and waking up with a clear head. Alcohol messes with emotions.