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.

I'm not sure if I can share, but happy to if people would like to read.

I've been around long enough to know that MN don't light stealth research (hence saying upfront that this is blog research)

Like even (wish there was an edit button on here)

Thank you all so much for your thoughts. I'm going to enjoy having a hunt around the supermarket at the weekend and trying some stuff out.

I think I'm looking for;

A good sparkling celebration drink
A nice pairing for the main meal
A 'spirit' alternative for afternoon cocktails

Anything else? As a kid we used to have orange juice mixed with lemonade that my dad called a Buck's Fizz (had no idea this was supposed to be alcoholic) perhaps do that as a breakfast treat?

I don’t think you should include anything that could be 0.5%

As a spirit alternative, I like Pentire (especially the Seaward version).

Not sure if it would work in a cocktail, but definitely works well with tonic

Pregnant over here.

I would do both. The only thing is, as a non drinker, are you really the best person to compared dealcoholised drinks with the real thing? Could you get someone who actually drinks beer and wine to taste test with you?

During pregnancy I find that some 0% beers taste pretty much like beer, and I drink them when I want something that tastes like an alcoholic drink, even though I'm not usually much of a beer drinker. So far I haven't found anything that really resembles wine, which is what I really miss. Alcohol free wines tend to cost as much as normal wine and are usually not very nice, which puts me off trying too many. I'd love it if someone could tell me which ones are actually a decent substitute for proper wine.

Other than that, I prefer grown up soft drinks which aren't pretending to be something they're not. Things which taste more interesting and less sugary than normal soft drinks.

I'm not very interested in fake spirits like alcohol free gin or spritz.

Purdey's do a nice multi-vitamin drink, great with loads of ice

I’d prefer to read about tasty drinks for non drinkers rather than alcohol free versions. I like a glass of Pom now pregnant. Would like to read about non sickly cocktails.

I would be very interested in reading your blog if you are happy to post or message me a link? Bit of a blog lover here.
I love the following;

• Belvoir ginger cordial mixed with ginger ale and a good spritz of lime. That is a very tangy drink that feels very luxurious

• Grapefruit juice mxed with tonic or soda

• 1/4 cranberry juice; juice of one orange and soda

These all hit the spot for me. I have drastically reduced my drinking due to the cost (but also frankly I hammered it in lockdown and needed to really get a handle on it..... my health was suffering) but I like a treaty type of drink in the evenings so this works.

On the subject of dealcoholised drinks I am in the 'whatever works for you' camp. Personally I do not find them triggering so I can happily drink them instead of alcohol. But often i just want something that tastes alot better than dealcoholised drinks tend to.
(Plus I think things like the mega bucks dealcoholised gins are a total rip off).

Ooh definitely look into seedlips.. very unique and delicious.

If I’m being 100% honest I still get rather confused with dealcoholized, sometimes it’s actually quite hard to find out if something is completely alcohol free.. seedlips I thought was alcohol free until I googled (and had to search quite a bit for) before finding somewhere it may contain traces of alcohol.

Belvoir, Fentiman's and even M&S do elderflower pressés as well as other fizzy drinks and posh cordials

I can almost pretend I’m drinking a mojito if I have Aqua Libra cucumber, mint and lime in a tumbler glass with some ice, fresh mint and lime wedges.

I’ve tried the Italian non-alcoholic aperitivo that’s supposed to be like Aperol but found it far too sweet and sugary. I’d love to find something similar to Aperol though for when I’m driving or trying to lose weight.

The gin replacements seem so expensive for what is essentially squash!!

My local M&S food has got a huge range of non alcoholic drinks, Prosecco (incl. rose types) and all sorts. Never tried any of it but I was amazed at the selection when I was waiting for a parcel the other day.

I think the Aldi 0% Prosecco is really lovely. It has a gentle fragrant flower taste a bit like elderflower.

There is also a Jacob's Creek fizzy which has some green tea in it which gives it a slight sharpness. That is nice as well, IMO.

Single variety apple juices can have a nice tartness if you pick the right one. Particularly like bramley or cox.

All this, especially the sugar. I don't drink mostly because I'm not keen on the taste, so I'm not bothered about trying to duplicate the taste without the alcohol. It is difficult to get good low-sugar non-alcoholic drinks, outside of water and diet Coke.

That is a good point. I'm get my DH to help me drink my samples lol.

I have drunk in the past and used to be very partial to a cold white wine .... but I've been teetotal for almost 2 years now.

However I realised that I've had at least 4 totally sober christmases now as I've been 36 weeks pregnant at Xmas ... twice ...

For those who are interested (mumsnet can delete if I'm not allowed to do this and please ignore if you want, I'm not offended)

The blog is Liz of London and my insta is LizofLondonWriter.

I'm doing a series on journey to health at the moment and will touch on my reasons for stopping drinking next week. Going to be doing a review of ww, sw and Noom as well.

The Christmas series is due to come out during December.

Like I say though, totally feel free to ignore if this isn't your thing.

I'm so grateful for these replies. They have really helped me form a bit of a plan. I will be heading to M&S to have a look as well.

I've challenged myself to a year alcohol free and have done 9 months so far.

It seems I'm in the minority here as I enjoy de-alcoholised drinks and drink them regularly as I enjoy the more complex less sweet taste of them. Describing them as squash is not accurate, if I wanted squash, that's what I would drink!

to be counted as alcohol free in the UK a drink can be up to 0.5% although there are many that are 0.0%. The reason for this is that alcohol can naturally occur in many food and drinks at a similar level, bananas and bread for example.

@AlannaOfTrebond that's how I started. I challenged myself to a fry 2021 and have just kept going. I don't intend to stop now.

Dry ... fgs I need an edit button

I rarely drink due to medication.

I really enjoy the Bottlegreen sparking presses, although they are quite sugary (but I prefer real sugar to fake sweeteners).

Our local spa makes some lovely mocktails blending fizzy water with fruit juices and fresh herbs, but I don't have that kind of skill.

I developed an allergy to booze while pregnant. Thanks DD

I love seedlip, makes me feel like drinking actual G&T which was my favourite tipple. I have completely missed all the new gins. sob! Other than Seedlip I avoid low and no alcolhol drinks. They feel too fake to me if that makes any sense.

Atr christmas I make a mulled cranberry juice to replace mulled wine.

I don't drink for medical reasons, so didn't give up due to drinking to excess. I like quite a few beers and gin and tonic alternatives. The branded spirits are far to expensive for water with flavourings, so have given up in those. Especially as alcohol is a preserving agent, so they don't last long when open. All of the wines are horrible and sweet, so not tried one of them I years. I would like reading a blog with a mix of dealcoholised and naturally non-alcoholic drinks.