0% alcohol drinks

[OptimisticRealist2024]

Facing many Christmas parties over the next few weeks and were it not for pregnancy, I'd be drinking cider or gin (or Aperol spritz 🤤).

Just wondered what the conventional wisdom was about alcohol free gin/cider and whether they were okay end of first trimester/beginning second trimester?

I asked my midwife and she told me no level of alcohol was known to be safe in pregnancy, which nearly made me scream. 🙄 I know some people have the odd glass of wine while pregnant, and have read Expecting better, but that's not for me.

I'm a bit fussy with drinks and wary of hidden caffeine, don't like anything too sweet (like J20) or cordials like lime and soda so seems a bit sad to just force those down if there are more delicious options out there...but can't help feeling there's a catch -- otherwise all pregnant women would just switch to alcohol free at parties?!

Alcohol free gin is good IMHO as are the red alcohol free spirits. Other drinks I think work well for alcohol free nights out are flavoured tonics (fever tree have some nice ones) and kombucha which has a sort of grown up sour note to it.
All the wines are absolutely awful apart from some of the Noseco type drinks but even then I could not drink more than a glass

I am a social drinker so trialling alcohol free products has actually been quite enjoyable during pregnancy so far. Agree with PPs that wine is rubbish, BUT, I do like the Frixente rose, and Morrisons do a £2 bottle of AF mulled wine which to me tastes no different from regular. Had some the other day with a mince pie and felt very festive! You mentioned beer and cider alternatives. My favourites are:

Thatchers 0% and Stowford Press (think it's 0.5%) both taste very close to the real deal.
Corona 0% with a lime tastes no different
AF IPAs are generally better than lagers

If you encounter a brand called Brulo anywhere, they're great (they're a solely AF brewery). I am a very unladylike pint drinker and recently found their IPA on tap in a bar and I felt like I was just having a normal night out! They're not cheap mind, but very tasty.

Don't worry too much about those saying even low alcohol is risky. The concentrations are so low, no different to fruit juices and over ripe fruits. I know someone who found out they were pregnant at 6 months; they were aged 20 and at university and had been a total party animal during that time, oblivious to the pregnancy. Obviously stopped drinking soon as they found out, and they were naturally worried. But their kid is now a strapping 17 year old doing A-levels. Many people don't know they're pregnant at first and will have consumed all kinds of illicit things before finding out, it happens. The odd super-low beverage will be fine.

Crodino is a great Aperol spritz alternative

And La Gioiosa 0% prosecco does taste like prosecco, just slightly more apple/pear notes.

All the non alcoholic spirits taste far too sweet for me.

I'm planning to have a glass of Bailey's with my Christmas dinner.

If you like beer/lager drinks I can highly recommend Heinecken 0.0 and Guiness O.O. both come amazingly close to the flavour of the real stuff.

I would also add the 0% Cordorniu to the list of drinkable non-alcoholic wines. My favourite is sparkling tea if you can get it!

The alcohol free berries and cherries cider tastes exactly the same as the alcoholic one, the catch is it's sickly sweet like the alcoholic one too and both contain sulphites which I'm sensitive too. I cannot have caffeine or citrus juices due to sensitivity and acid reflux. Alcohol free gin is vile but tonic water with a slice of lime is fine as a drink (not pregnant but live semi rurally with no public transport after a certain point). If you like beer (ale) Clear Head beer is ok, not as good as the alcoholic one but it is drinkable

Please don't worry about trace amounts in alcohol free drinks, remember there's trace amounts in many foods and just 2 generations ago midwives suggested half a pint of Guinness a day was a good thing pregnant! I'm not suggesting you take up drinking full alcoholic drinks but please understand the reasoning behind the change to zero alcohol from 1-2 drinks once or twice a week - it's because people don't understand what a unit of alcohol is and it's a mixed message, far easier to say none, but equally no need to be paranoid, you can eat chicken in white wine sauce.

Thanks everyone, loads of great suggestions here! 😁 Am not completely worried about the 0.05% vs 0.0% (I'm not going to be drinking litres of the stuff in any case, and the way my nausea is I may find I can't stomach any of it anyway) but glad others have found it okay with no ill effects for baby. Dreading the parties slightly less now! 🎉 And prospect of having convincing dupe for Aperol spritz on Christmas Day is looking very appealing!!

Gordon's alcohol free pink gin is 0.0% and I think it tastes very close to the real thing.

I second those recommending crodino, lyres (the prosecco type one is lovely too) and pentire if you like aperol type flavours.

In my last pregnancy I ended up drinking a lot of water as I just ended up fed up of sugary drinks but that was 6 years ago and feels like there are more options now!

The 0 Corona is great, lots of the nonalcoholic gin (tho trying to avoid too much quinine) is great too

I've also bought some Wednesday Domain wine this time.. will see if it's any good, I couldn't find any decent wine last time!

I like the tanqueray 0.0% orange gin, and have made a few nice mocktails with it. The "no level is safe" is because there's not enough research for them to understand so that's the advice. Personally I'm comfortable with 0.0% and the very odd 0.5% beer. Jump Ship beers are nice and I've had the odd Guinness 0.0%. M&S does some nice canned mocktails. Non-alcoholic wine is disgusting.

Leffe alcohol free beer is surprisingly mellow and good!

When not drinking alcohol I have ginger beer, good tonic with fresh lime, elderflower spritz or the excellent Belvoir cucumber and mint spritz (especially in the summer for that one!) when I can find it!

Please let me know how the Wednesday Domain is - it’s absolutely hounding me on instagram so interested to see if it’s any good

Guinness 0% is excellent. I have some crodino in the cupboard but haven't felt like it yet.

I didn't feel like any alcohol substitute in my first 2 trimesters in both pregnancies, but I did have tonic water with a dash of angostura bitters in the 3rd trimester last time. It is alcoholic but it's so diluted that I wasn't concerned.

In this pregnancy I have been really enjoying cranberry juice as a grown up drink choice as it's so sharp.

Actually @neleh87 that is a good point - I like angostura bitters but was introduced to a whole range of different ones in a lovely bar in Kilkenny last year that I didn't know existed! Makes all the difference to non alcoholic cocktails etc

Yes this was going to be my suggestions!

Most of the alcohol free gins are good and most of the wines are best avoided, in my opinion!

I drank zero alcohol beer and stowfords low alcohol cider through 2 pregnancies (not tons of either but probably weekly) and both boys are healthy and intelligent teens now.

Martini vibrante is good.
Nozecco very sweet - there are some better options out there but it's cheap and was always in stock at my local shop so having been pregnant over 2 consecutive Christmases I drank quite a lot of it! It's nice to have something fizzy from a flute even if it's not the real deal.

Also a fan of tonic water pimped up. Citrus and bubbles seem to help.

Non-alcohoic beers do quite well but I couldn't manage more than. 2 or 3 because they're so gassy.

I like the Tanqueray 0% gin, and also no one has mentioned Seedlip yet which I used to drink when driving before pregnancy and is a convincing G&T for me.

I intend to have a couple of small glasses of champagne over the festive period and then switch to alcohol free substitutes so it’s good to know that wine is horrible, but I might try that Morrisons mulled wine. I’m only 5 weeks’ pregnant though so trying to balance not drinking with not telling everyone I’m pregnant yet is a tricky line to walk. That’s why I like the idea of the gin substitutes as it is less obvious. I would normally drink wine on Christmas Day and through the season after champagne though so not too sure how to handle that one.

alcohol free cider and beer both taste fine.

Make some really gorgeous mocktails -

• raspberry cordial with sparkling water and fresh mint
• cloudy apple juice with sliced fresh ginger and sparkling water
• Tonic water with lots of ice, cucumber, lime, mint and rosemary. Infuse it with some juniper berries too if you want that gin flavour

I had nozecco at the weekend for the first time, and I got used to it after a few sips.

Went for my works night out last night and this was on the menu - absolute game changer! Thank you so much, @Smidge001!