Grown Up Dry January Drinks.

Who else here is doing Dry January? I'm going to fess up, as much as we love good food, we love good wine and like many folks we have slipped into a happy habit of drinking wine every evening with our meal.

What's that quote so often chalk painted on gastro-pub walls, "A day without wine is like a day without sunshine"? Well, that's kind of been our mantra for the last 15 years, but as we get older we're coming to the conclusion that too much sunshine is bad for you for several reasons.

The main reason we have drank wine with our food everyday is because the alternatives are terrible and by terrible I mean SWEET. For me, not only do sweet soft drinks ruin a meal (we won't even let our children have fruit juice on the table for fear it kills their palate) but it makes me feel about 5 years old.

I don't have a massively sweet tooth either, so the sweet drinks are even sweeter. However, in the spirit of 'no excuses', we have decided to embrace (almost) Dry January.

Knowing us, I knew that to say absolutely no alcohol would be like enforcing a punishment rather than us making a conscientious lifestyle change. So we have come to the following compromise. We are drinking wine / alcohol on one night a week only. We've menu planned for a Friday, except for when we are going away for a weekend and we've switched to Saturday.

By allowing ourselves this one treat day a week, I honestly believe that we will work our new approach well into the New Year, maybe even make it through the whole year. As we know, denied pleasure is always the most tempting and so knowing our reward is coming in just a couple of days, really makes the decision the other days a perfectly manageable thing.

And at an average daily spend of £7 a day on a bottle of wine, 6 days of alcohol free is a saving of £42 a week and £168 a month. Even with replacements being budgeted for, that's a at least a saving of £130 a month.  (£1560 a year)

Now to the drinks. Having done some reading around before taking on this challenge we have had a very successful first week and a half mainly due to the following life-savers...


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ALCOHOL FREE BEER:
Our preference is Budweiser Prohibition Brew.

So it doesn't do one of the main advantages of Dry January in that it still has a whack load of calories, but it is a perfect cheat treat for meals that demand a little drier / more bitter kind of accompaniment. We have this scheduled in to accompany the spicy bean burritos this Saturday, and it will work with the green curry next week.


ALCOHOL FREE GIN:
Our preference is Seedslip (Spice)

Yes, you did read that right. Some genius has actually come up with something that resembles gin closely enough that you really can feel like you've discovered a secret elixir. It's a little pricey at around £26 a bottle (currently on offer in TESCO for £20) but it's worth it, and still much cheaper than the wine habit.

Made up with a good tonic water, a slice of lime, a circle of cucumber and a sprig of thyme, you honestly can't fault it for giving you all the feels of a G&T. I cheekily served this up to my mother with dinner on Monday to see what she thought, and as a blind tasting, she didn't notice the difference.

Looking forward to using this in cocktails to see how it changes the balance of Cranberry and elderflower mixes.


ALCOHOL FREE WINE:
This is a complicated one. As wine lovers who really appreciate good wine and have always invested in the best we can afford, and having a husband who has a real knowledge of wine, this is a bit of a scary landscape;  our head is still working around the word 'wine' -- however, in the spirit of it all, we purchased a bottle of Esiberg Sauvignon, from TESCO currently on offer for £2.80with the idea of making spritzers.

On its own, it is far too sweet. However mixed with soda water and garnished with a couple of slices of lime and some ice-cubes, it became a perfectly palatable and well balanced grown up 'juice' to accompany our courgette pasta last night - the use of a wine glass helped the illusion and maintained standards.

I think that's the way to approach 'Alcohol free wine' - to not think of it is as the same beast as 'wine' but to think of it being a base or a mixer to add a slightly more complex layer to the usual soft options.

VIRGIN MOJITO'S
This is a fabulous alternative because there really is very little difference between the 'dirty' mojito and the virgin. Made in the same way but without the generous glug of Bacardi, this is a great social option and perfect to go with spicy dishes such as Chili con-carne and curry.

THE OLD (NOT SO) FAVOURITES:

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL:
There are of course the go to non-alcoholic soft drinks such as Elderflower cordial / presse, but I can tell you, after two pregnancies, Elderflower has become a real thorn in my side - okay, it's a nice drink in itself but it's that whole thing of oh, you're not drinking, here have an elderflower presse. It's the equivalent of a stuffed pepper to a vegetarian and elicits immediate eye-rolls from me. However, not to be defeatist, I have purchased a bottle of elderflower cordial and I know that mixed with tonic water, it will be perfectly okay.

CRANBERRY & TONIC WATER:
This is okay as it does have that slightly bitter edge that my palate prefers and the astringency of the cranberry balances well with red dishes  - although it is still sweet and fizzy, two elements that are not that ideal. I am looking forward to trying it with some Angostura Bitters, which has been recommended.

I would love it if you could drop any of your alternatives in the comments, and especially some great, not so sweet cocktails that we can try.