Desperately seeking something

When I first started rethinking drinking, I had no fantasies about finding anything to replace my beloved wine. I thought I was resigned to buying grocery store non-alcoholic beer, which still has a pretty rough reputation amongst most people. I had no idea that there was a whole world of products developing…but I’ll get to that later.

Photo credit: Lara Berry, @mulberry

I started my drinking career with beer, because growing up in a blue collar Southern Ontario town meant Molson Canadian was the brand we drank the most. I switched to wine in university, and have never been a big beer drinker since. On that first day in the grocery store, sulkily standing in the ‘non alcoholic’ section seeking a replacement for said wine, I had the good fortune to find Clausthaler alcohol-free beer. This was a total fluke, because I used my logic to decide that the Germans couldn’t get it wrong with beer. Good thing this was right. The classic green and white Clausthaler was truly the first non-alcoholic beer that I tried and it was just right. I remember thinking “Oh this isn’t too bad after all”.

It was a hot summer of 2020 and as the days got warmer, alcohol-free beer on its own was a little bit too heavy for me. I started mixing it with diet tonic water in a big tumbler with ice and lime, making a homemade shandy of sorts. It was easy and refreshing and I spent hours walking around the socially-distanced neighbourhood street parties clutching my favourite plastic tumbler. I couldn’t help but yearn for a good Tanqueray G&T though.

I was missing the sting of alcohol in my drinks, but not the side effects, so I started researching alcohol-free spirits. I discovered Seedlip at a local grocery store but once I tried it, I couldn’t believe that this was it (my thoughts on Seedlip are here). It lacked anything close to a familiar gin. I knew there had to be better.

Searching for a solution to the ‘bite’ I was missing in my drinks, I started experimenting with shrubs. The vinegar-based fruitiness was a perfect compliment to my club soda and that sufficed for awhile. I steeped black tea in cheap red alcohol-free wine, I added tart cherry juice to ginger ale and was determined to replicate an elegant glass of wine at any cost.

Photo Credit: Some Good Clean Fun, 2021

My world expanded so rapidly that I still look back in surprise. An acquaintance of mine who makes shrubs introduced me to Sobrii-0, a Canadian made alcohol-free gin, and that was the moment I could tell that the world was on to something. This bottle represented for me that there was someone out there who cared about what I was drinking, as a non-drinker. They understood I just wanted options that were grown-up and tasted good. It was like sunshine had finally broken through.

Since then, I’ve sought out good quality alcohol-free spirits, wine and beer at every turn. A whole world of options suddenly opened up in late 2020 and the feverish pace of products coming to market hasn’t slowed down. I’ve tried almost every spirit available in Canada and mixed them with dozens of mixers and ingredients. I’ve dumped several bottles of wine down the drain and shared lots of alcohol-free beers with my husband. I’ve amassed a collection that is slowly outgrowing my house. As soon as the border with the U.S. opens, I’m driving straight to Buffalo and picking up all the things I can’t get my hands on north of the border.

I’m sharing this story because it’s timely. I’ve had a number of people reach out to me recently who have decided to cut back or totally quit drinking. When they ask me for recommendations on what to drink, I don’t know where to start. It’s a good problem to have because 14 months ago I really wouldn’t have had much to say.

Bottoms up friends!