The low and no trend

Experts agree: a world of benefits and flavours come with reduced alcohol consumption. Yvonne Langen surveys the scene — and offers a refreshing recipe

IN JANUARY, THE CANADIAN CENTRE ON

Substance Abuse and Addiction (CCSA) released Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health and set the beverage world abuzz. The new guidance is the culmination of a two-year Health Canada project and takes an abstinence-first approach to alcohol consumption, indicating that zero drinks per week is the safest option.

Two drinks per week is defined as a low-risk consumption level — a staggering decline from the 10 drinks per week for women and 15 for men in the previous CCSA guidance, released in 2011.

The new report and the science backing it is not without its critics. Are Canadians going to put down the pinot or pop another bottle?

An Abacus Data survey of 1,500 Canadians in mid-January found that 16 per cent intend to drink less because of the new guidance.

Over the past few years, you may have seen more mocktails popping up on menus across the city. They can be found labelled “zero-proof” and “driving cocktails,” or even “temperance cocktails.”

At Atelier, they’re called “placebos.” For the 44-course tasting menu at the fine dining establishment on Rochester Street, guests have the option of pairing their meal with wine, cocktails, or placebos.

General manager and head sommelier Bernard Joseph Lemoyne says the restaurant first introduced its non-alcoholic program two years ago. He says the nonalcoholic options preserve the same high standard they’ve established with their carefully curated wine pairing.

“We submitted tasting notes to our bar manager Ramon Renderos Soto. We tasted the wines alongside him to get an idea of the flavour profiles, the structures of the wines, the acidity, tannin — and how that would affect the courses that are being paired. He took those general parameters and built cocktails and placebos to try and mimic that.”

I asked Lemoyne how interest in the placebo pairing has evolved over time.

“Not only with Dry January but also Health Canada coming out [with the new guidance], as well as a general growing interest in mixed beverages, both cocktails and mocktails, we’ve definitely seen an uptick,” he says. “Add to that, everyone feeling a financial pinch with interest rates being as high as they are … it provides a more affordable option where you don’t feel like you’re compromising on having a good time out.”

Placebos are priced at $20 apiece, a savings of $10 per drink compared to the signature full-proof cocktails.

If you’re experiencing sticker shock at the cost of a placebo cocktail, you shouldn’t be. Benson Mutalemwa, owner of Knyota Non-Alcoholic Drinks, Ottawa’s first zero-proof bottle shop, explains: “The simple fact is that there’s more work that gets done on these products than a typical beverage with alcohol.

“You have to dealcoholize the wine, and then build back the character of the wine into something that comes close to resembling a wine,” says Mutalemwa. “And the technology to dealcoholize is not cheap.”

While he says the feedback on price does come up quite often, Mutalemwa says his store is seeing more new customers since the new CCSA guidance was released.

“Dry January was already underway, and the new guidelines came out midJanuary … and then there were a lot more customers saying, ‘I’m trying to figure out ways to reduce my overall consumption,’ instead of customers just saying, ‘I’m taking a break.’”

Whether you’re looking to cut out, cut back, or just curious, check out this zero-proof cocktail recipe, above, to get you started.