A novel alternative to giving up booze entirely
Low-octane cocktails are a great way to make drinks a little healthier
Anyone can give up booze for a month.
In fact, this time of year, millions do. For many, the Sober January cleanse is a practically mandatory annual ritual — a necessary correction to a holiday season that started up with boozy eggnog and finished with champagne toasts at midnight.
Is it the most effective way of getting healthy, though? Maybe not.
“In a way, it’s not that much different than going on a diet versus changing the way you eat,” says Andy De Santis, a Toronto registered dietitian with a midtown practice. “Like, how much more success are you going to have if you learn healthy habits than if you go on sort of an extreme plan for a month?”
Not that De Santis thinks there’s anything wrong with giving up alcohol for a month. In fact, he thinks, for some, it might be a fine idea — so long as they have a plan for what happens after.
“I can go a month without having Mars bars but if I have way too many Mars bars the other 11 months, it’s basically irrelevant,” he says. “Let’s say you go on a crash diet and then, when you come out of it, you don’t really know how to eat moderately and go crazy. The same kind of thing can happen with alcohol — and what matters when it comes to alcohol are patterns over time, like everything with health.”
So, what’s the equivalent adjustment for drinking? Obviously, drinking fewer drinks. But we can also make those drinks healthier, too — the liquid equivalent of more salad — thanks to a movement that’s been simmering for several years, toward “low-octane,” “low-ABV” or “suppressors” (as opposed to accelerators). Most trace low-octane cocktails to Atlanta, Ga., a city with limited public transit and a lot of commuters who wanted a smart after-work cocktail, but couldn’t risk sampling the potent, spirit-forward cocktails that dominated craft bars before driving home. In response, many bartenders began working with lower-alcohol bases, such as vermouth, port or sherry.
That tradition has trickled-up to Canada, especially in Spanishinspired restaurants such as Bar Isabel, Bar Raval and Cava, all of which use fortified wines, which are lighter in alcohol, as a base for some cocktails, in a nod to Iberian drinking traditions.
Customers seem to be responding enthusiastically.
“There are definitely more people looking for that, especially here, since we have such a large and deep wine list,” says Kyle Burch, Cava Restaurant’s general manager.
“I want people to feel they can enjoy an aperitif before having some wine, as opposed to having a cocktail and then feeling nervous. The lower-alcohol drinks give people a little bit more freedom.”
Burch is one of Toronto’s original sherry boosters. He recommends neophytes try a few different sherries, since he finds his own customers have wildly different reactions to, say, fino sherry (dry, thin and pale) and amontillado or oloroso sherries, which are darker and richer.
“It’s a very polarized camp, kind of like Marmite,” he says of the yeast spread. “They’re very much food wines, so it’s easier to understand them with the flavours of some fishy tapas already on your palate.”
The other way he introduces people to the pleasures and virtues of sherry, of course, is in a low-ABV cocktail, such as this sherry cobbler, the LastMinute Lulu, which he designed for people looking for alternatives to Dry January. It’s simple: Amontillado sherry, a spoonful of orgeat (almond syrup), a couple of dashes of peach bitters and a splash of soda, all poured over crushed ice. Garnish with an orange and olive — Spanish-style.
Perfect for anyone considering a New Year’s resolution to drink better and moderately, all year round. Not just for the first 31days. Readers can enjoy the Last Minute Lulu at Burch’s bar or, alternatively, make at home with ingredients from BYOB Toronto or thecraftybartender.com, both of which carry commercial brands of Orgeat, as well as Bittered Sling Clingstone Peach bitters.