Grown-up alcohol-free drinks to get you through Dry January

If you’re having a Dry January, you may be wondering what to drink. Here, Alcohol Concern Cymru has taste tested some of the best non-alcoholic drinks on the market

THERE was a time when being off the booze meant you had to make do with orange juice or pop.

But now supermarkets are setting aside extra shelf space for grown-up alcohol-free drinks.

Alcohol Concern Cymru has tasted some of the latest offerings and here are their results

Beers Of the big-brand alcohol-free beers, Heineken 0.0 really stands out.

The brewer’s own research found consumers had a “strong preference” for their beer over other zero-alcohol brews.

It’s not hard to see why. It’s a great lager, with a good flavour, a nice colour, and none of that weird aftertaste that has ruined so many alcohol-free beers in the past.

Heineken 0.0 is available in bottles and cans in Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s.

If you prefer ales to lagers, then look east to the St Peter’s Brewery in Suffolk. In 2016, they brought out the UK’s first alcohol-free real ale – St Peter’s Without – filling a big gap in the zero-alcohol market with its lovely nutty colour and great malty flavour.

St Peter’s followed it up in 2017 with Without Gold, a lighter brew somewhere between an ale and a craft lager.

The St Peter’s beers are available in Morrisons and Tesco, or direct from the brewery, and both are totally alcohol-free.

If you fancy something a bit more unusual, try the 0.5% Stout or Spiced Ale from the Big Drop Brewery in Maidenhead; or the 0% Kosmic Stout from the Nirvana Brewery in east London. All three are one sale via the Dry Drinker website.

Wines Very few wines are completely alcohol-free, but you’ll find plenty at around 0.5% in many supermarkets now.

Some of the best are the Rawson’s Retreat range from Australia: a Semillon Chardonnay, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir Muscat.

The Semillon Chardonnay is welloaked, and unlike many low-alcohol whites it’s not spoiled by excessive sweetness.

Unlike many alcohol-free reds, the Cabernet Sauvignon is not just some generic red wine – it really tastes like a good Cabernet Sauvignon.

The sparkling white just cries out “celebration!” It’s nicely packaged in a Champagne-type bottle with a proper cork, and looks like something you’d serve without embarrassment at a special occasion. And again, it’s not too sweet.

All three are on sale in larger branches of Tesco

Ciders If you like your cider traditional, it’s got to be Stowford Press 0.5%.

Like many great ciders, it hails from Herefordshire, and steers a good middle course between being too sweet (like a lot of commercial ciders) and being mouth-puckeringly sour (like one or two farmyard scrumpies).

At 0.5%, it’s not a totally alcoholfree drink, but for anyone who’s looking to cut back rather than abstain, it’s an excellent choice.

At the other end of the cider spectrum, we have two Kopparberg alcohol-free ciders: Mixed Fruit, and Pear.

Kopparberg ciders don’t look or taste like traditional ciders at all. In spite of that (or because of it) they’ve taken the UK market by storm, tapping into the big demand for easydrinking ciders with fruity flavours.

Both the Mixed Fruit and the Pear ciders are available at 0% alcohol and at around 4%.

Drinking the two strengths sideby-side, we really couldn’t tell the difference.

So, if you like fruity cider and also like keeping a clear head, go for it! You have nothing to lose but your hangover!

Spirits Alcohol-free spirits? Surely someone’s having a laugh here? Maybe not.

Even though your average gin is around 40% alcohol, that’s not stopped some people trying get it down close to 0%.

The first alcohol-free gins to hit the market were from Seedlip in 2015 – two beautifully packaged drinks, packed with unexpected herbs and spices and definitely for more adventurous drinkers. Mixed with a good tonic water, they’re a real treat.

But at £26 for a 70cl bottle, they’re clearly being marketed as a premium brand and will be out of reach of many drinkers’ pockets.

Possibly a little more affordable is Tesco’s premixed Low Alcohol G&T, in 250ml cans for £1.

It’s only 0.5% alcohol, but it smells like gin and tonic, tastes like gin and tonic, and is light, refreshing just like a good gin and tonic.

Also definitely worth a try is Teetotal GnT from the Yorkshire-based Temperance Spirit Company.

According to the people who make it, in taste tests with more than 10,000 people, the vast majority couldn’t tell that this was non-alcoholic.

Neither could we. Sadly, Teetotal GnT is not widely available in shops yet, but you can buy it online direct from the Temperance Spirit Company.

So, if you’re planning on keeping January (or any other month) alcohol-free, you’re almost spoilt for choice.

You can read first-hand reviews of more than 50 alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks in the “Boozefree reviews” of the Drink Wise Wales website.