Don’t get the Dry January blues this year

IS THERE anything worse than Dry January? Not so much the idea of taking the odd break from drinking – which I wholeheartedly endorse – just the challenge of surviving 31 days of cold, wet, wintry weather without solace. Frankly, it’d be far easier if it were Dry June or Dry July.Though summer abstinence would, perhaps, bring challenges of a different sort (imagine, barbecues without fizz and shudder!) Anyway, this month an estimated five million of us will give up alcohol altogether. Fortunately, increasing abstinence – the most recent ONS figures say a fifth of Britons are now teetotal – has forced some creative thinking in the drinks industry.

Non-drinkers used to be limited to a lime and soda, Kaliber beer, soft drinks or juice, but there are now dozens of options on the market. In fact, the no and low-alcohol market is a bona-fide growth area, with sales of no/low beer, spirits and wine booming.

While no/low wine might sound like a contradiction in terms, there are some lovely bottles on the market.

Producers de-alcoholise wine by filtering it or putting it through a spinning process before it’s bottled that removes both the water and the alcohol.The volume is then replaced with water or a combination of water and unfermented grape juice.According to research, the wine still contains antioxidants that can be helpful to health.

Obviously, being alcohol free, you can drink as much as you like… without the hangover! I’ll toast that!

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