Dry January Uncorked

Each year millions of us sign-up for charity campaigns, or make resolutions to quit the booze for one whole month. New research by Alcohol Change UK (the charity behind Dry January® ) demonstrates that almost 9 million people in the UK have promised to have a month off drinking alcohol for January 2023.

Refraining from alcoholic beverages can help many of us to step back and reassess our relationships with alcohol, plus there are obvious health benefits to cutting back the booze for a bit. It’s no wonder that more of us are uniting to form a community of support and exploration on the subject of sobriety.

Reasons behind hopping on (or is it off?) the bandwagon include ‘overindulgence’ at Christmas and undertaking a healthy kick-start to the year , but it begs the question; when you’re giving up alcoholic drinks – what are you drinking?

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Return of the ‘Mock’

We still want to socialise in January, but our culture is increasingly becoming a landscape where people want to drink less. The days of being asked to make our selection from the unholy trinity of ‘lemonade, cola or tap water, mate?’ are thankfully a thing of the past. Thus, the non-alcoholic cocktail (the bevvie formerly known as the ‘mocktail’) has been bestowed it’s crown once again as the go-to drink for adults who refuse to solely drink a sad lime & soda.

But it’s brand new look is easy on the eye and the tongue….no more artificial tasting, fancy-pants, overly sweetened, corrupted copies of classic cocktails – no. AF geniuses Lyre’s have concocted convincing cousins of their booze-y counterparts, including a refreshing Amaretti Sour, and their frothy Espresso Martini is the grown-up drink of choice for a night out during Dry January.

Pops That Pop

Non alcoholic cocktails are now officially in their heyday, living their best happy-go-lucky lives by showcasing innovative and cosmopolitan variations that are so delicious that the sipper forgets they are sipping an AF apéritif.

Companies like Seedlip are paving the way for premium distilled spirits that contain no alcohol, and have been swiftly followed by more mainstream brands partaking in this virgin version of classic gin and vodka style liquor. These are frisky, lively drinks, perfectly suited for drinking in a buzzing pub, which serves to highlight, without a doubt, that the drinking AF doesn’t have to be a compromise.

A Crafty Choice

Craft beer has climbed the steep ladder of success over recent years, and there are now lots of perfectly quaffable non-alcoholic versions springing up in London.

BeaverTown Lazer Crush which is predictably delicious and Lucky Saint (it’s name a wry nod to the virtuousness of drinking alcohol free) is Trust Pilots #1 rated non-alcoholic beer. It’s popular nip here at the Spread, and many folks can be seen drinking this on a night at the pub throughout the year – not just for Dry January.

Happily, alcohol free drinks no longer play second fiddle to hard liquor, and our AF offering is now in line with the quality of both the food & the atmosphere in our beautiful pub. Sophisticated, stylish and a little bit cheeky.

So, there we have it. Dry January can be a great way to dip your toe into the vast pool of low & no alcohol drinks that are now widely available. Fashionable, interesting, and high quality options that are so alluring that – who knows – you may even be tempted to dive into longer period of sobriety?

Nobody knows what the future holds, except that Dry January will be back on the scene, year-after-year.

Let’s raise a glass to that – cheers!