The Aperitif Guy

Image: Everleaf Drinks When I first wrote about alcohol-free drinking in 2018, the range of drinks available was very limited. I updated that post a year later with some additional suggestions. The range of drinks now available is enormous, but you wouldn't know it from the bar of your local Punchspoons Pub Co., or in the aisles of  Waitbury's and Aldl. The most recent accurate figures for UK (ONS 2018) show that around 20% of adults do not drink alcohol at all. The figure is higher for the under-25s - 23%. You'd think, then, that one beer in every five would be an alcohol-free one, that pubs would carry more than one alcohol-free wine and that you could choose from several 'spirit' drinks. Smaller, craft breweries seem to be leading the way in the field of low-alcohol beer. Perhaps this is the reason you don't see many in the big chains. The breweries seem to be waking up to this challenge, and we have seen big companies like Guinness and Heineken launch 0% bre...

I posted early last year about alcohol-free and low-alcohol drinks. At the time, there were very few alcohol-free drinks available in the UK that were intended specifically for aperitif drinking. How things change in a year! What follows is an update of that post, with some new products reviewed. Our neighbour has commented that, as a non-drinker, she often feels infantilised by the choices offered when she goes out with others. While friends drink wines, spirits and beers to suit the adult palate, more often than not she is offered pop or fruit juice. No wonder she generally drinks water! I made it my mission to find some grown-up drinks that don’t compromise on alcohol. We start with tonic water. One of the markers of the adult palate is that it tolerates bitterness much more than a child’s does. Tonic may be sweet and fizzy but it’s unmistakably adult. It’s also fresh and stimulates the appetite, so it works well as an aperitif. Try mixing it with grapefruit or orange juice (...

I wrote a few weeks ago about the current gin boom. I follow a number of gin bloggers and try to keep up with the ever-growing array of weird and wonderful gins. One of the things I notice, especially among sponsored content, is the unshakeable assumption that you must want to drink your gin with tonic water. Gin is a fabulously versatile spirit. That's the reason it's the foundation for so many cocktails. Why do we insist on limiting it when we mix it as a long drink? Ginger ale Mixing gin with ginger ale is almost as old as mixing it with tonic water. We're back in medicinal territory here, as ginger settles the stomach and is often recommended for seasickness or nausea. Well, a touch of gin won't help the seasickness, but it'll certainly liven up the drink! Try it with one of the fruit flavoured gins - rhubarb's the obvious one - or a good London dry. Fiery ginger beer mixes better with one of the sweeter gins. Try it with Tanqueray Sevilla. ...