There are many reasons why you might be planning for alcohol-free or alcohol-limited celebrations and an increasing number of consumers are indeed decreasing their alcohol consumption as part of wider wellness and lifestyle trends. The ‘sober curious’ are driving the increasing demand for the no/low category, leading some of the UK’s foremost retailers – such as Waitrose and The Wine Society – to ramp up their offering in both quality and diversity.
But do the available alternatives stand up to their boozy counterparts? Can they underscore merriment and conviviality in the same way? There’s a growing number of appealing alternatives that deliver in both drinking pleasure and food pairing possibilities.
Beer – low in alcohol but not in flavour
Low-alcohol beers have been around for centuries, having played a key role in the diet (and survival) of many western countries since times immemorial. When clean drinking water was unavailable, low alcohol beer provided a safe, storable alternative; the management of fermentation to arrive at a moderate alcohol level has long been mastered. It didn’t take much, therefore, for brewers to put the latest technologies (such as cryogenic fermentation) at their service to arrive at even lower levels without – unlike alcohol-free wine; more on this below – significant loss of flavour or body. It’s easy to find superb alternatives – of which the below are just two examples among many – that comfortably measure up against boozy brews.
Spirited away
One of the flashiest and most diverse sub-categories in the
