Water is the beginning

In December, we were still storing champagne in the cellar and were delighted that Berry Bros & Rudd, our favorite wine merchant in London, was finally able to deliver the excellent Speyside whisky to the continent again. One Brexit obstacle less.

But on January 1, all forms of alcohol came to an end. Dry January has long since gone from being a trend to a broad movement, which has now been joined by Sober October.

More and more people are voluntarily giving up alcohol for shorter or longer periods of time. For many, the desire to have a clear head (the next morning) comes first.

At first, there is usually only water on the table, where before there was vermouth and wine. Over time, this becomes too bland for most people.

A desire for more flavor

Changing drinking habits have created a new market. In the USA, the market for non-alcoholic wines and beers alone is forecast to exceed 30 billion US dollars per year by 2025 (Global Market Insights).

In our opinion, however, non-alcoholic wine or wine with a reduced alcohol content cannot succeed in terms of taste. The same goes for beer. As much as we like to eat vegetarian food from time to time, vegetarian sausage is a superfluous product.

It’s hard to go to a good French or Italian restaurant in January and miss out on excellent wine. That’s why Asian restaurants are increasingly on our calendar in January.

Lassi, ayran or buttermilk go very well with strongly spiced dishes such as curries, and also taste good with many dishes at home.

Only sweet, that was once

The majority of fruit juices used to be sticky sweet and usually only tolerable as spritzers.

Today, with a little effort, you can find excellent juices that do without industrial sugar and bring out the actual fruit flavor.

A lot has also changed on the menu in the bar. So-called mocktails were once a mix of various sweet juices and syrups, often undrinkable. Dry January really wasn’t much fun that way.

The number of bars offering creative cocktails without alcohol that are not just a boring sweet compromise, but fun, is increasing.

However, “replacing” the familiar taste and complexity of high-quality alcoholic beverages is challenging. It is not uncommon for restaurants that invest a lot of creativity, time and effort in this area to be listed in the Michelin Guide.

In the best company

When eating a multi-course meal in a restaurant, we rarely decide on the wine accompaniment. The variety of wines, from different terroirs and with the individual style of the respective wine cellar, is too great, especially as every plate in a top restaurant can already offer a firework of flavors.

What’s more, after so many different wines and other spirits, the next day is predictably difficult to get through.

However, the non-alcoholic accompaniments in good restaurants are becoming increasingly attractive and there is no risk of a hangover the next day.

Restaurants such as Memories in Bad Ragaz and Essigbrätlein in Nuremberg (both Michelin-starred) produce all non-alcoholic drinks themselves in the kitchen. They use whatever the garden and fields can provide, such as barley, sea buckthorn, cherry blossom, kohlrabi juice and much more, in sophisticated combinations with hay flavors, sour cream or cocoa butter.

In many good restaurants, the combinations of non-alcoholic drinks are so creative (and almost impossible to achieve in the home kitchen, as emulsions, oils, roasted flavors, fermentation, homemade syrups made from herbs and other techniques are used) that a journey of discovery at the restaurant table is a lot of fun.

No wonder that non-alcoholic menu accompaniments have to be ordered in advance in some restaurants. The logistics alone often require many times more effort than going to the wine cellar.

When the evening comes

At home, herbal elixirs are a good place to start when it gets dark in the evening and a vermouth in a nice glass with lemon or orange and clinking ice cubes would be a good idea.

Producers such as Dr. Jaglas, (the history here lies in the knowledge of the pharmacy) have specialized in combining flavours such as hibiscus, blood orange, cardamom, mint and other ingredients to create a non-alcoholic aperitif with tonic and lime juice.

We experimented with the hibiscus version and replaced most of the tonic water with cold hibiscus herbal tea. This brings out the flavor of the herbs better.

Anyone trying to use alcohol-free January as a good opportunity to lose weight should be careful. Some botanicals and tonic water variants contain relatively high levels of sugar.

Cold herbal teas in a mix are a good idea to make the taste more bitter and reduce the number of calories per glass.

During the alcohol-free period, you should also always have limes, lemons, oranges and pomegranates in the house. The juice of these fruits is ideal for giving a cold tea left over from a day at the home office a kick.

And of course, every twist of a natural lemon peel adds a classy touch to any non-alcoholic drink.

Back to nature

If you’ve wisely put a juicer on your Christmas wish list or have been using one for a long time, you’re in the clear when it comes to non-alcoholic drinks.

We found our favorite combination in the excellent book LEAF to ROOT: Pear and Fennel Stem Juice:

2-3 tablespoons lemon juice

200 grams fennel stalks

350 gram pears

Place the fennel stalks and pears in the juicer and mix with the lemon juice. Done. We love this combination and like to add a little fresh ginger from time to time.

The eye drinks with you

Every non-alcoholic drink deserves a fine glass. The excellent naturally cloudy apple juice does not belong in a children’s glass but in a glass that otherwise holds fine white wines and the juice of cherries, pomegranates or fine currants also feels at home in a beautiful red wine glass.

The look is important. Not drinking alcohol should not be a visual punishment, but an equally great pleasure.

Zero?

Dry January has become a month of indulgence at GloriousMe and it’s great fun to develop your own drinks step by step: A white peach juice is given an interesting twist with a small dash of lemon oil. Served with ice cubes in an elegant glass – pure pleasure.

Will we aim for a zero year? No. Especially as we have just discovered Chez Olivier in Düsseldorf, a very interesting new address for natural wines and selected champagnes.

But the enjoyment of non-alcoholic drinks and the fun of new combinations will take up more and more space. We keep you posted.

Photography © GloriousMe