Mindful Drinking

The world of booze-free cocktails is changing very, very quickly, friends. 

Gone are the days of your only non-alcoholic (NA) options at a bar or restaurant — or at home for that matter — being soda, iced tea, water, juice, etc. Boring. So limited! But, with the rise of “mindful drinking”, lots of exciting new NA products are entering the market. These delicious products are both useful to bartenders and home drink mixers alike. Sometimes when I talk about this subject, people will think I am talking about canned, ready-to-drink products. And while there are a lot of canned NA drinks on and entering the market, I’m really more interested in bottles of NA “spirits”, which are often created to emulate a specific spirit like whiskey, gin and tequila. And there are some really good ones out there! 

I bought a bottle of Seedlip “Grove 42” at The Wine Source and I’ve been enjoying playing around with it. I love citrusy (but not sweet) drinks, so this spirit is really up my alley. And it’s pretty versatile, so I have lots of non-citrus NA drinks on my to-do list. Other brands I am planning to try:

Bare
Lyre
Ritual
Monday

Some canned/bottled cocktail brands I have enjoyed very much are Curious Elixirs, Ghia and Ish. And, there are more…so the taste testing continues. 

Stay tuned for new NA cocktail events in Baltimore. I recently met with some of my favorite (all women 🤘🏼) bartenders and we are planning some tasting and educational events for the public to attend. It’s all very TBD! And, get ready…I hear that an exclusively non-alcoholic bottle shop will be opening later this year in Fell’s Point. It will be the first in Maryland. In addition to these nice cocktail options, I’m sure they will sell NA beer and wine, too. I’ve tried some really delicious beers — I especially like Athletic and Untitled Art.

The main point I want to get across to you is this: the NA drinks thing — and also low ABV for that matter — is absolutely not a trend. Please don’t call it trendy or hipster. It’s healthy and very important to people who do not drink. And you don’t have to be a 100% non-drinker to embrace this. You could be taking a break from drinking, pregnant or the designated driver. It’s all good. 

Coming up in a future newsletter: best NA cocktails at Baltimore bars and restaurants.