Are you “Sober Curious”?

Diet & Nutrition, Fitness, Health & Wellness

Are you “Sober Curious”?

We’ve been seeing a trend lately toward more people drinking less alcohol. The term “Sober-Curios” is used to describe making the conscious decision to consume less alcohol. Many people are working towards adopting healthier lifestyles and making better choices. It’s not about giving up cocktails or wine altogether. Its about generally consuming less alcohol to support health and fitness goals. You can still have fun with friends and family, even enjoy that night out with the girls. But, waking up without a hangover, ready to hit the gym and keeping our promises to ourselves seems to be resonating with an increasing following.

This growing movement is not about drinking sugary, childish concoctions. Several companies today are making true distilled spirits without the alcohol. They provide quality, serious, mature flavors that offer a great substitute for the “real thing.” Some companies are even creating their own unique elixirs. They’re not designed to mimic the same flavors as popular liquors, but to offer something intriguingly different.

Training table tested a few for this article. We went with three products from the brand Free Spirits, and two products from the brand Seedlip. Free Spirits are designed to offer flavors quite similar to popular liquors such as gin and bourbon. In contrast, Seedlip offers elixirs with totally unique flavor profiles of their own.

From Free spirits, we tried The Spirit of Gin, The Spirit of Bourbon, and The Spirit of Milano (a Campari style, bitter orange beverage). Free Spirits’ website drinkfreespirits.com suggests: “From a non-alcoholic cocktail when you replace your traditional spirit 1:1 with Free Spirits to “half & half” when you split the recipe between Free Spirits and its boozy cousin”. Free Spirits affords an entirely new level of control to the cocktail drinker. They state that they love cocktails and that their product was created to “enable people like us to enjoy their favorite cocktails while controlling the amount of alcohol that’s used in their creation – without sacrificing taste.”

The products contain B Vitamins and amino acids designed to “help elevate your mood”. They describe their process as: “Distillate Reconstruction. Each one of the Free Spirits is crafted by identifying all the raw materials, the interactions and the alchemy that give a traditional spirit its unique flavor profile. We source natural ingredients like American White Oak, European Juniper, and Mexican Blue Agave and distill their essential flavors. We then reconstruct that spirit to form something much bigger than the sum of its parts.”

Training Table is a big fan of the Gin and Tonic, the Negroni, and the Americano. So, we purchased the “Negroni Bundle” which contains the Spirt of Gin and the Spirit of Milano as a two pack, for a slightly discounted price. We then set out to concoct our faves, the classic Gin and Tonic, and Negroni. We can attest to the fact that these beverages are delicious. They do not taste exactly like Gin or Campari but are very close and quite tasty in their own right. They even provide that little “bite” you get in the throat from alcoholic spirits. We went on to try the Spirit of Bourbon. This, too, was delicious, with that little bite on the finish. On the rocks or neat, this offered nuttiness, oak notes and a smooth finish. And it slid comfortably into a whisky sour.

From Seedlip we picked up Garden 108, which was described as a “fresh, herbal blend of peas & traditional garden herbs including Rosemary, Thyme & Spearmint”. We also tried their Grove 42, described as “a sophisticated, bright, citrus blend of Mediterranean Orange, Lemon Peel, Lemongrass and Ginger with a dry finish.” Both were tasty, but their flavors were definitely more subtle than the Free Spirits products. Again, these elixirs are not made to mimic Gin or Vodka. Rather, they are their own expression of distilled flavors with herbs and spices.

The Seedlip website offers some background about how they formed and how their mission is based on their founder Ben Branson’s story:

“While dining at an upscale London restaurant, Ben ordered a non-alcoholic cocktail. To his dismay, he was served a pink, sugary drink that neither paired with the meal, nor the atmosphere. And so began two meticulous years of perfecting the world’s first non-alcoholic spirit–combining Ben’s farming heritage, love of nature & design, and fulfilling the need for a sophisticated non-alcoholic option.” And “the pioneering movement of offering those not drinking alcohol a sophisticated, adult option has since become a segment all its own: the ever-growing no & low alcohol category.”

Training Table tried a Grove 42 CosNOpolitan using the recipe from Seedlip’s website. It was, indeed, a sophisticated beverage. Very enjoyable. We tried a Garden 108 and Tonic, which simply could not be easier. It was refreshing and clean tasting. However, these drinks were different. They didn’t taste like the classic version of the cocktail, but are unique and elegant, nonetheless.

Overall, the alcohol-free spirits we tried were hand-crafted products. They are made from high quality ingredients and offer an excellent option for those seeking alternatives to full alcohol cocktails. Enjoy these and other options with friends and family. And remember, if you are seeking healthier options such as these, ask your favorite restaurants and bars to carry these products for you. And, if they do, make sure to order them. As consumers we should create the demand in order to have healthier options in the marketplace. Cheers.

NO-GRONI SOUR (NON-ALCOHOLIC)

1 ½ oz The Spirit of Gin

1 oz The Spirit of Milano

¾ oz lemon juice

¼ oz orange juice

¼ oz simple syrup

Blob of egg white or Aquafaba

3 dashes Angostura bitters

Add the lemon juice and egg white to a shaker and dry shake (with no ice).

If using Aquafaba you can skip this bit.

Add the remaining ingredients except the bitters.

Add ice and shake briefly to integrate all the ingredients.