You’re not drinking tonight? That’s not a problem. If you’re on antibiotics, hungover, or you’re like my mum who has never gotten drunk in her 52 years of living – we’ve got you covered for interesting and tasty drinks to have when it gets to the evening.
ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL
Hopefully most of you have heard of this lovely cordial, since it’s great to order in bars or restaurants. Not only this, but you can buy some from a local supermarket and serve it up for yourself during ‘pres’. You can play around quite a lot with this drink, for example just adding sparkling water, or sparkling water with apple juice. Either way, it’s a tasty drink to have at home and out. Other syrups are great to try as well as a base to your non-alcoholic drink, such as the different Monin syrups (available in Tesco supermarkets). Try out the raspberry one with lemonade!
MULLED APPLE JUICE
Now that it’s getting colder and closer to christmas, swap the mulled wine for mulled apple juice. This is great if you’re having a festive celebration with friends, and literally only takes around 10 minutes to make. Let’s thank BBC for this one – head over to their site for the full recipe.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13370/mulled-apple-juice
NON-ALCOHOLIC BEER
Here’s one that doesn’t require you to make anything yourself. You can feel just as normal as all your friends getting drinks in Sainsbury’s, but instead just pick up a bottle of non-alcoholic beer. Which one though? One of the best you could probably go for is Brewdog Nanny State. It’s 0.5%, but it’s highly reviewed by many, it’s cheap and low in calories. One to stay away from though is the Beck’s Blue non-alcoholic beer— according to my T-total pal, it tastes like tuna. Ew.
MAMA’S NON-ALCOHOLIC PIMMS
If you can’t quite accept the fact that summer really is over, then make yourself some non-alcoholic pimms, inspired by my T-total for life mum. Replace the quantity of pimms with half grape fruit juice and half pomegranate juice. Then, fill the rest up with lemonade and serve with chopped fruit and mint. It tastes amazing and you won’t feel like you’re missing out at all.
TONIC WATER AND….
Tonic water is mostly associated with gin, but for a non-alcoholic version, just mix tonic water with grape juice, cranberry juice, or anything that’s a bit tangy. It’s great because juice and tonic water are readily accessible in bars/pubs/restaurants, so you can enjoy a tasty drink with your friends when you’re out. If you’re home, try out tonic water with juice of half a lime, and a few big drops of angostura bitters (contains alcohol but don’t worry, you’re not adding much).