At one of my recent ante natal appointments with my consultant, I told him I was getting some bad headaches. He wasn’t too concerned and told me that I should be drinking at least three litres of water a day…
I smiled and nodded, while thinking to myself…
THREE BLOODY LITRES?
Was he actually mad? I spend enough time waddling back and forth to the jacks as it is, without adding that much more water to my bladder! I felt like telling him that I may as well just get the bottle of water and pour it directly into the toilet and cut out the middle man, or woman.
Three litres. Jaysus!
Look, I get it. Pregnant women do need to drink more water, and I have been trying to do just that, but three litres is never going to happen.
Apart from the peeing issue, water is tasteless, boring and come the weekend I want to drink something that can make me feel as though I’m not desperately missing wine… yes, there I said it. I. Miss. Wine. A. Lot… But more about that in another blog post.
Today, I’m just going to focus on all the really drinkable alternatives to booze out there, because these days there’s a myriad of non-alcoholic alternatives available from prosecco, to wine, to beer and cider. And it’s worth checking them out especially if you’re sick of quaffing Coke, 7Up and Fanta, because let’s face it they just taste like liquid sugar and sometimes you want something a bit more sophisticated.
It is worth noting however that to be considered non-alcoholic a drink has to be under 0.5%, which means there is still trace amounts in some non-alcoholic drinks. This can be a bit of a shock to some, but these are such minuscule amounts, I personally wouldn’t worry unless you were planning to binge on an entire case full every weekend! In fact, I read somewhere you’re likely to get the same amount of alcohol in orange juice, so cut yourself some feckin’ slack.
What I’ve come to realise, is that for me, not missing wine is really about tricking my mind. So if I want to feel as though I’m having that special drink at the weekend, I’ll use a snazzy glass, lots of ice, straws, fruit, maraschino cherries, even little cocktail umbrellas… literally the more bells, balls and tinsel I can add, the better. And it’s amazing how much it can affect the taste of whatever it is your drinking… even tarting up plain water with a fancy jug, some mint and fruit will work wonders too!
I asked you recently over on my Insta and Facebook to recommend your top non-alcoholic tipples and there were dozens of delish ideas! For now here’s my top five, but let me know what else I should try before I pop this baby out.
Fever Tree Ginger Ale
This is my number one. I love this stuff, honestly of all the ginger ales out there, this one is smooth and subtly spicy. Served in a fancy glass with lots of ice and some fresh orange pieces, I could drink this all day.
Belvoir Blueberry Blackcurrant Cordial
If any of you are partial to a Kir Royale, which is made with champagne and crème de cassis, then you’re likely going to love this cordial. It tastes really similar and when mixed with club soda and put into a champagne glass with a strawberry on the side, you can almost forget it’s not the real thing… I drank so much of this one hot day a couple of weeks ago that it had some… er… consequences for my digestion… *ahem* blue poo!
Belvoir Sparkling Elderflower Presse
Another one from Belvoir, this Elderflower Presse is a real delight. It’s got a very distinct flavour, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but I love it. It tastes like summer in a glass. Only slightly sparking, it’s fab in a prosecco glass with a fancy umbrella.
Carl Jung De-Alcoholised Sparkling Wine
What the hell is ‘de-alcholoised’ wine? That was my question too. I came across this when I was in Monart recently and after we had to wait for our table the manager offered myself and my mum a glass of prosecco on the house to apologise. A nice touch. I said I was pregnant so I’d pass and he said he’d get me a glass of this stuff instead. And boy was it delish. It was so good in fact, I wondered had he mixed up the glasses and given me the booze instead???
Lorina Sicilian Lemonade
I love homemade lemonade. It tastes just divine. Not too tangy, not too sweet I could probably drink three litres of it no problem… yeah, take that doc! Anyway, I’ve yet to try making my own at home because I’m a lazy cow, but this Lorina Sicilian Lemonade is so good there’s no need for me to get my lemonade stand out. It’s gorgeous on its own, but I also like to mix it with the Elderflower Presse with lots of ice and some pieces of citrus fruit for a refreshing combo.
Notable mentions
There’s a few others worth mentioning that haven’t made the list for a few reasons –
Seedlip Spice 94
It’s the ‘distilled-like-gin-with-botanicals-but-it’s-not-gin,’ drink I desperately wanted to love! But I just couldn’t get a taste for this at all. There are a couple of other flavours I’m going to try, but it’s a rather pricey bottle to buy and then end up hating!
Kopparberg Alcohol Free
I’ve heard great things about this, but didn’t add it to the list as I haven’t tried it yet and I’ve never actually had the regular version, so it’s going to be hard to compare. It’s on my hit list though.
Peroni Libera
I love regular Peroni, especially ice cold on a hot day with a burger right off the Barbie… Yum! Again, I haven’t got around to trying this yet, which is why I haven’t added it to the list, but I will certainly be giving it a whirl very soon.