Since most of us drink our way through 2020, it’s no surprise that Dry January has been more popular than ever. After all, with a new year comes new goals and the desire to start to get on track to drink more mindfully in the future.
Mindful drinking is not about cutting alcohol out of your life completely. It’s about potentially cutting back and figuring out when you actually want a drink as opposed to when you’re drinking for the sake of it.
So as you finish up Dry January and move towards mindfulness, Jacob Briars, Bacardi Global Trade Advocacy Director, has a few tips To help you along the way and enjoy the process. As part of Briar’s ‘beginner’s guide’, Briars has also included the recipes for a couple of low-alcohol cocktails that taste as good as they look.
1. Explore, experiment, and enjoy! When it comes to cutting down on alcohol consumption, it needn’t mean you have to settle for water or simple soft drinks. No or ‘low’ alcohol drinks can, and absolutely should, be just as well-crafted and delicious as their alcoholic counterparts. There are now many fantastic options available for you to try, either at home where you can harness your mixology skills, or in bars and restaurants, which are going to need our support more than ever after a tough 2020.
2. Reduce, remove, and replace.For those unsure about how to begin with mindful drinking, an easy concept to remember is the 3Rs – Reduce, Remove, Replace. Here’s how that works in practice:
- Reduce. Try making your usual drinks with lower ABV spirits, such as Martini, or St-Germain elderflower liqueur, which are about half the ABV of your usual spirits. Or maybe try swapping your regular gin for a flavoured one, then using half as much as usual. Bombay Bramble is a new, berry flavoured gin with a bright flavour that carries through most mixers. Make your typical G’n’T with this, but using half as much as ‘normal’ and you’ll get a drink with half the strength but that is full of flavour.
- Remove. alcohol all-together and experiment with non-alcoholic spirits.Try the ‘Martini Tre Magi’ cocktail by combining Martini Non-Alcoholic Vibrante (50ml) with cranberry juice (30ml) over ice and top up with sparkling apple juice. Garnish with a delicious, caramelised apple slice
- Replace. Another way to cut down on the overall alcohol units in your favourite cocktails is by replacing high proof products with non-alcoholic alternatives. If like us you love the Negroni cocktail, you might want to try to replace the gin with MARTINI Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo. The perfect recipe for a lower alcoholic Negroni is equal parts: MARTINI Riserva Speciale Bitter, MARTINI Riserva Speciale Rubino and MARTINI Non-Alcoholic Vibrante.
3. Keep an eye on measures – At-home cocktail making has been huge this year. One thing that bartenders know that the budding home mixologist may not, is that measurement is key both to ensuring delicious balanced drinks both in terms of alcohol content and how your cocktails taste – there is a reason a recipe may be a 2:1 balance of particular ingredients. Invest in a ‘jigger’, or anything that can stand in as a ‘measure’ will allow you to know exactly how much is going into your drinks.
4. Stick to your routine - Be aware of your usual drinking habits and stick to enjoying a cocktail at times you usually would, such as gatherings with your bubble, during a special meal or raising glass over a virtual get-together with friends.
5. Enjoy quality over quantity – Mindful drinking isn’t only about ‘no and low’, it’s about being conscious of the drinks you’re enjoying. Take time to sip and savour your drink and enjoy the flavours. A fundamental rule of mindful drinking is not to worry about whether there is ‘enough’ alcohol in your cocktail – think quality over quantity – and more often than not a strong cocktail is far less enjoyable than one created with carefully balanced ingredients.
Martini Di Torino
Ingredients
- 30ml Martini Riserva Speciale Bitter
- 30ml Martini Riserva Speciale Rubino
- 12.5ml Raspberry Syrup
- Garnish: Orange twist
Instructions
Fill a rocks glass with cubed ice. Pour all ingredients into the glass. Gently give a quick stir to infuse ingredients. Garnish with an orange wheel
St-Germain Spritz
Ingredients
- 40ml St-Germain
- 60ml sparkling wine (Champagne or Prosecco)
- 60ml sparkling water
- Garnish: Lemon Twist
Instructions
Mix the ingredients over ice in a Collins glass and garnish with a lemon twist
Bombay Bramble Sonic
Ingredients
- 25ml Bombay Bramble
- 75ml Soda Water
- 75ml Tonic Water
- Garnish: Lemon twist
Instructions
Fill a highball or wine glass with cubed ice. Pour all ingredients into the glass. Gently give a quick stir to infuse ingredients. Garnish with lemon twist
