Think Alcohol-Free is Boring? These 7 Winners Will Prove Your Tastebuds Wrong
We like to road test as many products as possible before we put our name to them as "ABG Recommended." So this week we took some time to sit down and taste some non-alcohol offerings to see if we could find some interesting gems in this newly emerging category.
With a matching set of products lined up in front of us, Cathy and I were joined by ABG Community members Jesse Kirkpatrick of Atlanta-based retailer Elemental Spirits Co. and Adrienne Stillman Krausz, co-founder of Dry Goods Beverage Company, to dive into a selection of bitters, shrubs, drinking vinegars, non-alc and “alternatives” offerings from the Dry Goods portfolio.
We're looking forward to an upcoming guest post from Adrienne that "decodes" the non-alcohol category; as Cath and I are learning, it's fascinating in itself and far more nuanced and developed than we understood at first. But for now, here were our favorites from the selection that ABG purchased.
Non-Alcohol Wines
First in the lineup were the non-alcohol wines. If you’re looking for an identical replacement for your Rioja, or palate trade for your Pinot Noir, you will be sadly disappointed. However if you’re willing to explore outside your traditional drinks and expectations, we did find some great alternatives when the wine yearning hits.
The Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling was unanimously ranked Number One across all the products we tasted. Produced by an established German wine house, this showcased many of the hallmarks of a Kabinett Riesling without the alcohol. (NB: it is currently sold out on the site, but you can email the team if you are interested to pre-order.)
We also agreed that the Sovi Sparkling Rosé was one summer drink we could all enjoy at a party. Made in California, the sparkling was bright, citrusy and filled with red fruit flavors.
Spirits
Moving onto spirits next, the zero-sugar Bax Botanicals were a winner. Sourced from herbs and berries foraged in the northern England, the lemon verbena was a terrific flavor hit for gin ‘n’ tonic lovers like myself and Jesse. The sea buckthorn, with its bright green and woodsy flavor, was Cathy’s winner for its very subtle and enticing sophistication.
We tasted the Ritual Proof Sampler Pack, comprising gin, tequila and whisky alternatives, both neat and with simple mixers. We all agreed that the gin offering with a simple tonic mixer made a delicious and refreshing drink.
Drinking Vinegars
The Jukes sampler pack, created by English wine author Matthew Jukes, was a winner in this category. The pack comprises one-ounce mini-bottles of white, rosé and red drinking vinegars that can be customized in flavor concentration, and consumed either as still or sparkling. The versatility was a trait that Jesse appreciated, Cath valued the experiential value of the pack, and the rosé was my personal highlight.
Adrienne’s pick from the bitters was the For Bitter or Worse Saskatoon, a woodsy, piney and earthy pre-mixed offering when she needed to “get that negroni fix.” But the one that had us all flummoxed was For Bitter or Worse's Smoky 56. With a foundation of apple cider vinegar, it was the one we spent the most time discussing. Smoky and earthy, Jesse noted its briny character, Cath its cinnamon bark overtones, and for me a savory profile with notes of fermented shrimp paste, almost umami in flavor. This isn't a product for the clean bright citrus lovers among us, but there are certainly flavors to challenge the “flavored water” stigma that is sometimes thrown at the category.
So there you have it! While we only scratched the surface of the category, and it felt weird to swirl, sniff and taste through 15 glasses without the need to spit, it was a very educational tasting.
We hope to taste through more wine and spirit alternatives in upcoming posts, and share more good finds. If you’re curious to learn more, or taste a few of the offerings, the team at Dry Goods are offering ABG community members a 10% discount by using the link with promo code ABG10. You can click here to browse the offerings and don’t forget your discount!
In the meantime, please share your own wine and spirit alternatives, shrubs, vinegars and favorite discoveries!
Namaste,
Beck
What We're Reading:
Here's what has piqued our interest this week in the world of wine and mindfulness.
Choose Your Own Reactions -- Katherine Reynolds Lewis for ExperienceLife.com
Technology has reshaped the way we process our feelings. This expert advice can help us navigate the digital emotional landscape more smoothly.
Your Best Travel Tip Just Came from TikTok -- Jackie Snow for National Geographic
Unfiltered advice and clever sustainable hacks are what draw travelers to this viral social media app.
Feeling Emotionally Exhausted? 6 Things You Can Do to Release Your Stress -- Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski for ideas.ted.com
Completing the stress cycle -- finding a way to let our bodies know we're no longer threatened or in danger and we can stop being stressed -- can be the most effective way to avoid burnout and emotional exhaustion.
Australians are embracing ‘mindful drinking’ — and the alcohol industry is also getting sober curious – The Conversation.com
Embracing mindful drinking has been shown to generate positive feelings such as a sense of self-determination, building self-esteem, and feeling comfortable with one’s social identity.
People Aren't Just Quitting their Jobs. They’re Redefining Success - Inc.com
Why the Great Resignation is about more than burnout.
Meet the Community!
Here we meet some of the talented folks who make our community profession so dynamic.
Andrew Douglas, Managing Director, Southern Skies Investment Holdings (Cape Winelands, South Africa)
Years in Industry:
I grew up in Cabernet country, the mighty Coonawarra, a wine region in the south east of South Australia. I was “in digs" with some notable Roseworthy winemaker alumni during my Uni years in Adelaide but I’m pretty new to the world of wine. Save for a two-year stint as Australian Honorary Consul in Cape Town, I’ve built a 20+ year career producing events the world over, namely in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and for the last 17 years, South Africa.
Until March 2020 we owned Africa’s biggest Bierfest, held the Sub-Saharan license for OCR titan Tough Mudder and were making a meaningful impact with The Wine Show, a “try and buy” wine event we acquired in 2015 that in 2019 connected almost a third of our country’s wine producers to 30,000 wine enthusiasts in seven of South Africa’s major metros. Then everything changed. The arrival of a global pandemic preceded a national lockdown and all but wiped out our event business overnight. The silver lining was that this disruption provided us with some long overdue time and space for heavy introspection and deep dives around what we do and why we do it.
Simultaneously, the South African wine industry, one we’d served for five short years, was particularly hard hit with senseless liquor bans and a baffling five-week export embargo that lost valuable shelf space overseas. COVID19 exposed some cracks within the local wine retail ecosystem, namely an unhealthy reliance and unbalanced route to market skew toward distributors and “bricks and mortar” liquor retail. Non-existent, previously disregarded, Direct-to-Consumer retail channels were now suddenly in vogue.
They say that necessity is the mother of all invention.
The culmination of these events led to the sale of Bierfest, the termination of our Tough Mudder licence and an all-in, double down, last chance saloon, Hail Mary pass deep into the forward half of the South African wine industry. Suffice to say we’re no longer event producers but a small army of reinvented “wine warriors” committed to doing what we can to move the marketing and sales dial for South African wine locally and abroad.
Nowadays you’ll find us evangelising about “DTC,” “data in decision making” and “wine online” to anyone who’ll listen. We’re walking the talk and have developed some products of our own, notably, the Great BIG Wine Survey (South Africa’s first consumer wine survey of scale) and CATALIST, an end-to-end data driven DTC marketing, e-commerce and fulfilment solution for local wine producers. We’ve launched a wine club, vinoFOMO, built around a limited range of seasonal offers, and we’ve recently partnered with South Africa’s second largest e-tailer, loot.co.za, to exclusively list, manage and fulfil a vinoFOMO range of nearly 500 product lines.
My Top Three Challenges to Wellness:
Self-Belief. I run hard 7 days a week and I like to dream big. This often leads to overwhelm when a little bit of “imposter syndrome” creeps in, because the reality is often that I’m making it up as I go along. Fortunately it’s always short-lived and often I remind myself that my “greenness” and “fresh eyes” can be my greatest strength in solving problems/meeting challenges.
Sleep. I need it. Bad. I’m not talking regular 8 hours. I’m a bit of a sleep nuffy so I’m talking enough Deep sleep, enough REM sleep etc. I have a GARMIN that records this and I’ve learnt my body battery (how I feel and my capacity to meet the day) directly correlates to how much, and more importantly what type of sleep, I got the night before. No devices before bed time. No coffee after noon. Plenty of exercise and….Roberts your mother’s brother (or “Bob’s your uncle”).
Attention Deficit. I struggle to concentrate. I’m committed to learning, particularly lately, but the fact is that I’m a restless student. I often find myself experiencing creative or entrepreneurial blocks. After ensuring that my team is loaded up and clear on direction I try to slow down, be kind to myself and allow time to ride the emotional wave. However long it takes!
How I Keep It Together to Stay Well:
Family. As an Entrepreneur I can have a tendency to “turn inward” and close off at home when life gets challenging. This means I can close off to family and home life. I try very hard to avoid doing this. I have a very supporting, amazing and understanding wife – the roles & purposes in our partnership are clear. I have the most incredible two kids who hold me to account, and when I invest the time they reciprocate in ways you can never imagine.
Exercise. I have a regular routine of trail running and a quick gym routine. I sprinkle this with SUP when the surf is up. I am desperate to get into YOGA and other forms of stretching/anti-ageing prevention to maintain flexibility and flow. I do my best processing and planning on the mountain – no interruptions, just me and the trail and all the epiphanies hidden in the mossy crags!
Mind Expansion. I am a recent convert to plant-based medicine for clearing energy blocks and mind expansion. Enough said. Don’t knock it until you try it. I think the recent surge in psychedelic therapies is incredibly exciting for the human race.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). I embraced this in my mid-20s, and it helped me to change unhelpful or unhealthy ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. I feel my mood, try and understand why I may feel that way (good or bad), accept it and move on. I find it a great “mood evener.”
Humour. I love making people laugh. I find it’s a great way to grease the wheels of any social interaction to get to understanding. I often use it when dealing with serious challenges or conflict to keep the conversation, and its participants, authentic, genuine and…..human.
Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO). Over the course of 2020 and my shift in gear/direction I realised that I was “lone wolf” most of the time, even though I have great support at work and at home. When I made the decision to “level up and learn,” a big part of that journey was to join Entrepreneur’s Organisation (EO) by surrounding myself with people like me who could share experiences and learn peer to peer from each other. My forum is becoming a big part of my life.
What Inspires Me:
Commercially Sustainable Altruism
I think I just made that up. Having cut my teeth running positive lifestyle youth programs in Australia and South Africa, I came to the sad realisation that charity and philanthropy just don’t work in isolation. I’m attracted to entrepreneurs and “change makers” who are passionate about their why and how they can contribute (not serve). Their purpose fuels them, and their business smarts sustain them and their activities ultimately for the benefit of others.
I’m an eternal optimist so I thrive on positivity and belief in a better way. I do need people around me who are realists, although I definitely can’t do cynics and pessimists… This is definitely a “No Eeyor Zone,” please.
A Quote I Love:
"Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them." -- David Allen
Connect with Andrew on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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