It’s no coincidence the two best known campaigns for going booze-free, Sober October and Dry January, bookend November and December. Under normal circumstances, the cigarette-end of the year is a time of excess, as revellers cast aside worries of acid reflux, gout and braining themselves in a drunken tumble and go all-out on having a good time. Sober October acts, perhaps, as preparation – the blank canvas you can’t resist spoiling – while Dry January engages recovery mode. But what if you didn’t start again as party season (such as it is mid-coronavirus) picks up? What if you stayed booze-free or, if you spent October anything but sober, gave up for winter? What if less really were more?
Giving up drinking brings home how obsessed we are with boozing, how alcohol is ingrained in our culture. From our first peer-pressured swig of fortified cider to the champagne we toast in every New Year, most milestones have alcohol at their heart. If you’re not drinking, people want to know why, and if you are drinking, you’re not doing it fast enough and your next one is swiftly ordered. They say misery loves company but alcohol loves it even more – the fear of boozing solo so powerful that they even invented alco-pops to snare anyone who didn't like the taste of the bog-standard demon drink. Stopping drinking doesn’t just highlight your own relationship with alcohol, it shines full-beam on others’ too – an often inconvenient, sometimes uncomfortable truth. There doesn’t have to be any big reason to stop drinking, be it temporarily or a lifelong commitment to abstemiousness, but if there was ever a good time to give it a go, it is this forthcoming winter of discontent, as coronavirus has curtailed our social calendar and conspired to keep us away from each other.
1. Giving up
Should you set yourself goals? Maybe, but try not to set yourself up for failure. Take it day by day – think about getting to the end of the week, then the month and then… seeing where it takes you. Obviously one thing to avoid is “rewarding” a dry spell with an alcoholic drink. Club Soda offers online courses on changing your drinking, starting with a free, three-day alcohol-free introduction to see if it’s right for you. You might find yourself swerving plans that would involve booze but don’t become a hermit – you must face the real world eventually.
2. Health benefits
Lockdown has been tough on everyone; you can’t blame people for reaching for the bottle, or the carbs, or whatever their favourite comfort blanket might be. Emotionally, we’re a little drained, and booze offers temporary respite. But when that high ends? Hangovers. The sweats. The shakes. The mild, yet pervading sense of panic. Overthinking everything. Who needs that? Plus, if you give up booze, you’ll (eventually) sleep better; waking up well rested can make the world seem a little brighter. It stands to reason, too, that the less alcohol you drink, the better shape you’ll be in physically. Not just because your calorie intake will go down, but because you’re more likely to want to exercise if you awake hangover-free. Let’s be real with ourselves here: drinking does, after a while, make you look like shit. It can be ageing, make you look more tired and there’s also bad breath to consider. What better way to go into battle during a long, potentially bleak winter than being at the top of your game physically and also taking some very hot selfies that require next to no filter?
3. Financial benefits
Booze is a huge drain on your wallet. Think about something else you want to buy instead. A luxurious winter coat – you’ll be socialising way more outdoors than usual – some cashmere, something that’s just for you. Perhaps even a holiday to get away from the UK’s wintry weather onslaught. Channel the cash you’d spend on a hangover elsewhere or even save it for a rainy day – in these notoriously uncertain times, every single day has typhoon potential. Once lockdown is over you may be in a better place altogether if you don’t drink.
4. Productivity
This was the clincher for me – not drinking gives you more time. You can still be out every night if you like, being the social butterfly, but going booze-free means you’ll likely be home earlier, quicker to bed, and up and at ’em at a decent hour the next morning.
When I drank, alcohol and hangovers stole my time. Projects took longer to complete, getting motivated was trickier, and my stamina was lacking. That’s not to say you should become a workaholic – there’s also more time to do fun stuff. My long bike rides are much more fun since I stopped pulling over in case my next stomach heave followed through into a full puke.
You’ll get more done with a clear head: work, fun stuff, sex, sport, reading, or another hobby you never even knew you wanted to do. Make something! Brew something!
5. You’re not alone
In a crowd of boozy pals, you can feel an outsider, but it’s not just you – lots of people are giving up. It’s a growing trend among the 18–24 age bracket to be teetotal. While you may have no wish to be young again, there has to be something in it if even the wild and carefree youth are saying “no thanks” to a tipple.
6. Handling people’s attitudes
Not having a drink is becoming more normalised, and your sobriety doesn’t have to be the most interesting thing about you. People will be curious, naturally, and explaining your reasons might actually help you convince yourself you’re doing the right thing. But if you’re uncomfortable being the centre of attention – can’t relate – just gloss over any conversations around it.
“Oh yeah, I’m not drinking, no big deal, no reason.” Or, my personal favourite: “Why am I not drinking? Well, more importantly, why are you?” I can guarantee it works every time.
7. What to drink instead
The big question once you banish alcohol? What do you replace it with? Not too long ago, your only options would be creeping caffeine tremors from Coke or its diet equivalent (or “it’s Pepsi, is that OK?” if you were super unlucky), or the perennial Dry January “favourite” lime and soda. Boring.
But now, with more people having booze-breaks, there’s been tonnes of innovation. Your pub options may still be limited, but even backstreet boozers should stock a 0% beer, maybe even some Seedlip for spirit lovers. Of those readily available, Heineken 0% and Freestar are probably the best. If you prefer a total getaway from a boozy taste, try tonics! Fever Tree is a staple of most pubs, and they have a wide range of flavoured tonics and some excellent new sodas. Tonic’s main advantage? It has enough of a tangy kick to make you sip rather than chug it back – so, fewer trips to the bar (or, rather, catching the server’s eye now we can’t stand at the bar anymore) and less shlepping to the bathroom. If you’re somewhere swanky enough, and sugar intake is no object, there’s always mocktails.
Home offers more options – the boom in abstinence means decent alternatives are only a click away. Boozeless gin substitutes such as Ceder’s and Warner’s are both impressive enough that you don’t feel you’re missing out. Most supermarkets stock alcohol-free wine but… highlights are few. Thomson & Scott’s organic sparkling chardonnay has just enough bitter pushback to help you savour it slowly. Plus, you can take it to any gathering, pop a cork and nobody will be any the wiser.
Kombucha is taking off in a big way and most supermarkets have variants – for one with a boozy, hoppy feel, try LA Brewery’s Citrus Hops, and if you’re in the market for premixed cocktails, Savyll’s bellini and zingy gin and tonic would fool most. To really embrace an abstemious winter, you should err toward bitterness: think Aecorn’s tart aperitifs, or get to know shrubs. Nope, I don’t mean brave the freeze and take to gardening, I’m talking fruity, vinegary cordials that go perfectly with tonic or soda water. They help to make a drink that feels very grown up and will ensure you still act like one, no matter how many you sip over an evening. Wolfe’s Shrubs and Jukes Cordialities score high for me, come in a variety of tangy flavours and can also pep up cocktails of friends still refusing to hop on the wagon.
Cocktail syrups work well, too: yourdrinkbox.com does a honey sour syrup that goes well with tonics. Speaking of which: invest in great tonics and sodas. Aside from Fever Tree, Sekforde and Franklin & Sons offer flavoured tonics with enough bite to keep you entertained. For a soft drink with a harder edge, try Chillio’s spicy sodas with fruit flavours and a kick of chilli – or Cloudwater’s floral and dry pineapple and yuzu.
8. Navigating social occasions
One of the hardest parts of laying off booze is going to parties or events where everyone else is tanked up. While Covid has seen off huge gatherings, even small soirées come with their own pressures. You’ll definitely find yourself wanting to slip off earlier than usual – this tends to coincide with everyone else getting drunker, louder and making less sense. Don’t feel bad about this: you’re a not a party pooper, and drinking stamina is only important to teenagers trying to stave off vomiting up cider in the park.
When you’re drinking, you’re more inclined to stand around for hours listening to dreary opinions and maybe spouting a few of your own – the alcohol fuels you and keeps you up way beyond any reasonable bedtime. Set yourself a time limit before you go anywhere, and make the most it while you’re there, before spiriting yourself away before the party starts to stink. Cinderella’s fairy godmother was so obviously teetotal – no good can come of staying anywhere after midnight.
If it’s true that when one door closes, another one opens, then sobriety doesn’t have to be the end of fun – it can be the start of something new. Think about it; whatever life chucks at you, if you’re hangover-free, you’ll be ready. Maybe this winter we’ll all need our wits about us more than ever.
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