Booze alternatives

[kate]

Since I know I'm getting through more of my favourite white wine at present I'm looking for alternatives to have with what is sometimes a sparse dinner.   I'm aware I'm eating too much carbohydrate meals with too much butter and my digestive system is complaining loudly - well, I suspect my dodgy gall bladder and bile duct is not happy.
Trouble is, I have little appetite - except, strangely, about at 9pm when I feel some slight hunger pangs.

So help me you lot!  I like iced tea and coffee, but am not into fizzy drinks, just still bottled water. Meat and two veg doesn't really attract me since I find that too heavy going, although I did eat a homemade cottage pie last night using some brisket and veg I had frozen from my last big brisket cooking session. It was nice, but I'm suffering today as my slow digestion works.

Drinks?  Suggestions please.
Food?  I wish I could go the Japanese or Chinese route as that seems to suit me, but not too many sources here.

Sorry to be boring, but I could do with suggestions from you imaginative lot.

[JohnY]

I have reduced my consumption of white wine to almost nothing. I find that with those meals that go well with dry white wine, water slightly flavoured with Rose's lime cordial is quite acceptable.

[dreampolice]

I drink very little now and rarely at home. If not having plain water, my favourite drink is robinsonssquash.co.uk/our-products/fruit-cordials/crushed-lime-mint-fruit-cordials/ . I don’t usually have sweet drinks/fizzy drinks etc but this squash really floats my boat. Often mix it with soda water for a change.

[Kath]

I'm quite fond of lime cordial too - and I also like elderflower cordial.

[dreampolice]

May 27, 2024 14:10:39 GMT Kath said:

I'm quite fond of lime cordial too - and I also like elderflower cordial.

Other than the one I mentioned above, I found that Waitrose’s own brand Mexican Lime cordial far better than Roses or any other one I’ve tried. Not sure if they still do that one with the Mexican Limes anymore though.

[spinno]

All sorts of elderflower variants, with different fruits/herbs.
If I'm drinking water or mixing it I prefer sparkling.

[MJB]

All the fruit flavoured water tend to be stupidly high in sugar. There is a huge selection of alcohol free/low alcohol products available. I've not tried any wine, because I can't stand the taste of wine anyway, but some of the alcohol free lagers are pretty good. Id recommend the offerings from Heineken, San Miguel,and Birra Moretti. The Stella Artois, and Peroni just taste watery. For Cider, try Stowford Press 0.5% or Thatcher's Zero. The Kopperberg 0% fruit ciders are pretty good too. I've only found one alcohol free pale ale worth drinking and that's Shipyard Low Tide.

[kate]

May 27, 2024 16:31:31 GMT MJB said:

All the fruit flavoured water tend to be stupidly high in sugar. There is a huge selection of alcohol free/low alcohol products available. I've not tried any wine, because I can't stand the taste of wine anyway, but some of the alcohol free lagers are pretty good. Id recommend the offerings from Heineken, San Miguel,and Birra Moretti. The Stella Artois, and Personified just taste watery. For Cider, try Stowford Press 0.5% or Thatcher's Zero. The Kopperberg 0% fruit ciders are pretty good too. I've only found one alcohol free pale ale worth drinking and that's Shipyard Low Tide.

Thank you. The sugar content is what puts me off most fruity drinks, including the waters.  My old metabolism gets a sugar spike from anything sweet and is rather unpleasant.  I'll give the lagers a try. I think I've seen at least two at the Co-op.

[willien]

My tuppence worth.
Non alcohol beers can be ok but IMO need to be seriously cold.
For fruit drinks I tend to buy no arteficial sweeteners Squash and mix it up significantly weaker than instructed to cut the sugar hit, I cannot stand the taste of saccharine.

[JohnY]

Has anyone got serious alternatives to red wine? No artificial sweeteners, extremely low sugar, but plenty of natural bitterness that one gets from red grape skins. I would think that any producer of white wine from red grapes would have a waste product that could be the base of a no/low alcohol red wine substitute.

[zou]

Nobody has mentioned whisky... Water of life innit.

[dorsetmike]

I'll stick to the ocasional glass of Mead.

[zou]

May 27, 2024 19:07:39 GMT dorsetmike said:

I'll stick to the ocasional glass of Mead.

Good for you, but Kate wanted lo-carb.

[spinno]

May 27, 2024 19:09:18 GMT zou said:

May 27, 2024 19:07:39 GMT dorsetmike said:

I'll stick to the ocasional glass of Mead.

Good for you, but Kate wanted lo-carb.

And not too sweet

[zou]

I had a whiskey highball with my salmon and rice. There was a bit of ice left so had a second pour of bourbon. That disappeared quickly so now there's Japanese whisky with the ice, and it is so so good.