I’m not sure about you, but during lockdown, I found that people either drank more to get through the horrific daily news headlines, or drank less as an opportunity to hit reset on their far-too-busy lives. Post-lockdown though, I definitely drank more - the world was my oyster, and the ability to go outside and see my friends gave me a new lease of life. As well as several raging hangovers.

Having said this, I’ve definitely noticed more of a trend towards ‘thinking before drinking’, or as most brands put it, mindful drinking. Whilst I would say it’s less among my generation who still seem to get as pissed as humanly possible at every opportunity (and have done since about fourteen), younger generations in particular are ditching the booze and actually respecting their livers. Gone are the days of binge drinking Buckfast and Lambrini. Their idea of fun is more like a yoga retreat, doing a HIIT class or Netflix and chilling - and more power to them. They’ll certainly be living longer.

With all of this prioritising of self-care and mindful drinking by many, and with Christmas (arguably the booziest time of year) on the horizon, I’ve gathered some mindful drinking protypes for you to try - maybe this will be the push you needed to give up the sweet, sweet nectar or maybe it will just be a temporary solution to your over-drinking festive woes. Either way, I’m feeling like maybe having drinks to become mindful, instead of mindless, might be a good idea, so here goes.

Atopia

First up, is Atopia. The Atopia team have partnered up with singer from The Saturdays Frankie Bridge in October to promote a #MonthofModeration. The awesome thing about Atopia, is that the company was started by master distiller Lesley Grace, with the aim of ‘elevating the moderated drinking experience.’ In short, this means you get an ultra-low alcoholic spirit, without compromising any flavours. Fun fact: an Atopia G&T is contains 75 times less alcohol than a standard gin and tonic. I’ll let that one sit with you for a second…

Punchy Drinks

I honestly think I could look at the Punchy Drinks illustrated cans all day. Does that make me a little weird? Maybe, but I just don’t care. They are, what I call, groovy. The grooviest. And what’s more, they taste great as well. These all natural tasty tinnies aren’t just a great alcohol free alternative, they’re just a great soft drink in general and they’re plastic free, so you can keep up your eco-warrior status. If Punchy Drinks are my answer to mindful drinking, I’m all in.

Caleño

I actually first stumbled across Caleño when it was added into my takeaway order (thank you, Deliveroo) as a freebie. The bottle was such a cool design that I googled them to find out more and stumbled across the information about their founder Ellie, who on a trip to Colombia rediscovered her Latin roots and came back to the UK ready to create Caleño. The products are zero sugar, low calorie, vegan, gluten free and alcohol free and quite frankly, they’re delicious.

Shrb

Yes, it kind of looks like there’s a vowel missing and I’m not entirely sure how to pronounce it (let’s go with shrub), but Shrb drinks have a really cool array of non-alcoholic sodas and beers or ‘biers'. Inspired by prohibition-era recipes, all ingredients for the sodas are steeped in apple cider vinegar for extra flavour. As they say on their website, it’s ‘beer, but not as you know it’. The beers are unfermented and unfiltered with a claim that their IPA is probably a world-first in unfermented brewing. We’re officially intrigued.

Hayman’s Gin

One of the best of Hayman’s Gin has to be their Hayman’s Small Gin - AKA the winner of the best new product AND most innovative spirit award in 2019 at the Spirit’s Business Awards (so you know it’s good). Hayman’s Small Gin does what it says in the name, with smaller servings offering the same flavour and lower alcohol and calorie content, it may be small in size but everything about it is still thinking big. Hayman’s themselves call it the most complex innovation they have done in over 100 years, so we’ll cheers to that.

Three Spirit

Just because a drink is alcohol free, doesn’t mean it’s fun-free - and this is very much the ethos of Three Spirit. With a focus on alchemy, the Three Spirit (what I can only assume are alchemists in white coats with bunsen burners) fuse blends of guava leaf, cacao, valerian root, passionflower and turmeric into their potions. The result? Three awesome alcohol -free drink alternatives, The Livener, The Social Elixir and The Nightcap.

Nosecco

You may be wondering why I’ve added Asda’s finest to this list, and if you were thinking it was because I’m amused by the name, you’d be quite right. At £3.50 a pop (literally), it’s a 0% prosecco substitute that will certainly not be breaking the bank. The Asda website product notes, indicate that Nosecco has ‘intense fruity notes, with white flowers and muscated white grapes’.

SOLD.