Watch: I looked at what non-alcoholic and low alcohol drinks are worth drinking if you want to do Dry January

As the festive season starts to come to an end and the new year begins, many people have thought about how to cut down and do a “dry” month in January.

Over the last few years, the Dry January trend for abstaining from all alcohol for the first month of the year has really taken off, with more and more people each year swearing off any and all alcoholic drinks as a means of cutting back and cleansing their bodies after a heavy festive period.

While that is a good idea and a noble cause, I think there is a way to do Dry January, but also keep enjoying the taste of the drinks you like as you can enjoy non-alcoholic and low alcohol drinks instead.

The technology to create these drinks and make them taste as close to the original version as possible has gotten better and better and there are plenty of non-alcoholic alternatives which have the taste and flavour without the alcoholic kick.

In that spirit, I took the time to try out six different non-alcoholic and low alcohol offerings to see whether they are worth buying and trying in January, or at any other time when you fancy a drink, but don’t want the alcoholic buzz that goes with it.

I picked out one from six different categories of lager, cider, ale/bitter, gin, wine and sparkling wine/champagne and set out a marking criteria with four different parts:

1)       The Look – How it looks in the glass, whether it’s overly fizzy or seems flat and whether it might look murky or something you’d have to hold your nose to be able to drink

2)       The Smell – Checking it to see if it has any odours or smells which seem unusual or unpleasant, as well as whether the bouquet is a strong one or a bit weak

3)       The Taste – If you’re going to be drinking it on a regular basis, you don’t want to be drinking something with an appalling, sour and/or nasty taste.

4)       The Aftertaste – The first taste can be good, but if the second taste is too strong or carries a bad flavour, then it can be hard to keep enjoying the drink.

For lager, I picked Lucky Saint, a lager which is unfiltered and brewed for flavour and is 0.5%, about the same amount of alcohol as a ripe banana.

On first glance, I could see why it was described as unfiltered as it was very cloudy and hard to see through, unlike a lot of lagers where you can see to the other side in an amber haze.

It also wasn’t massively fizzy and looked flat on the first inspection, while a smell of it brought malt and barley flavours to my nostrils, as well as a whiff of hops.

Smell is one thing, but taste is another, so I took a drink and found it to be bold and while it was a bit sharp in terms of the flavours, it was very refreshing and, tellingly, left no major aftertaste, so it was a good start and something I would drink on a night out.

Look: 7/10

Smell: 7/10

Taste: 8/10

Aftertaste: 8/10

Final score: 30/40

For cider, I went for a company I’d never previously bought cider from before, the Sheppy’s Low Alcohol Classic Cider, which was also 0.5%.

I like cider, but I always wonder with low alcohol cider whether it’ll just taste like fizzy apple juice.

With this drink, It looked good to start with, a nice glow and colour to it, albeit a little flat in terms of bubbles, but it looked good and had a sharp smell of apples, very rich and without the chemical smell I’ve sometimes got when drinking certain ciders.

The proof is in the tasting, of course, and the cider was really sharp, really tangy and very rich, as well as the aftertaste being nice and pleasant, no starchy feeling on my tongue and just enough apple in there to make me want another drink of it.

Look: 7/10

Smell: 8/10

Taste: 8/10

Aftertaste: 8/10

Final score: 31/40

For ale/bitter, I picked the St Peter’s Without, an alcohol-free beer from Suffolk which prided itself on rich and malty taste and a lasting flavour, which is a pretty bold boast.

Pouring it into my glass, I was struck by how dark it was and the lack of fizziness was not as much of a concern this time around, being as ale shouldn’t be overly fizzy or sparkling in my opinion.

Where it began to fall down for me was the smell, which was very rich and malty and just a bit overpowering for me, and it wasn’t much better with the taste which, while not unpleasant, was overly malty and would prevent me from drinking it on a regular basis.

The aftertaste wasn’t too bad, but it’s not one that I’d put in my shopping basket.

Look: 7/10

Smell: 5/10

Taste: 5/10

Aftertaste: 7/10

Final score: 24/40

Leaving behind drinks you can get from a tap, I opened up a can of the alcohol-free Gordon’s Gin, an offering from the popular brand that comes all packed together in a can.

It looked a lot like a glass of fizzy water in the glass, although gin isn’t traditionally a drink with a lot of colour to it, but it looked banal and dull to begin with.

The smell wasn’t much to shout about either, as even though it claims to have botanicals in it, I could only smell a slight hint of lime from it, and the taste was a bland experience, with only hints of lemon and lime in there.

Really, it wasn’t exciting, and I’d much rather have a proper gin and tonic with ice and a slice than this. It’s worth pursuing if you really want to, but don’t rush if you don’t want to.

Look: 5/10

Smell: 5/10

Taste: 5/10

Aftertaste: 5/10

Final score: 20/40

Now, for wine, the selection is becoming wider and wider, with a lot of companies having a go at making zero-alcohol wine.

However, as the Not Guilty from the Zero Crew proved, it’s a much harder task than other products.

On first inspection, the wine, which is supposedly made from a range of different berries, looks like a wine, but this was really the high point of the experience for me as it smelled bitter and just didn’t smell like a glass of wine, no good bouquet or anything like that.

The taste was not a highlight either, sharp and bitter and not a very nice taste, if I’m honest, and it didn’t even taste like fruit squash, which would have been a mark in its favour.

There was no aftertaste, which was something positive as I wouldn’t have wanted that repeating on me.

Look: 6/10

Smell: 4/10

Taste: 5/10

Aftertaste: 5/10

Final score: 20/40

Having gone through the fairly mediocre wine offering, I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about the non-alcoholic sparkling wine that was the final part of this test, but I decided to carry on and see if I could end on a good note.

The Alcohol Free Sparkling comes from Tesco, having been produced in South Africa, and had a light look to it, not massively fizzy or sparkling, but nice enough to look at.

Smell-wise, it has the nice apple smell and while there isn’t a full citrusy bouquet, it has a hint of lemon and orange in the aroma from it, while the taste is very pronounced, with all the fruits coming up as you drink it.

It’s a nice tipple, however, and with an apple aftertaste which is pleasant and makes you want another glass, so definitely one to toast in the new year with.

Look: 6/10

Smell: 7/10

Taste: 8/10

Aftertaste: 8/10

Final score: 29/40

There are plenty of alternatives to alcohol and alcoholic drinks if you are looking to do Dry January or if you want to just cut back a bit. Some of the drinks I picked are good, some not so much, but have a go and see what tastes right to you.