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What do you drink if you don't 'drink'?

(47 Posts)
kittylester Sun 23-Oct-16 08:19:30

Since deciding that I might have an allergy to the sulphites in wine, I am exploring other drinks.

I've bought lots of fancy (expensive!!) things like elderflower pressed, orange and mango type things, etc, etc. I also like orange or lime with lemonade but all of them are high in sugar and I try to avoid low sugar versions as I don't like all the additives.

One of the highlights of our day used to be having a couple of drinks, chatting over our days, while I cooked. Does anyone have any good ideas for me to drink instead of wine?

lefthanded Sun 23-Oct-16 11:11:35

I've been effectively teetotal for several years. Not because of health or religious reasons but simply because with a disabled wife and elderly father to look after I might find myself needing to drive at a moment's notice, so I just gave up alcohol. Initially I drank Coke instead, but I don't like the taste of the diet one so I drank the "full-fat" version. This was fine for a few years, until a routine blood-test identified me as borderline diabetic, so the Coke had to go. Now my drink of choice is sparkling water. After extensive research I can tell you that the best one is Badoit imported from France, but if I can't get that then Highland Spring is a good substitute.

Granny1sland Sun 23-Oct-16 12:11:05

I've gone off wine, maybe partly due to the fact that once a bottle is open..... It's very easy to over consume. I have migrated to having a vodka and tonic, instead of a glass of wine, and find I rarely have a second.

imacmum Sun 23-Oct-16 12:14:31

I find that nowadays I can't drink white wine at all, I can just about tolerate a glass of red as long as its not French (?) but I can enjoy a couple of glasses of champagne without a problem. Lucky me!

Teetime Sun 23-Oct-16 12:30:03

kitty I am sorry this allergy has cropped up for you wine is one of life's great pleasure. I have read the more expensive the wine the less in the way of toxic chemicals- is those that give me a headache the next morning?
DH has a migraine problem with more than one glass of anything so we have a great range of cordials but he likes Belvoir Ginger the best usually spritzed with soda water.

Grannyknot Sun 23-Oct-16 12:32:08

A dash of Vermouth over ice, with either pink lemonade, soda, tonic water. Or similarly, grenadine syrup with any one of the above mixers.

SueDonim Sun 23-Oct-16 13:00:14

I don't drink much, not for any particular reason, although living in an area without public transport concentrates the mind!

My favourite soft drink when out is a fresh orange with lemonade. You can ask for a diet version of the latter. As others have said, lime and soda is refreshing.

At home I like elderflower cordial with sparkling water. As a treat, I'll have a can of diet Irn Bru but I know that's not readily available in England.

kittylester Sun 23-Oct-16 13:07:37

I think our Sainsbury's sell irnbru.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm not keen on bubbly water or soft drinks as I find that the bubbles don't disperse but reappear. blush

I've got some Raspberry gin which I love but but I was going to try to avoid alcohol for a while.

I also cook with wine quite often so I'm on a learning curve!

Linsco56 Sun 23-Oct-16 14:05:13

Granny1island You have to try Chase Marmalade Vodka with ice and tonic. It's pricey at over £30 a bottle but worth it. I'm adding it to my Christmas list.

M0nica Sun 23-Oct-16 14:57:16

I am quite happy drinking fizzy water. I do at times drink elderflower presse, but I find most fruit based drinks too sweet for my taste.

merlotgran Sun 23-Oct-16 15:06:30

Freshly squeezed lime, tonic and ice.

Jalima Sun 23-Oct-16 15:16:24

Non-alcoholic ginger beer with a dash of lime (sorry, some sugar but probably no more calories than wine?). Fentimans is nice.
Lemon, lime and angustoras bitters - you could have sugar-free lemonade and squeeze the juice of a lime into it. The bitters adds a little kick, but not much.

I don't like fruity drinks with a meal, so would probably go for a tonic water or fizzy water in a nice glass.

diddy Sun 23-Oct-16 15:26:06

I also like the fever tree flavoured tonics and they do a good ginger beer (non~alcoholic)

diddy Sun 23-Oct-16 15:26:06

I also like the fever tree flavoured tonics and they do a good ginger beer (non~alcoholic)

Menopaws Sun 23-Oct-16 15:32:33

Bottle green cordials with sparkly water but you can get non sulphite wine, often organic but not expensive and still really nice, wines from Chilean, oz, nz, sa are easier than European ones, I am also allergic to sulphites. Google non sulphite or very low sulphite wine, cheers!

baubles Sun 23-Oct-16 18:04:02

Soda water & lime, very refreshing. I don't like ice in drinks in wintertime though so I tend to change my tipple to ginger beer & lime or plain ginger ale. Other than that I drink lots of coffee, tea, and water.

NanKate Sun 23-Oct-16 18:11:14

I also dlike drink the Fevertree 'light' non alcoholic ginger beer. I still water it down and add ice and it is delicious.

Willow500 Sun 23-Oct-16 18:16:37

Having no sense of taste there isn't anything else to drink for me other than black coffee or red wine. I've tried non alcoholic wine but without the alcohol content it's awful. Being told to drop the coffee I've switched to decaff and that's just as bad - no 'kick'. If I'm very thirsty I drink cold water from the fridge - I really miss blackcurrant cordial though.

BlueBelle Sun 23-Oct-16 19:00:17

Love the non alcoholic wines and any elderflower flavoured sparklings gone off wine prefer a cider myself but can live without alcohol quite easily, I like all the sparkling flavoured waters

GrandmaMoira Sun 23-Oct-16 19:50:46

Am I the only person who finds that fizzy water upsets my stomach and repeats on me, as do other fizzy drinks, including bubbly? I also find tonic very unpleasant and makes me thirsty.
I'm however happy to drink fruit juices, slightly diluted.
The non alcoholic wine I tried was too sweet for me.

DAncer66 Mon 24-Oct-16 18:25:26

Little ol wine drinker me... Can't do it anymore.
Tried Sanatogen Original Tonic Wine, not bad and gives me energy.
Still have the ocassional Chardonnay when eating out.

norose4 Mon 24-Oct-16 21:19:17

A splash of vodka in anything such as soda water with lemon etc does the trick for me