I don’t drink much, but in trying to cut back even more, I am finding that it’s not the alcohol that I enjoy as much as the ritual of having a special evening beverage that is tasty while I unwind for the night. Do you have one you like? Soda doesn’t do it for me, and neither does tea necessarily, but maybe if it were a special, bougie tea? Idk. Tell me what you got!
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Tea. (without caffeine) – I go for the Davids Tea stuff. Downside is sometimes you’ll find a good one and then it suddenly gets discontinued.
There’s a whole world of “mocktails” out there now with no alcohol, they’re way better than they were even a few years ago.
I do avoid actual tea in the evening, but there are plenty of fun herbal infusions. I’m a fan of peppermint tea, honestly.
If you’re OK with caffeine in the evening, I’m a fan of unprocessed oolongs.
Milkshakes personally, especially if you can get something beyond the normal chocolate/vanilla/strawberry/cookies and cream.
The ritual thing is a big thing in both tea and coffee.
Get some loose leaf teas and explore what you like. I like a really smoky tea (smells like a wood fire); there are flavoured, white, green, black, tons. Get a little pot, a holder for the leaves..
Also coffee. You can do decaf — get a hand grinder, a pour-over setup, maybe a milk frother…
I was going to suggest tea, haha. I really like the bergamot scent of an Earl Grey and find it quite relaxing. I enjoy the flavor as well but, for me, the best part is inhaling that beautiful scent while it steeps. I buy loose leaf tea and kinda make it a mindful process. Mei Leaf is a YouTube channel I watched years ago that had videos about Gongfu style brewing. It can be meditative or quick and fun for a gathering. Give it a try!
Iced tea is delicious especially if homemade…or homemade lemonade…with sweetener if you’re trying to keep the sugar intake low
…glass of cold milk… or chocolate milk…can you still get strawberry syrup for milk….
V8 or tomato juice…with a dash of Worcestershire sauce
Cup ‘a soups
Same boat here. I find that juice (cranberry is a favorite) usually scratches that itch for me. I even make little juice mix drinks. Coming into summer 1/3 cran, and 2/3 lemon aid mix is a good capper for the evening. Splash of white rum optional (for those nights you are craving more than the ritual).
Fruit juice with a splash of fizzy water or ginger ale and some lime or lemon garnish if you’re feeling fancy
The NA beers do it for me. Even a Budweiser 0 hits the spot. Just tastes like hops, carbonated, out of a can, etc. it’s a bit of a mindfuck cus 2-3 beers isn’t much to consider in an afternoon imo, but 2-3 seltzers is just weird.
THC beverages also an option.
I love ginger beer!
Rosemary grapefruit refresher or blackberry sage spritzer works for me
Soda stream has a line of cocktail mixers that are delicious even without the booze. Just mix with club soda and serve over ice.
I also like to infuse the soda water with delicious things like basil and strawberries and drink that.
Something a little different, plus the ritual of making a drink.
I never mix the syrup stuff in a whole liter of carbonated water. I put a couple teaspoons in my glass, add the bubbly and stir. That way I’m not wasting it because it will go flat in a couple of days.
Edit: I also like Hop Water when I kinda want a beer, but not really. it’s hop infused bubbly water and it’s really delicious.
Drinking chocolate. Not just hot.
Your preferred flavor of canned fizzy water + juice +/- flavored electrolyte powder = tasty pre-bedtime mocktail
CBD drink perhaps?
I quit drinking a long time ago, and honestly, this was the hardest part for me. The Internet is filled with tons of non-alcoholic cocktail type drinks. I found almost immediately that I enjoy the cold of the drink. I enjoy sour drinks. I enjoy sugar drinks I enjoy holding the whiskey glass in my hand with the big ice cubes and swirl in the damn thing and sipping on it. As much as I was a raging alcoholic, just going through the motions with something tasty and sugary seem to take 99% of the edge off for me overtime the ritual kind of faded away, but it really helped me at a time when I could’ve gone back to drinking any secondhonestly Made quitting pretty easy
I love mocktails made with shrubs (vinegar based beverage things).
18 months ago I went from nightly drinker to 0 and tried everything as a substitute. what finally really helped me was sugar free caffeine free flavored carbonated drinks from wal mart or dollar general. I guzzle these things at night and I like them more than I ever did booze… it’s weird
Wal marts uses aspartame and DG uses sucralose if that matters to you. I used to be scared of fake sweeteners but not anymore since I lost 55 pounds and am basically a new person from this and no ill effects yet.
0 calorie and no effects on sleep or hunger/satiety, just good flavor and they make dope mocktails too.
I like Clausthaler non-alcoholic beer. It is available in Original and Dry Hopped; I prefer the latter.
I drink fruit teas. Strong fruit teas.
I would suggest buying a variety pack of different brands and see which one you like. I would STRONGLY recommend Romanov brand tea. I’ve been drinking tea for a loooong time and that specific brand of tea is fucking DELICIOUS .
There are also Chinese brands I like, but I live in China, so I’m not sure about the availability of my teas in, I assume, the US.
Hot chocolate helped with my cravings when I got sober. Lots of hot chocolate! I also drank Earl Grey tea to change it up a little every now and then.
Mushroom tonics!
Switched to Body Armor in ice
I have a really smokey Earl Grey tea that I enjoy in place of booze. I quit drinking, and it’s been incredibly hard getting over the rituals I used to have with booze. I have found that really strong, intense flavors work best for me. Something I sip instead of chug.
Watermelon syrup in iced tea, it is a huge hit here in the south.
My bougie drink is the Thai ice tea mix from amazon + sugar and topped off with canned coconut milk.
Sierra neveda grapefruit hop splash was good for me.
Recess is a brand that comes in a lot of flavor choices and was decent
Kombucha