Bold School Lesson 6: Breaking up (with booze) is hard to do

Monday, February 7, 2022

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Approach life after 50 with curiosity and enthusiasm.

(Alla Dreyvitser/The Washington Post)

By Vicky Fogg

Bold School Lesson 6: Breaking up (with booze) is hard to do

In my campaign to be bold and healthy, I sometimes make rules that are bold, healthy — and difficult to follow. These rules usually start with "no": No eating after 9 p.m. No gossiping. No negative self-talk. No sugar. No single-use plastic. No meat. Then they end with failure, or at least modification.

My latest "no" — alcohol — was met with derision and contempt by most of my family and friends. That abstinence lasted a few weeks and then morphed into "less alcohol," which is probably where I should have started.

Obviously, the subject is tricky. There's little dispute in a trove of scientific research regarding alcohol's downside, yet women 50 and older are drinking more than ever. As we age, both men and women become more sensitive to alcohol's effects, including dehydration and memory loss. And some prescription medicines can be dangerous when mixed with alcohol. Who among us welcomes more wrinkles, forgetfulness and danger?

Not me. Especially not me the morning after. Washington Post food editor Joe Yonan explains why he drinks less since he turned 50: "My body can't handle alcohol the way it used to — or maybe it never could, and I just accepted that, but now I'm wiser! — so I simply feel much better when I drink little or nothing."

Are you "sober curious"? You're not alone. There is more support than ever for those of us, of all ages, interested in designated-driving down that road. You might try a few of these strategies:

Try alcohol-free drinks. We recommend Sanbitter and Stappj red bitter Italian sodas as a stand-in for Campari, Crodino as a blond apertivo, the semi-sweet Vida Loca Mockarita and Casamara Club sparkling amaro soft drinks.

Get creative with substitutions. Design an alcohol-free or low-alcohol version of your favorite drink. Vodka doesn't add any flavor to a cocktail anyway, so that's easy to scrap. Use the sodas above, with dry tonic or soda water, and fresh fruit garnishes or olives to bring complexity. Play around.

Learn about bitters. Beyond the classic Angostura, shrubs and other subtle flavorings — like Bittermilk's line of syrups — encourage you to sip, not guzzle.

Make it feel special. Drink your low-ABV (alcohol by volume) libations out of fancy glasses.

Befriend the bartender. Seek out sober-friendly watering holes in your city (and tip well).

"A new era of moderation seems to be upon us," writes The Post's Spirits columnist M. Carrie Allan, "with people drinking less overall and having lighter forms of booze when you do drink." She suggests trying some of the new products, "some delicious, some atrocious, some — like the trendy nonalcoholic botanical spirit Seedlip — that can charm or vanish, depending on the rest of the drink."

There are websites devoted to alcohol-free and low ABV drinks and getting through happy hour with a glass in your hand. Although, as Allan points out, if you feel like you need to make a production out of giving up drinking for a month as a challenge, like during the suddenly trendy "Dry January," it probably means you are drinking too much on a regular basis.

Post nightlife columnist Fritz Hahn notes that "bars are paying more attention to their nonalcoholic drink menus these days," by offering creative and delicious alcohol-free cocktails. And at A Rake's Progress restaurant in Washington, D.C., bar manager Morgan Stana explained that most nondrinkers aren't used to being cared for at a bar. "It weirdly can make my night when I can have a dialogue with a guest who isn't drinking about what they like and make something around their preferences."

For those of us worried about the hosting component of all this, here's how my sister- and brother-in-law handled it at their housewarming in Rochester, N.Y.: The punch recipe was two parts of fresh apple cider to one part ginger beer, a little fresh lime juice, cranberry bitters and an ice ring made of frozen ginger beer embedded with cinnamon sticks. I spiked one to start, with the "Apple Pie Moonshine" from a local distillery, and spent the rest of the evening with the "straight" punch.

So tasty, and I felt great the next day.

Your assignment

Create a no-alcohol or low-alcohol version of your favorite drink. If you want something fancy, try this Cherry Vamp cocktail or one of these other "zero-proof" drinks.

Tell us

Has your relationship to drinking changed? Why or why not? And share any tips — and recipes! — for moderating your consumption. Submit your response to be featured in Friday's newsletter here.