The hardest part of Dry January for me is missing out on the food/wine pairings at home.
I do the cooking and will often brainstorm a meal in the afternoon after thinking about what bottle I want later that night.
The food (Y) makes the wine (X) taste better and the wine makes the food taste better.
Removing the X from the equation throws the whole thing off. I’m less excited to cook now.
And one side note:
I’m firmly in team Heineken 0, despite what Patrick says.
It’s mindless and has that skunky weed quality I associate with a normal greenie. They are perfect for idle activity like grilling, watching a hockey game or post-surf recovery.
I find that having an NA ready for my other ritualistic beer behavior to be comforting. Just the tactile feel of holding the bottle.
I am pleased to report that I have been shamed thoroughly by my better half when she heard of my compromise plan, so I am still on the wagon! Now considering pulling 1 oz Coravin’s from bottles I’ll crack in Feb and “enjoying” them with a spittoon.
Would be great if we could get this thread back on track to actual Dry January, for those of us doing it. In past years, I always found this discussion to be super helpful. Lots of support and a common effort.
I appreciate those that are cutting back - perhaps a separate thread?
Here’s a question: do folks doing Dryuary find their overall WB usage decreases? Just now I was cruising WB as I do, looking at beautiful pictures of trophy bottles and glasses of wine, reading descriptive tasting notes, and I realized No! Bad dog!
To be clear, I’m not literally jonesing for wine, but I’ve done dry January before, and this is the first time I had that reaction. This site is such an integral part of my day to day, curious to hear what others think.
Well this is my first time, but so far I’ve used WB as much as I normally do. I rarely lose interest in wine even though I have periods where I drink less than others. It is an all consuming hobby
Picked up a few N/A beers while shopping for food. These two are usual suspects at home. The Mikkeller one have been a favorite of the household for many years now, and the first aha experience I had with N/A beers. We found it when my wife got pregnant with our first kid, as we were looking for some substitutes.
Found an even bigger need than normally to cook something really nice.
My wife suggested we take the kids to go duckpin bowling tomorrow after church. I looked at the place she picked out. It’s not really a bowling alley. It’s more like a cocktail bar that happens to have a couple of lanes. At least they have a couple of n/a cocktails; who’s up for some Sprite with Grenadine? Anyone? Is this thing on?
Anyway, I do appreciate the variety this thread brings - those who are totally dry; those who are cutting back; and those in the cocktail peanuts gallery… I do hope we can be supportive and accommodate one another.
Phony Negroni tonight. First substitute for alcohol this January. Usually I have a sub a day or two into the month.
The Phony Negroni isn’t too bad. It’s a touch sweet for my personal taste but was nice with dinner instead of water. I drank a barrel of them in Italy this summer and prefer them more on the savory and bitter side.
Have a couple Athletic beers that I might have tomorrow while grilling steaks.
Started Dryuary on 1/2 and it hasn’t been so bad. It’s more the habits that are hard to break. It’s tough during football season as parking in front of the basement bar/tv, watching football all day and having a few beers is pretty normal for the winter months. Yesterday I went and picked up an assortment of NA beers-the selection was pretty good actually. That business must be booming. The NA wine shelves were pretty much empty, but I’m assuming that stuff is awful :).
Here are the NA beers I picked up-Negroni, Stella, Guinness, Corona, Athletic, Lagunitas, Boulevard Lemon Wheat. I opened a Stella during the Steeler game and it wasn’t bad, but just missing something (ha!). I really didn’t feel like having another so it was back to sparkling water.
Dryuary shouldn’t be much of an issue, might carry it into February. We’ll likely add wine to the weekends by then.
