Tomato

I’m not going to do FebFast this year because I suspect giving up alcohol altogether isn’t going to do anything for Australia’s economic progress. Let’s face it, the economic impact on restaurants and bars of Febfast is horrendous. Most hospitality venues are doing it fairly tough and the fact that the economic model is based on selling alcohol, February is about to become a lot tougher.

And let’s not forget, outside of the resources sector, the contribution winemaking and restaurants and bars make to the economy.

An alternative is to drink less, better booze which probably has a better economic outcome even if the amount spent on alcohol doesn’t change.

The problem is that everything around us encourages us to drink alcohol. From happy hours and slick advertising to peer pressure it is really difficult to cut down, let alone stop. If you are like me you’ll love the Toohey’s nocturnal migration tvc (above) but despise the mass produced product that it encourages us to swill down as well as the wider message of “drink more”.

Verjus: mix with soda, ice

And if you’ve ever tried to give up drinking you’ll know how much pressure there is to keep going. Again and again. I’d go as far to say that the Gillard government should introduce mandatory pre-commitment for licensed venues. I could then before I go out say “I’m going to drink ten pints tonight” and the venue wouldn’t let me out until I’d fulfilled my contract.

On the other hand it would be great for those occasions when I say things like “I’m just going to have one glass of wine tonight” and wake-up lyinhg beside my mate James in some taudry Fitzroy backstreet  gutter covered in a luminous green mixture of creme de menthe and absinthe vomited down my $500 shirt.

Ruined clothing, aside there is nothing good about binge drinking either personally or for the nation. With predictions that that two-thirds of the Australians aged over 25 will be overweight or obese by 2025 a large proportion of us are heading for type 2 diabetes, and all the other associated health problems. Nationally too hang overs, however minor, are a massive contribution to the country’s productivity crisis (in addition to ridiculous penalty rates for hospitality staff).

By finding drinks that combine a punch of flavour and the sort of mouthfeel that comes with alcohol, but without the sugar associated with most soft drinks, you’ll find yourself able to drink less, become physically healthier and mentally more alert, at which point you’ll realise how shitty most free to air TV is (and probably start drinking again to deaden the pain). Oh, and you’ll probably have a better sex life.

By following the steps below you won’t only find yourself drinking less but, for the same investment, contributing to the economy. If you work in hospitality pass this story on to your Facebook and Twitter Friends.

Here are eleven ways to drink drink less, better booze.

1. Just have one better glass of wine or beer or gin. The fact is that once you’ve reached two glasses it is tempting to have three. By the time you are on your third drink it is all over, it’s the whole bottle.
2. Give up cheap bottle shops. That’s Dan Murphy included. Support your local bottle shop and ask the staff for help in choosing a better drop.
3. It’s not only cheap wine that’s the problem but cheap beer and spirits too. Buy a locally made Westwinds gin, for instance. Or beer from Red Hill. Or cider made in Harcourt instead of something mass produced from Bulmers.
4. Think interesting soft drinks. Try the coconut ice (is that the name?) at Chin Chin sans the shot of alcohol. Try Fever Tree tonic. Drunk without gin, it is still an adult drink with bite. Try Verjuice with a slice of lemon as a spritzer alternative.
5. Don’t forget tea, iced for the hot weather. Buy in some decent tea (T2 is just expensive I’m afraid) from someone like Somage Fine Foods who supply Proud Mary. Have it hot or iced, with a slice of lemon and perhaps some elderflower cordial mixed in.
6. Coffee. Buy a cold drip. Or a filter to make your own. Add ice. If you want it milky add a good, artisan milk. I use unpasteurised myself and often will add some vanilla flavouring to make iced coffee (black or white)  a little more luxurious.
7. Experiment with making you own adult drinks with ingredients like, ginger syrup, elderflower syrup, cranberry juice (which has the edgy thirst quenching quality) or young coconut juice. Personally, I’m seeking out the class 4 controlled drug cinchona bark (it turns out quinine could be worse for you than gin) to make my own tonic and have half a kilo of horribly bitter gentian root to play with.
8. Make your own ginger beer. There are many alternative styles that are worth making all far less sugary than anything you’ll buy from a shop.
9. Announce to your your friends what you are doing and ask for their support.
10. Buy a can of  Winesave or one of those pump thingies so that the wine left in the bottle won’t go off.
11.  If you have committed to two glasses of wine a night, pour both and immediately winesave/put away the wine to reduce temptation. (Thanks to @thefrankreport.)

More suggestions welcome in comments.

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