By James Munn-Kelly
Are you a soft drink hater? Trying to host a festive get-together with festive drinks for non-drinkers?
I’ve seen it all, people arguing with each other over the identity of the non-drinker of the evening (one totally thinks he’s actually had a gin and tonic, while another thinks it must be orange squash)…
But where do we drink now, when people can have anything they want, as long as there’s some bubbles with it? Here are some choice suggestions – if you can’t work it out yourself, just keep reading!
1. The African star
Having your sipping drink come in the shape of a star like Ugandan celebrity Mr Justin Uganda would be a fun and distinctive touch…
2. The reduced and garnished version
This one has a certain flick-back quality and ‘time-travel’ flair, not that you’d necessarily go and sleep with the bottle as ‘very hot’…
3. Lemon-infused
This has a nice addition to the colour scheme – I’ve paired it with chilli chicken for these snaps. All fine with me!
4. Kosher sipping
I like the taste of a Moscato for the winter months, which gives a smooth, dry finish, slightly oniony from the absorption of everything that makes it lemony. Super tasty for the winter, and a good idea if you’re drinking with the opposite gender too.
5. Clarifying style
Again like your food, this drinks face is understated and subtle, depending on which ingredient you go for. This a good choice for people who don’t like alcohol in anyway – but are looking for a wider choice of brands as there are some well-known brands out there. It is always a good idea to check the alcohol content as we’re not talking about 0.001%, but rather a good bit of a fall from that 0.5% mid-strength to the heavier end of 0.6%.
8 Sips’ recipe for Acholi sweet sticky couscous pudding
6. Suntory cocktails
Looking for something that will make the guests feel like internationals when sipping down that booze?
For those of you who are keen on the Japanese beverage in its standard Japanese bottle version, here’s the recommended recipe: 2 mugs of rice wine for each guest, 9 mugs of sweetened condensed milk, 1 carton of sherbet soda or lemonade – depending on your taste of course. You can do this anywhere you have a bowl of rice wine or sweetened condensed milk, which is great if you’ve brought alcohol out anyway.
7. Tom the Fish from food snob
If you really need to put a meal together but aren’t keen on a pudding that goes with the food (this falls into this category), why not serve a main course of these slippery fish coated in candy coating. It’s kind of like a squidgy salmon salad in the form of chocolate. It’s kind of genius for this occasion, and it’ll liven up the table and would go well with a vodka cranberry juice cocktail!
8. Alcoholified movie options
(God bless this era of social media where stars actually try to take selfies with people).
I keep on coming back to a Disney character (for lack of a better description), who will surely have a sipping drink in the shape of him here!
The Golden Girls would probably be another good option for everyone to have a Christmas rum cocktail with…
Pretty much anyone would be fine with these…