Booze-free spirits which look and taste like the real thing are the WORST thing to give a teetotal friend this Christmas, warns a recovering alcoholic
Eight years ago I stopped drinking. Not because I hated it but because I loved everything about it – the anticipation of the first sip, the ritual of choosing a glass and even the clink of the ice as it tumbled into it. The problem was, one was never enough but the ten or 12 I’d had by the end of the night were definitely too many.
Working in the frantic world of television, booze was my antidote of choice to its stresses. On top of that, I used to be very overweight, and I think drinking helped me overcome my shame of being fat.
I was an alcoholic, like my mother (I do think there is a genetic element) but a functioning one. When I stopped drinking I started functioning much better: I’ve worked on Bafta-winning television series such as The Island with Bear Grylls and Derren Brown’s Apocalypse.
Recovering alcoholic Fi Cotter Craig warns booze-free spirits are not a good idea for teetotal friends this Christmas
Now I’m alcohol-free, you might think a zero-alcohol drink that looks like the real thing but has none of the toxic ingredient that used to do so much damage would be top of my festive season shopping list.
But it isn’t. In fact, numerous addiction experts, along with other friends who have alcohol problems, all agree: it should be the last thing you give someone who’s teetotal this Christmas.
The dangers were brought home to me last New Year when an old friend came to stay at my home in Fort William.
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He is insanely generous and brought enough alcohol to keep a small hotel going for a month and, as a special treat for me, a case of alcohol-free wine.
Surely the perfect Hogmanay present for someone who ‘doesn’t drink’ because they’re an addict – and for roughly half a million Britons like me?
I hadn’t realised such a thing as alcohol-free wine existed, or that there was a growing market in such drinks created for people who want something a bit more grown-up than orange squash to sip at a party.
And it’s not just wines and beer. In recent years, a slew of gin and rum-a-likes have launched, with sophisticated marketing campaigns and beautiful bottles that look just like the real thing. The herbal, or spiced concoctions they contain also have that complex, often bitter ‘bite’ that booze brings to a G&T or cocktail.
Alcohol free wines are a danger to recovering alcoholics as they look and taste like the real thing
What I failed to anticipate was the effect that bottle of non-alcoholic wine, given to me by my well-meaning friend, would have on me, even before the snap of the screw-top.
In every possible way it looked like the real thing: attractive bottle, clever name – Eisberg – and realistic labelling.
To say I spent that whole afternoon looking forward to that first drink, and being part of the party in a way I hadn’t been for years, would be an understatement.
Behaviour patterns that had lain dormant for almost eight years were back, that ‘wine’ packaged and labelled like the real thing had an effect that was a visceral, possessive, almost sexual power.
I became obsessed, fetishising about the ritual that lay ahead, thinking about what glass I’d drink it in and the taste of the tart, chilled liquid.
Later, I took a bottle with me into a room and drank the whole thing in secret – something I used to do with real booze. I gulped down the first glass, closely followed by a second, third and fourth. Then I rejoined the party and opened another bottle, pretending it was my first. Although I didn’t feel drunk, of course, I felt good. And then the penny dropped. Had I continued, I’d have been on the gin by midnight. I had reverted to my alcoholic self without a millilitre of alcohol passing my lips.
Most people think about alcoholism as being a consumption issue and, yes, that’s part of it. But it also comes with substantial behavioural baggage.
Cognitive behavioural therapist Anna Albright says: ‘I’d never recommend zero-alcohol wines and spirits to any of my patients with alcohol addictions. They are a perfect reminder of unhappy times as well as the struggles of giving up. When alcohol is used as an unhealthy coping mechanism it takes a huge amount of strength and determination to give up, so the very last thing that’s needed is a reminder of painful times.’
The anticipation of having a non-alcohol wine or spirit could lead to an alcoholic falling off the wagon
But there may be more going on here than a simple psychological response. In 2013, scientists at Indiana University School of Medicine scanned the brains of 49 men as they tasted either beer, or a non-alcoholic fizzy drink.
The results showed that the taste of beer alone, long before the alcohol in it had the chance to take effect, instantly triggered the release of dopamine, a feelgood chemical in the brain. In other words, that first sip of a wine or beer – even if it’s alcohol-free – reminds us of the thrill and reward we used to get from booze, something that can only make it harder for the likes of me to remain ‘on the wagon’.
You might argue it’s a good thing that alcohol-free drinks don’t just taste like the real thing but provide the same sort of pleasure. But for those trying to abstain, that’s not a healthy message.
And here’s why: scientists found once the volunteers had tasted the beer, they craved more of it.
‘Breaking an addiction is often about addressing that 30 seconds or so where you feel the temptation to revert,’ says psychotherapist Phillip Hodson, a member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy. ‘It’s what you do at that moment that matters. Some people will feel an increased urge to have a real drink if they taste a non-alcoholic one.
‘For others, having a lookalike drink lets them fit in with their friends who are drinking.’
Those of us with difficult relationships with alcohol have absolutely no desire to revisit our drinking days. If you’re thinking any of these sexy new drinks would make a great present for the non-drinkers in your life – they won’t.
Chocolates would be a safer bet, but not the liqueur variety – they’re forbidden too.
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